Svalbard
Svalbard, the group name for all the Norwegian islands in the Arctic Ocean north of the Norwegian coast. The territory consists almost entirely of the Spitsbergen group, of which Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Edge, Barents, and Prins Karls Forland are the largest islands. Svalbard's area, including outlying islands, is about 24,000 square miles (62,000 km2).
The islands are bleak and mountainous, with glaciers running down to the sea in many areas. Winters are long, bitterly cold, and almost continually dark; summers are cool and short. Coal mining during the summer is virtually the only economic activity. Svalbard's population numbers only a few thousand.
The islands were probably known to the Vikings by 1200 A.D., but their discovery is usually credited to Willem Barents, the Dutch explorer who sighted them on an Arctic voyage in 1596. Except for some whaling, sealing, and trapping, the islands were of little importance until the 1890's, when coal mining began. Control of the islands was disputed by several nations until 1925, when Norway gained full sovereignty by international agreement.