Spitsbergen
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Spitsbergen is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway.
Dutch whalers near Spitsbergen by Abraham Storck (1690)
A 1906 photograph of the Norwegian whaling factory ship Bucentaur in Bellsund, Spitsbergen
Hornsund Polish Arctic Station, photographed in 2003
Lilliehöökfjorden
Svalbard
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Svalbard, 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. The islands of the group range from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen, followed in size by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. The largest settlement is Longyearbyen on the west coast of Spitsbergen.
Satellite photo of Svalbard made by Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, August 2022
Late-summer satellite view of Spitsbergen, showing the Holmstrom Glacier and meltwater pools stained deep-red by glacial silt, from erosion of soft, iron-rich Devonian sediments
The whaling station of the Amsterdam chamber of the Northern Company in Smeerenburg, by Cornelis de Man (1639), but based on a painting of a Dansk hvalfangststation (Danish whaling station) by A.B.R. Speeck (1634), which represented the Danish station in Copenhagen Bay (Kobbefjorden)
Demolition of the wireless station during Operation Gauntlet in 1941