Svalbard and reindeer (Source: Own photo)
Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz discovered Svalbard on 17 June 1596. There is no evidence of human presence in Svalbard prior to his visit. A year later Barentsz was dead from scurvy after over-wintering on Nova Zemlya. The location of his grave is unknown, but you can visit Camp Barentsz just outside Longyearbyen in Svalbard if you want to learn more about the man. Camp Barentsz is a replica of the driftwood hut Barentsz lived in during his fateful winter Nova Zemlya. The host at the camp serves delicious reindeer soup, big shots of Akvavit, and red wine as he gives interesting talks about Barentsz's travels and polar bears.
Camp Barentsz (Source: Own photos)
You quickly realise after your arrival in Svalbard that this is an unusual place. For one, the islands didn't belong to any nation until 1920. The absence of formal ownership led to a problem economists call 'Tragedy of the Commons', which is when individuals with access to a public resource act in their own interest and ultimately over-exploit and deplete the resource. In Svalbard, until about a hundred years ago, anyone was free to fish, whale, hunt, and mine without any regard to the environment or future generations. There were also frequent sovereignty disputes, especially between England, the Netherlands, and the Denmark–Norway Union. When meaningful mineral deposits were discovered in the early part of the 20th century, the conflicts intensified and it became clear that an assignment of sovereignty was necessary.
Dog pens in the Advent Valley; dogs are still used for transport in winter (Source: Own photo)
Thus, in 1920 the Spitsbergen Treaty was signed in Paris. The Treaty assigned sovereignty over Svalbard to Norway, with gubernatorial rule. The Treaty also required the governor to respect and preserve the environment, subject to which citizens and companies of any nation could come to live in Svalbard, visa free. The Treaty also banned naval bases, fortifications, and the use of Svalbard for war-like purposes.
The Spitsbergen Treaty protects the environment (Source: Own photo)
The assignment of sovereignty to Norway solved the problem over-exploitation of Svalbard's natural resources. In fact, I have never been to place with environmental restrictions as tight as those in Svalbard. The protection of flora and fauna is always given top priority. For example, tourist guides are given extensive training in handling tourists to ensure that tourism activities never harms the wildlife, especially the dangerous polar bears. Every time a polar bear is shot, a serious police investigation is undertaken - analogous to a homicide investigation - to establish if the killing was absolutely necessary. If the killing is deemed not to have been absolutely necessary, the killer will be heavy punished, even imprisoned.
Tour guides are armed with 'polar bear protection' consisting of a flare gun, a half-loaded rifle, and - most importantly - training in tourist management (Source: own photo)
While everyone in Svalbard seems committed to conservation, you do sense some nostalgia for the free-for-all of the past. For example, one of the big heroes in Svalbard is the trapper Hilmar Nøis (1891–1975), who spent no fewer than 35 winters in a small trapper's cabin on Tempelfjorden near Longyearbyen. During these 35 years, he is believed to have killed an extra-ordinary number of animals, including an average of 400 artic foxes per year plus at least 300 polar bears. He also came close to single-handedly wiping out Svalbard's entire Grouse population. When he finally hung up his guns he sold his hunting lodge, Villa Fredheim, to the Norwegian state for the princely sum of USD 458. The hut is still visible on the bank of Tempelfjorden (see picture below).
Villa Fredheim belonged to legendary killer Hilmar Nøis (Source: Own photo)
In fact, the fjords around Longyearbyen are replete with relics from the past, which survive to this day due to the extreme cold and the dry climate. At the foot of the Skansen mountain in nearby Billefjorden, you can see the wreck of a hundred-year-old barge, which was used in the once-profitable activity of gypsum mining. Gypsum is a soft sulphate mineral used in fertiliser and in the production of plaster for construction.
The gypsum barge at the foot of the Skansen mountain (Source: Own photo)
If you cast a glance across to the water to the adjacent Billefjorden, you will spot the Svenskhuset. The house, which was built in the summer of 1872, stands in eery isolation. During the winter of 1872-73, seventeen Norwegians found themselves stranded by the ice in Billefjorden and were forced to spend the winter in the house. When a relief mission arrived the following spring, it found all seventeen men dead. There was plenty of fuel, water, and firewood, so the suspicion was they had died of scurvy. It was not until 2008 that the real cause of death was finally established: lead poisoning. The Norwegians had cooked their food in the tins that contained the food. The tins were sealed with lead, which had leaked into the food during cooking, poisoning the men. If the men had only bothered to pour the food into a pan before cooking it, they would all have lived.
The eerie isolation of the Svenskhuset, where 17 men died of lead poisoning during the winter of 1872-73 (Source: Own photo)
A short distance from Svenskhuset, you encounter Pyramiden, which is an abandoned Russian coal mining settlement at the foot of a mountain, which has given name to the settlement due to its distinct shape. Swedish at first, Pyramiden was bought by Russia in 1927 and operated until 1998, when it was abandoned due to the Russian financial crisis and a fire in the main seam of the mine.
The abandoned Pyramiden settlement at the foot of the Pyramiden mountain. The mine can be seen to the left in the picture (Source: Own photo)
Svalbard's many abandoned settlements testify to the hostility of the environment; it is almost as if human beings are not supposed to live here. If you sail out the Advent Fjord and turn west you reach Grumant, another abandoned Russian mining settlement. The Grumant coal was mined in tunnels that stretched out several hundred meters beneath the sea. Once a thriving community, Grumant had hundreds of inhabitants as well as schools, kindergartens, bars, and leisure facilities. It was completely destroyed in World War II, rebuilt, and then abandoned in 1962 as Russian mining moved to Pyramiden. Today, only four buildings remain as well as the old mining ventilation shafts and remnants of the railway that once carried coal from the mine to the nearby Russian port at Barentsburg.
