Spitsbergen

Spitsbergen (which is also spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest island of the archipelago Svalbard. It was called West Spitsbergen until 1965. The name East Spitsbergen was proposed for the third-largest island of the group, Edgeøya.

Spitsbergen

Geography
Location	Arctic Ocean
Coordinates	78°45′N 16°00′E
Archipelago	Svalbard
Area	37,673 km2 (14,546 sq mi) (36th)
Elevation	1,717 m (5,633 ft)
Country
Norway
Demographics
Population	2,642

File:Spitsbergen marine features with towns labelled copy.png

Today, it is the only island on Svalvard which is settled permanently. The island has a size of about 380 kilometres (240 mi) by 220 kilometres (140 mi)

There are only few active settlements on Spitsbergen, among them

• Barentsburg, about 500 people
• Longyearbyen, main settlement, about 2.500 people
• Ny-Ålesund, scientific station, about 30-35 peolple
• Sveagruva,mining town, about 300, many commuting from Longyearbyen

There are several abandoned ones:

• Grumant, mining town, abandoned in 1965
• Colesbukta, shipping terminal for Grumant, about half-way between Grumant and Barentsburg.
• Ny-London, mining town, abandoned in the 1920s. Near Ny-Alesund
• Pyramiden, mining town, mostly abandoned in the 1990s

Spitsbergen Media

• Barentsz arctic map.jpg

  Portion of 1599 map of Arctic exploration by the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz. Spitsbergen, here mapped for the first time, appears as Het Nieuwe Land (Dutch for "the New Land"), center-left.

• Walvisvangst bij de kust van Spitsbergen - Dutch whalers near Spitsbergen (Abraham Storck, 1690).jpg

  Dutch whalers near Spitsbergen by Abraham Storck (1690)

• Spitsbergen labelled.png

  Map detailing the marine features of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. Settlements and mountains are indicated and labelled. See also Image:Spitsbergen mountains and marine features labelled.png. Locations were labelled mainly based on detailed maps from svalbard-images.com (sample of south Spitsbergen linked),

• Bucentaur i Bellsund 1906-08-17.jpg

  A 1906 photograph of the Norwegian whaling factory ship Bucentaur in Bellsund, Spitsbergen

• Hornsund1 (js).jpg

  Hornsund Polish Arctic Station, photographed in 2003

• Lilliehookfjorden1 (js).jpg

  Lilliehöökfjorden, Svalbard

• Longyearbyen panorama.JPG

  The panorama of Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Spitsbergen)

• Skottehytta-070820.jpg

  Skottehytta in Petuniabukta, Spitsbergen; polar base of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland

• Hillside mine on Svalbard.jpg

  Abandoned mine at Longyearbyen

• MS Horyzont II Isbjornhamna-1.jpg

  Ships, such as MS Horyzont, are a common way for scientists to get around the island.