Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and administrative center in Svalbard, Norway. It stretches along the foot of the left bank of the Longyear Valley and on the shore of Adventfjorden, the short estuary leading into Isfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen, the island's broadest inlet. Since 2002 Longyearbyen Community Council has had many of the same responsibilities as a Norwegian municipality, including utilities, education, cultural facilities, fire brigade, roads, and ports. The town is the seat of the Governor of Svalbard. It is the world's northernmost settlement of any kind with more than 1,000 permanent residents. Since 2015 Arild Olsen has served as Mayor.
History
In 1896, Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab started tours to Hotellneset. To accommodate tourists, they built a prefabricated hotel, but it was not profitable and was closed after the 1897 season. However, two families overwintered in 1898–99 and Norway Post operated a post office at Hotellneset from 1897 to 1899. The first commercially viable coal on Svalbard was harvested by Søren Zakariassen in 1899. In 1901, Bergen-Spitsbergen Kullgrube-kompani started mining coal in Adventtoppen.
The American industrialist John Munro Longyear visited Spitsbergen as a tourist in 1901 and met with an expedition prospecting for coal. In 1903 he returned to Spitsbergen, where he met Henrik B. Næss in Adventfjorden, who gave him samples and information on coalfields. Along with his associate Frederick Ayer, Longyear bought the Norwegian claims on the west side of Adventfjorden and expanded the claims significantly the following year. In 1906, the Boston-based Arctic Coal Company, with Ayer and Longyear as the main shareholders, started mining in Mine 1a, after building docks and housing. The company had American administration, but mostly Norwegian laborers, and named the town Longyear City. Coal was transported the 1.2 kilometers (0.75 mi) from the mine to the port using an aerial tramway built by the former world-leading aerial cableway company Adolf Bleichert & Co. of Leipzig, Germany. In 1913, the company started preliminary work to open Mine 2a.
Following financial difficulties during the First World War, the mining operations were bought by Store Norske, which was incorporated in Oslo on 30 November 1916. That year, SNSK built five new barracks, including one that was made into a hospital. SNSK introduced its own money with the approval of Norges Bank, consisting entirely of banknotes at par with Norwegian krone. The American community buried their dead at Hotellneset. In 1918, eleven people were killed by the Spanish flu and a graveyard was established in Longyear City. Two years later, 26 men were killed in a coal dust explosion in Mine 1. This resulted in the mine being closed and electric operation being taken into use in Mine 2. The same year, the first truck was delivered for use in the mining operations.
The Church of Norway appointed Thorleif Østenstad as Svalbard's first vicar and teacher in 1920. A school was established as a cooperation between the church and SNSK and had an inaugural of eight pupils. The first church in Svalbard opened on 28 August 1921, and the church's reading room was from then on used as a school. Longyear City was renamed Longyearbyen in 1926.
The Norwegian Telecommunications Administration established a coast radio station, Svalbard Radio, at Finneset in 1911, which was moved to Longyearbyen in 1930. The town's tourist industry started in 1935 when SS Lyngen started calling regularly during the summer season. In 1937, SNSK established Sverdrupbyen to house workers for Mine 1b, and the operation of the mine started in 1939. In 1938, Longyearbyen's first road was completed, between the town center and Sverdrupbyen. Operations at Mine 2b, a different entrance to Mine 2a, started in 1939.
Svalbard remained unaffected by the German occupation of Norway in 1940. However, from 1941 the archipelago became of strategic importance in the supply chain between the Allied powers, as well as a source of badly needed coal. The Norwegian government-in-exile rejected a Soviet–British occupation; instead, the British Army started Operation Gauntlet to evacuate Spitsbergen. On 29 August 1941, the entire population of Ny-Ålesund was evacuated to Longyearbyen, and on 3 September 765 people were evacuated from Longyearbyen to Scotland. Later the last 150 men were also evacuated. With Longyearbyen depopulated, a small German garrison and airstrip were established in Adventdalen, mostly to provide meteorological data. After the British Operation Fritham regained control of Barentsburg, the German forces left Longyearbyen without combat.
In September 1943, the Kriegsmarine dispatched two battleships, Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, and nine destroyers to bombard Longyearbyen, Barentsburg, and Grumant. Only four buildings in Longyearbyen survived: the hospital, the power station, an office building, and a residential building. Longyearbyen remained unsettled until the end of the war, with the first ship from the mainland leaving on 27 June 1945.