The abandoned mining settlement at Grumant (Source: Own photos)
These days, Longyearbyen is the main population centre in the Svalbard archipelago. Longyearbyen is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000 (the current population is about 2,500). Longyearbyen's airport is the northernmost commercial airport in the world. The northernmost brewery in the world is also here. Like many other arctic towns, Longyearbyen is not particularly pretty. Due to permafrost, all cables and sewage pipes run overground. It is also too far north for anything to grow other than tough grasses and mosses, so there are no hedges, flowers, lawns, or trees. There is a main street and a pedestrian street, one supermarket, a few hotels, some restaurants, and the port. Like so many other arctic towns, Longyearbyen is clearly a working city with practical people; the gaps between buildings and the dusty roads are full of snow scooters, jerry cans, fishing equipment, and 4WD vehicles. It is a tiny place surrounded by spectacular and dramatic nature in all directions.
Longyearbyen (Source: Own photo)
Longyearbyen was founded by American industrialist John Munro Longyear, who visited Spitsbergen in 1901. Longyear noticed what appeared to be rich seams of coal deposits on the mountain slopes, so he returned in 1903 to collect samples. The samples showed Svalbard's coal to be 97% carbon (compared to the typical range of 45%-85%). In 1906, he started mining, opening a second mine in 1913 by which time the settlement that had sprung up around the mines had assumed his name. When World War I destroyed the coal market, he sold the mines to Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, which owns the mines to this day.
The view from Mine 3 over the airport and Advent Bay (Source: Own photo)
World War II was not a great time for Svalbard. In 1941, the entire population of Svalbard was evacuated to Scotland following the Nazi invasion of Norway on 9 April. In September 1943, German warships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst bombarded Longyearbyen, including the mines. The methane-rich coal seam in mine 2 caught fire and burned for the next nineteen years. Today, only Mine 7 is still active, but it is scheduled to shut in 2025, which will mark the end of the mining era in Svalbard. You can visit Mine 3, which sits just above the airport. It is well worth a visit. I made a brief film of my experience 800 meters inside the mine. It was not scary at all - see clip below.
My visit to Mine 3 at Longyearbyen (Source: here)
Like in the Åland Islands (see here), a mini-Cold War is currently being fought in Svalbard. Relations with Russia are frosty. Barentsburg, the last remaining Russian settlement in Svalbard with some 400 souls is located a mere 50 kilometres from Longyearbyen. Barentsburg and Longyearbyen used to have cultural exchanges, sports tournaments, and trade with each other, but no more. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainians in Barentsberg have left, while the few Russians, who used to live in Longyearbyen have been kicked out. Norway is nervous that the presence of Russians in Svalbard could be used a a pretext for a Russian invasion, especially if NATO is dissolved (see here). The people of Svalbard are rightly asking, "How many of our NATO allies are really wiling to sacrifice their sons to come to our aid if Russia invades?" To allay their fears, Norway's armed forces have stepped up their patrols, but Russia now claims the increased Norwegian military presence breaches the Spitzbergen Treaty. Norway has also begun to ‘Norwegenise” Svalbard. Sadly, this also threatens the many other nationalities that live here (40% of Svalbard's population is not Norwegian). Maybe Svalbard's time as a place anyone can live is nearing its end...
Svalbard's stark beauty (Source: Own photo)
Geopolitics aside, the nature of Svalbard is truly impressive. Enormous weather-worn mountains with patches of snow, even in the height of summer, rise silently towards the pointed peaks that gave these islands their original name. These days only the largest island in Svalbard carries the name Spitsbergen.
The pointed peaks of Spitsbergen (Source: Own photo)
Like Greenland, the vistas in Svalbard are immense, humbling even. Countless glaciers glide into the sea at various speeds under the weight of the ice, and gravity. The glacier ice is thousands of years old. You can use it to cool your drink. The glacier ice crackles like Rice Krispies, when the tiny bubbles of compressed air in the ice is released into the Scotch.
The fjords around Longyearbyen offers great views (Source: Own photos)
The wildlife density around Longyearbyen is fairly modest. Tour companies tend to exaggerate the chances of seeing polar bear, arctic fox, and walrus, but the bird life is rich. Fulmars, Arctic Terns, Auks, Little Auks, Barnacle Goose, Guillemots, Common Eiders, Snow buntings, Puffins, and Kittiwakes are everywhere. The Arctic Terns are spectacularly beautiful. They fiercely protect their young. Every year they fly from the North Pole to the South Pole and back.
Reindeer, baby Arctic Tern and its mother, Barnacle Geese, Fulmar, and Puffin (Source: Own photos)
Near the big glacier at the head of Billefjorden, we saw a school of 20 Beluga whales. Later, a lonely Minky whale also paid a brief visit before disappearing below the icy waters.
The unmistakable white backs of four Beluga whales are just visible on the surface (Source: Own photo)
Locals say that the best time to visit Svalbard is between March to May, when there is still snow and the light is coming back. However, summer is pretty good too. I enjoyed my visit to Svalbard immensely and Longyearbyen is a great base for a first visit. On my next visit, I will join an photo expedition. The expedition boats take you all around the archipelago, to the remotest parts with the most ice and the most game, guided only by where the birds, whales, and animals are found.
On small hill above Longyearbyen - a great location for a first visit to Svalbard! (Source: Own photo)
Finally, I note that Svalbard is my 178th “lifer” country & territory. Svalbard also happens to be a new northern latitude record for me. Longyearbyen is located at 78.2 degrees north, or 1,316 kms below the North Pole. My previous northernmost latitude record was 72.8 degrees north, set at Upernavik in western Greenland in the early 1990s. It is nice to be back in the arctic!
Never been this far north before! (Source: here)
The End
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