| Svalbard, formerly
Spitsbergen, archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, about midway between Norway
and the North Pole, and belonging to Norway. It comprises all lands between
latitude 74° North and latitude 81° North and between longitude
10° East and longitude 35° East. The principal islands are Spitsbergen,
Nordaustlandet, Barentsøya, Edgeøya, Kong Karls Land, Prins
Karls Forland, and Bjørnøya. Coal mining is the major industry.
The islands appeared in early Norwegian stories and they were rediscovered
by a Dutch expedition under the navigator Willem Barents in 1596. No settlements
were founded until after the Norwegians began mining coal here in the 1890s.
In 1920, Norway's claim to the islands was formally recognized. Russia has
mining rights and maintains settlements in Svalbard. Area, about 62,160
sq km (about 24,000 sq mi); population (1991) 3309. |