Post-Second World War
Plans were laid during the war to ensure a quick reconstruction and restarting of mining. By 1948, coal production had reached the pre-war level of 480,000 tonnes (470,000 long tons; 530,000 short tons) per year. Nybyen was established in 1946 and consisted of five barracks, each housing 72 people. The first issue of Svalbardposten was published in November 1948. Until then, various wall newspapers had been published irregularly. In 1949, Longyearbyen received a telephone connection with the mainland via a radio connection between Svalbard Radio and Harstad. In 1949, a farm was built in Longyearbyen to hold cattle for milk, pigs, and hens. A local radio station started broadcasting in 1950. The burial ground remained in use until 1950, with 44 people buried. However, it was discovered that the bodies were failing to decompose because of the permafrost and that they could be preserving various microorganisms. Bodies have since been sent to the mainland for burial. The community center Huset opened in 1951.
Mining in Mine 1b was terminated in 1958, but operation in Mine 5 started the following year. Preliminary work on Mine 4 started in 1954, and from 1960 it was used as a reserve mine. The Norwegian Air Force started serving Longyearbyen with postal flights in the 1950s. In 1959, a man fell seriously ill, so a landing strip was prepared in Adventdalen. In the same year, Braathens SAFE started serving the tundra airport with irregular winter flights. In 1957, a principal was hired at the primary school and a new church was opened on 24 August 1958. From 1961, the primary school was supplemented by a private middle school. A branch of Tromsø Sparebank opened in 1959.
In the 1960s, the town's farm was closed and replaced by industrial liquefaction of powdered milk. The first serial-produced snowmobile was taken into use in 1961. By 1969, there were 140 registered snowmobiles and only 33 registered cars. From 1962 to 1984, a recreational center was run at Sverdrupbyen. Ordinary operation in Mine 4 started in 1966 but was terminated by 1970, two years after Mine 2b closed. Operations in Mine 6 commenced in 1969. Television broadcasting equipment was installed in 1969, with the schedule of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation being aired with a two-week delay.
In 1971, a new school building, with a combined primary and lower secondary school, was opened, along with a new gymnasium and a 12.5-meter (41 ft) swimming pool. The Svalbard Council was established on 1 November 1971. It consisted of 17 non-partisan members who were elected or appointed in three different groups: SNSK employees, government employees, and others, although the ratio changed several times. Operations of Mine 3 started in March 1971 and operations in Mine 7 commenced the following year. In 1973, the Ministry of Trade and Industry bought a third of SNSK. It continued buying additional shares until it reached 99.94 percent ownership in 1976. The airport was opened in 1975 and initially provided four weekly services to mainland Norway and semi-weekly services to Russia. In 1978, the community received satellite communications with the mainland. The same year, an upper secondary program was introduced at the public school. From 1984, television programs were broadcast live via satellite.
Store Norske underwent a gradual change during the 1980s. Since 1980, Spitsbergen money has been taken out of circulation and replaced with ordinary Norwegian currency. Mine 6 closed the following year. From 1982, SNSK permitted private individuals to own and operate cars. By 1990, there were 353 registered cars and 883 snow scooters. On 1 July 1983, SNSK moved its head office from Bergen to Longyearbyen. Svalbard Samfunnsdrift (SSD), a limited company that was responsible for public infrastructure and services, was established by SNSK on 1 January 1989. Responsibilities included healthcare, the fire brigade, the kindergarten, roads, rubbish disposal, power production, the water, and sewer system, the cinema, cultural activities, and the library. Ownership was taken over by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on 1 January 1993.
During the 1990s, the authorities started a process to "normalize" Longyearbyen by abolishing the company town scheme and introducing a full range of services, a varied economy, and local democracy. Commercial enterprises included a shopping mall replacing SNSK's provision store in 1992. Similarly, Esso opened a commercial fuel station in 1994. The Svalbard Council changed its regulations from 1993 and allowed parties to run for election. In a step to increase tourism, Svalbard Polar Hotel opened in 1995, and a year later mining of Mine 3 terminated. Longyearbyen Community Council was established in 2002, replacing the Svalbard Council and assimilating SSD, and took on many of the responsibilities and the structure of a municipality.
This period also saw the rise of a number of scientific establishments. The Agricultural University of Norway had established a primitive seed bank in 1984. The University Centre in Svalbard opened on 6 September 1993 and had 30 students in its inaugural semester. Telenor Mobil established GSM coverage in 1995, and in 2004 the Svalbard Undersea Cable System opened, providing fiber optic cable connected to the mainland. The European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) opened a radar in 1996, followed by Svalbard Satellite Station in 1999 and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in 2008.