Spitsbergen

As foreigners clamored for whales and territory, Spitsbergen’s wildlife suffered.

After turning east, they sighted "Newland" (i.e Spitsbergen ) on the 27th, near the mouth of the great bay Hudson later simply named the "Great Indraught" ( Isfjorden ).

Barentsz did not recognize that he had discovered an archipelago, and consequently the name Spitsbergen long remained in use both for the main island and for the archipelago as a whole.

During summer, it is possible to ski from Sørkapp in the south to the north of Spitsbergen, with only a short distance not being covered by snow or glacier.

Hudson's Christian name is wrongly given, and the year in which he visited the north coast of Spitsbergen was 1607, not 1608.

It would then drift west with the current towards the pole and beyond it, eventually reaching the sea between Greenland and Spitsbergen.

Old cross on the grave of seven Dutchmen, reading "Here rest brave Dutch men" In 1632 the Noordsche Compagnie expelled the Danish-employed Basque whalers from Spitsbergen.

People living on Svalbard (Spitsbergen) pay reduced taxes due to "Svalbardtraktaten".

Precipitation is frequent, but falls in small quantities, typically less than convert per year in western Spitsbergen.

She had emerged from the ice north and west of Spitsbergen, as Nansen had predicted, and was now on her way to Tromsø.

Similarly, the blue whale used to form large groups between Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen, but is hardly present nowadays.

The first known landing on the island dates to 1604, when an English ship landed at Bjørnøya and started hunting walrus ; annual expeditions soon followed, and Spitsbergen became a base for hunting the bowhead whale from 1611.

The first Norwegian citizens to reach Spitsbergen proper were a number of Coast Sámi people from the Hammerfest region, who were hired as part of a Russian crew for an expedition in 1795.

There are many fjords along west and north coasts Resources Svalbard has many mineral resources, and coal was mined extensively on the west side of Spitsbergen.

The west coast of Spitsbergen remains navigable most of the year, due to favorable winds which keep the area ice-free.

While a group with the same task survived the winter on Spitsbergen, all seven on Jan Mayen died of scurvy or trichinosis (from eating raw polar bear meat) combined with the harsh conditions.