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Svalbard (/ ˈ s v ɑː l b ɑːr (d)/ SVAHL-bar(d), [4] Urban East Norwegian: [ˈsvɑ̂ːɫbɑr]), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe , it lies about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole .
Early whaling expeditions to Svalbard in general and Spitsbergen in particular tended, because of currents and fauna, to cluster on the western coast of Spitsbergen and the islands off shore. Shortly after whaling began (1611), the Danish–Norwegian crown in 1616 claimed ownership of Jan Mayen and the Spitsbergen islands, as all of Svalbard ...
The archipelago is the northernmost part of Norway. Three islands are populated: Spitsbergen, Bear Island and Hopen. The capital and largest settlement is Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen. The Spitsbergen Treaty recognises Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard and the 1925 Svalbard Act makes Svalbard a full part of the Norwegian Kingdom.
Both Svalbard and Jan Mayen consist almost entirely of Arctic wilderness, such as at Bellsund in Svalbard. Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic about midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude.
Spitsbergen and Svalbard during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (c. 1590s–1720s). Portion of 1599 map of Arctic exploration by Willem Barentsz.Spitsbergen, here mapped for the first time, is indicated as "Het Nieuwe Land" (Dutch for "the New Land"), center-left.
The exonym Spitsbergen subsequently came to be applied to the main island in the archipelago. [11] [12] Accordingly, in modern historiography the Treaty of Spitsbergen is commonly referred to anachronistically as the Svalbard Treaty to reflect the name change. [citation needed]