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Svalbard is part of the High Arctic Large Igneous Province, ... leaving Barentsburg as the only permanently inhabited Russian settlement. It is a company town: all ...
MODIS satellite photo of Svalbard, courtesy NASA. Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean roughly centered on 78° north latitude and 20° east longitude. It constitutes the northernmost territory of the Kingdom of Norway. The three main islands in the group consist of Spitsbergen (the largest island), Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya.
Longyearbyen (Urban East Norwegian: [ˈlɔ̀ŋjɛrˌbyːən], [2] locally [ˈlɔ̀ŋjɑrˌbyːən], "Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard, Norway.
Just below this settlement at 78.12° N is Svalbard's primary city, Longyearbyen, which has a population of over 2,000. When occupied for a few weeks some years, the northernmost temporary settlement in the world is Camp Barneo , a Russian tourist attraction located near 88°11'00" N.
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.
Svalbard is an Arctic, wilderness archipelago comprising the northernmost part of Norway. It is mostly uninhabited, with only about 3,000 people, yet covers an area of 61,020 square kilometres (23,560 sq mi).
The island also features Festningen Geotope Protected Area; some of the northeastern coast is part of Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve. [84] All human traces dating from before 1946 are automatically protected. [77] Svalbard is on Norway's tentative list for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [85]
The archipelago is administered by the Governor of Svalbard, which is subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security. [6] [7] Unlike the rest of Norway (including Jan Mayen), Svalbard is a free economic zone and a demilitarized zone, [5] and is not part of the Schengen Area nor the European Economic Area. [8]