Svalbard is a breeding ground for many seabirds and also supports polar bears, arctic foxes, reindeer, and marine mammals.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, English whalers referred to the islands as "Greenland",[7] a practice still followed in 1780 and criticized by Sigismund Bacstrom at that time.

[11] In 1906 the Arctic explorer Sir Martin Conway regarded the Spitzbergen spelling as incorrect; he preferred Spitsbergen, as he noted that the name was Dutch, not German.

The islands were generally referred to in the United States as "Spitsbergen" from that time,[15] although the spelling "Spitzbergen" also commonly occurred through the 20th century.

The first recorded sighting of the island was by Willem Barentsz, a Dutch explorer who came across it while searching for the Northern Sea Route in June 1596.

Shortly after whaling began (1611), the Danish–Norwegian crown in 1616 claimed ownership of Jan Mayen and the Spitsbergen islands, as all of Svalbard was then known, but in 1613, the English Muscovy Company had done the same.

[24][25] Initially, the English tried to drive away competitors, but after disputes with the Dutch (1613–24), they, for the most part, only claimed the bays south of Kongsfjorden.

[27] This successful expansion by Denmark into the North Atlantic has recently been cited by historians as the first step of the Danish–Norwegian state into overseas colonialism.

It eventually built a small overseas empire of East Indian trade posts, North Atlantic possessions (such as Greenland and Iceland), and a small Atlantic trade route between possessions on the Guinea Coast (in modern Ghana) and what are now the United States Virgin Islands.

The islands also became the launching point for a number of Arctic explorers, including William Edward Parry, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Otto Martin Torell, Alfred Gabriel Nathorst, Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton.

The Spitsbergen Treaty of 9 February 1920, recognises the full and absolute sovereignty of Norway over all the arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

[32] In 1943, the German battleship Tirpitz and an escort flotilla shelled and destroyed the Allied weather station in Operation Zitronella.

On 6 September, a squadron consisting of Tirpitz, the battleship Scharnhorst, and nine destroyers weighed anchor in Altenfjord and Kåfjord and headed for Spitsbergen, to attack the Allied base.

[45] Since 2002, Longyearbyen Community Council has had many of the same responsibilities of a municipality, including utilities, education, cultural facilities, fire department, roads and ports.

While there is some tourism at the village, Norwegian authorities limit access to the outpost to minimise impact on the scientific work.

In addition to the mining facilities, Arktikugol has opened a hotel and souvenir shop, catering to tourists taking day trips or hikes from Longyearbyen.

Pyramiden has similar facilities; both are built in typical Soviet style and are the site of the world's two most northerly Lenin statues and other socialist realism artwork.

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, a subsidiary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, operates Svea Nord in Sveagruva and Mine 7 in Longyearbyen.

There has previously been some test drilling for petroleum on land, but this did not give results good enough to justify permanent operation.

The Norwegian authorities do not allow offshore petroleum drilling activities for environmental reasons, and the land formerly test-drilled on has been protected as nature reserves or national parks.

[58] The University Centre in Svalbard in Longyearbyen offers undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses to 350 students in various arctic sciences, particularly biology, geology and geophysics.

A cooperative enterprise by the government of Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the vault is cut into rock near Longyearbyen, keeping it at a natural −6 °C (21 °F) and refrigerating the seeds to −18 °C (0 °F).

Off-road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground, but snowmobiles are used extensively during winter—both for commercial and recreational activities.

[68] There are heliports in Barentsburg and Pyramiden, and helicopters are frequently used by the governor and to a lesser extent the mining company Arktikugol.

[71] Spitsbergen is the meeting place for cold polar air from the north and mild, wet sea air from the south, creating low pressure and changing weather and fast winds, particularly in winter; in January, a strong breeze is registered 17% of the time at Isfjord Radio, but only 1% of the time in July.

[72] Three terrestrial mammalian species inhabit the island: the Arctic fox, the Svalbard reindeer, and accidentally introduced southern vole, which are only found in Grumant.

[74] There are fifteen to twenty types of marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, seals, walruses and polar bears.

[76] While they are protected, persons going outside settlements are required to carry a rifle to kill polar bears in self-defence, as a last resort should they attack.

[77] Spitsbergen shares a common polar bear population with the rest of Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land.

[83] The island also features Festningen Geotope Protected Area; some of the northeastern coast is part of Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve.