A Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic region, Svalbard is a site of immense natural beauty, unforgetting landscapes, a distinct ecology, & an abundance of natural resources. Seven national parks & twenty-three nature reserves cover a total of two-thirds of the archipelago protecting its ecologically sensitive & largely untouched natural environment.
The first mention of Svalbard is seen in the Icelandic sagas, according to which it was discovered by Norse seamen in the year 1194. However, much like the early discovery of Vinland (later known as the Americas) by the Vikings, it wasn’t until much later that the widespread knowledge of the existence of these areas were known. It was in 1596 that a Dutch mariner by the name of Willem Barentsz first came across the archipelago, while looking for a northern passage to China. Unbeknown to him of his discovery of an entire archipelago, he named the island he landed on as “Spitsbergen”- dutch for sharp pointed (spitse) mountains (bergen). The name “Spitsbergen” was used to refer to both the island & the archipelago until 1925, when the archipelago was officially renamed as “Svalbard”- Old Norse for Land with a frozen coat. The sightings of the islands were recorded & the archipelago was soon included on maps.
The first mention of Svalbard is seen in the Icelandic sagas, according to which it was discovered by Norse seamen in the year 1194. However, much like the early discovery of Vinland (later known as the Americas) by the Vikings, it wasn’t until much later that the widespread knowledge of the existence of these areas were known. It was in 1596 that a Dutch mariner by the name of Willem Barentsz first came across the archipelago, while looking for a northern passage to China. Unbeknown to him of his discovery of an entire archipelago, he named the island he landed on as “Spitsbergen”- dutch for sharp pointed (spitse) mountains (bergen). The name “Spitsbergen” was used to refer to both the island & the archipelago until 1925, when the archipelago was officially renamed as “Svalbard”- Old Norse for Land with a frozen coat. The sightings of the islands were recorded & the archipelago was soon included on maps.
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| Map of “Spitzbergen Suivant les Hollandais”, Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1758) |
Whaling & Advent of Industrial Mining
In 1607, the famous English explorer Henry Hudson is reported to have sailed as far as Willem Barentsz, reaching Bjørnøya & Spitsbergen islands. On his return back, he reported a great number of whales, walrus & polar bears, which started a rush to those areas for purposes of hunting. Bjørnøya (Bear Island) & West Spitsbergen soon became bases for hunting Whales, Walruses, Seals & Bears, with hunting expeditions & whalers coming from England, Spain, France, Netherlands, Northern German states, Denmark-Norway, & the Russian Empire among others. Gradually the whalers accumulated a good knowledge of the coastline, while the interior regions remained uncharted for quite some time. Whaling & such allied activities continued in the region until the 1820s when the hunting expeditions were forced to move to other regions of the Arctic because of the complete local extinction of the populace resulting from their over-exploitation.
With the emergence of whaling in the 1600s, there were small attempts at mining minerals in Spitsbergen. Industrial coal mining started in 1899 with Søren Zachariassen of Tromsø establishing the first mining company to exploit the mineral resources of Svalbard. Soon, other companies followed suit and established bases in Svalbard to exploit its resources.
Svalbard Treaty (1920) & Svalbard Act (1925)
The Svalbard archipelago, since its discovery in 1596, remained as a territory without a nation, with people of different nationalities taking part in various activities- whaling, fishing, hunting, mining, research & tourism. However, not belonging to a nation left it without an authority to frame laws & regulation. This lack of regulations & order of law resulted in a number of incidents of aggression due to issues ranging from workers rights to sovereignty of the territory, which only increased over time with the discovery of mineral deposits. Although Denmark-Norway never gave up its claim to the archipelago, it still remained “terra nullius”- nobody’s land. The Government of Norway took initiatives in the 1900s and 1910s with negotiation & multilateral conferences resulting in the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, that recognised Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago.
The “Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen” was signed on 9 February 1920 by 14 contracting parties- France, Norway, Italy, United States of America, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Denmark & the United Kingdom (then including colonies in Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, South Africa), and came into effect on 14 August 1925. Several additional parties signed the treaty after it was ratified by the original contracting parties, with 46 signatories as of 2018. The Treaty established Svalbard as a visa free, demilitarised, free economic zone under the sovereignty of Norway, among other provisions.
As a response to the “Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen” of 1920, the Parliament of Norway passed “Svalbard Act of 17 July 1925 no 11”, which established the sovereignty & rule of law of Norway in Svalbard archipelago. Also, the law officially renamed the archipelago as Svalbard, and its largest island as Spitsbergen, ending the centuries old synonymous usage of the term “Spitzbergen” for both the archipelago & its largest island.
Industrial Mining & Company Settlements
The first commercially viable company was the “Arctic Coal Company” set up in 1906 by an American industrialist named John Munro Longyear in the west side of Adventfjorden, where he set up a mining settlement called Longyear City. The settlement later grew to be called Longyearbyen- the largest permanent settlement in Svalbard. Following the commercial success of the Arctic Coal company, various company towns & settlements developed in Grumant, Barentsburg, Ny-Ålesund, Sveagruva, Bear Islands (Tunheim) & Pyramiden, as states & companies rushed to invest in the new coal rush.
Following the First World War and the resulting financial difficulties that ensued, the mining operations of the Arctic Coal Company was sold to the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK), an Oslo based Norwegian state owned (Ministry of Trade & Industry) company in 1916. After the purchase, SNSK built new barracks for mining operations, including one health center. SNSK owns about 4% of the total land in Svalbard and operated a total of two coal mines, one at Longyearbyen, & the other at Svea- which closed recently in 2017.
In 1931, the Arktikugol State Enterprise was established by the Soviet Union to overtake all Soviet interests in the Svalbard region. The company had settlements in Barentsburg, Pyramiden, & Grumant with a port at Colesbukta. Over time most settlements were forced to close down due to declining coal deposits which made mining unprofitable- Grumant abandoned in 1965 & Pyramiden in 1998. The company carried out a series of explorations from the 1960s to the 1980s in search for oil reservoirs, but never found any profitable one. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the company underwent a series of reductions in subsidies which resulted in it closing down many amenities - kindergartens, schools, among a series of reductions in workers wages.
Local Economy & Company Scrip Issues
Given the many company towns & settlements, various companies issued scrip money. Such scrip money was exclusive to the region & company issuing it and could be redeemed only in the stores of the issuing company for buying goods & services. This issuance of scrip money, in the absence of other retail stores in the region, gave the companies a monopoly on the economic situation of the Svalbard archipelago, which they often used to exploit the workers by selling goods at a marked up price. The notable companies that issued company scrip money were- Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK), Arktikugol Trust, Kings Bay Kull Company, Svenska Stenkols Aktiebolaget Spetsbergen SA & Island Creek Stores Company.
The SNSK with permission from the Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, introduced its own company scrip money in 1924- composed entirely of paper money, for use in its stores & settlements. This new money was considered at par with the Norwegian Krone, and a total of 14 notes were issued by the company office for purchase of goods at the company stores.
In 1607, the famous English explorer Henry Hudson is reported to have sailed as far as Willem Barentsz, reaching Bjørnøya & Spitsbergen islands. On his return back, he reported a great number of whales, walrus & polar bears, which started a rush to those areas for purposes of hunting. Bjørnøya (Bear Island) & West Spitsbergen soon became bases for hunting Whales, Walruses, Seals & Bears, with hunting expeditions & whalers coming from England, Spain, France, Netherlands, Northern German states, Denmark-Norway, & the Russian Empire among others. Gradually the whalers accumulated a good knowledge of the coastline, while the interior regions remained uncharted for quite some time. Whaling & such allied activities continued in the region until the 1820s when the hunting expeditions were forced to move to other regions of the Arctic because of the complete local extinction of the populace resulting from their over-exploitation.
With the emergence of whaling in the 1600s, there were small attempts at mining minerals in Spitsbergen. Industrial coal mining started in 1899 with Søren Zachariassen of Tromsø establishing the first mining company to exploit the mineral resources of Svalbard. Soon, other companies followed suit and established bases in Svalbard to exploit its resources.
Svalbard Treaty (1920) & Svalbard Act (1925)
The Svalbard archipelago, since its discovery in 1596, remained as a territory without a nation, with people of different nationalities taking part in various activities- whaling, fishing, hunting, mining, research & tourism. However, not belonging to a nation left it without an authority to frame laws & regulation. This lack of regulations & order of law resulted in a number of incidents of aggression due to issues ranging from workers rights to sovereignty of the territory, which only increased over time with the discovery of mineral deposits. Although Denmark-Norway never gave up its claim to the archipelago, it still remained “terra nullius”- nobody’s land. The Government of Norway took initiatives in the 1900s and 1910s with negotiation & multilateral conferences resulting in the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, that recognised Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago.
The “Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen” was signed on 9 February 1920 by 14 contracting parties- France, Norway, Italy, United States of America, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Denmark & the United Kingdom (then including colonies in Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, South Africa), and came into effect on 14 August 1925. Several additional parties signed the treaty after it was ratified by the original contracting parties, with 46 signatories as of 2018. The Treaty established Svalbard as a visa free, demilitarised, free economic zone under the sovereignty of Norway, among other provisions.
As a response to the “Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen” of 1920, the Parliament of Norway passed “Svalbard Act of 17 July 1925 no 11”, which established the sovereignty & rule of law of Norway in Svalbard archipelago. Also, the law officially renamed the archipelago as Svalbard, and its largest island as Spitsbergen, ending the centuries old synonymous usage of the term “Spitzbergen” for both the archipelago & its largest island.
Industrial Mining & Company Settlements
The first commercially viable company was the “Arctic Coal Company” set up in 1906 by an American industrialist named John Munro Longyear in the west side of Adventfjorden, where he set up a mining settlement called Longyear City. The settlement later grew to be called Longyearbyen- the largest permanent settlement in Svalbard. Following the commercial success of the Arctic Coal company, various company towns & settlements developed in Grumant, Barentsburg, Ny-Ålesund, Sveagruva, Bear Islands (Tunheim) & Pyramiden, as states & companies rushed to invest in the new coal rush.
Following the First World War and the resulting financial difficulties that ensued, the mining operations of the Arctic Coal Company was sold to the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK), an Oslo based Norwegian state owned (Ministry of Trade & Industry) company in 1916. After the purchase, SNSK built new barracks for mining operations, including one health center. SNSK owns about 4% of the total land in Svalbard and operated a total of two coal mines, one at Longyearbyen, & the other at Svea- which closed recently in 2017.
In 1931, the Arktikugol State Enterprise was established by the Soviet Union to overtake all Soviet interests in the Svalbard region. The company had settlements in Barentsburg, Pyramiden, & Grumant with a port at Colesbukta. Over time most settlements were forced to close down due to declining coal deposits which made mining unprofitable- Grumant abandoned in 1965 & Pyramiden in 1998. The company carried out a series of explorations from the 1960s to the 1980s in search for oil reservoirs, but never found any profitable one. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the company underwent a series of reductions in subsidies which resulted in it closing down many amenities - kindergartens, schools, among a series of reductions in workers wages.
Local Economy & Company Scrip Issues
Given the many company towns & settlements, various companies issued scrip money. Such scrip money was exclusive to the region & company issuing it and could be redeemed only in the stores of the issuing company for buying goods & services. This issuance of scrip money, in the absence of other retail stores in the region, gave the companies a monopoly on the economic situation of the Svalbard archipelago, which they often used to exploit the workers by selling goods at a marked up price. The notable companies that issued company scrip money were- Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK), Arktikugol Trust, Kings Bay Kull Company, Svenska Stenkols Aktiebolaget Spetsbergen SA & Island Creek Stores Company.
The SNSK with permission from the Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, introduced its own company scrip money in 1924- composed entirely of paper money, for use in its stores & settlements. This new money was considered at par with the Norwegian Krone, and a total of 14 notes were issued by the company office for purchase of goods at the company stores.
- Year 1924/25: 10 Øre
- Year 1930/31: 10 Øre
- Year 1932/33: 10 Øre
- Year 1948/49: 10 Øre
- Year 1954/55: 1 Krone
- Year 1955/56: 10 Øre, 50 Øre
- Year 1970: 5 Kroner
- Year 1973: 5 Kroner, 10 Kroner
- Year 1976: 10 Kroner, 50 Kroner
- Year 1978: 5 Kroner, 100 Kroner
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SNSK Scrip Issue of 5 Kroner, 1970 [Credit: Banknote Museum] |
Arktikugol, the Soviet state owned mining corporation too introduced its company scrip money, denominated in Rubles & kopecks, for use in its company towns & settlements. It was first introduced in 1946 in the form of 4 coins issued by the Arktikugol Trust- 10 & 15 kopecks made of Aluminum-Bronze, with Cupro-Nickel 20 & 50 kopecks. Later issues were in the form of paper money issued by the Soviet Ministry of Coal Industry in 1957 & 1979, and in 1961 by the Soviet Ministry of Maritime Fleet. The last issue was in the form of 4 coins in 1993 issued by the company- 10 Rubles, 25 Rubles, 50 Rubles made of Copper-Nickel clad Steel, & 100 Rubles of Aluminum-Bronze.
- Year 1946: “Arktikugol” 10, 15, 20, 50 Kopecks (Coins)
- Year 1957: “Ministry of Coal Industry” 3, 5, 10, 20 Kopecks (Banknotes)
- Year 1957: “Ministry of Coal Industry” 1, 3, 5, 10, 25 Rubles (Banknotes)
- Year 1961: “Ministry of Maritime Fleet” 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20 Kopecks (Banknotes)
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Arktikugol Scrip coinage Issue of 20 Kopecks (1946) [Credit: Münzen am Zoo, Berlin] |
- Year 1979: “Ministry of Coal Industry” 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20 Kopecks (Banknotes)
- Year 1979: “Ministry of Coal Industry” 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 Rubles (Banknotes)
- Year 1993: “Arktikugol” 10, 25, 50, 100 Rubles (Coins)
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Arktikugol Scrip Issue of 1 Ruble, issued by Soviet Ministry of Coal Industry (1957) [Credit: Banknote Museum] |
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Arktikugol Scrip Issue of 20 Kopeck, issued by Soviet Ministry of Maritime Fleet (1961) [Credit: Banknote Museum] |
Other than Arktikugol & SNSK, other agencies and companies too issued their form of scrip money too. Most notable of them include Island Creek Stores Company, Kings Bay Kull Company, Svenska Stenkols Aktiebolaget Spetsbergen (SSAS), & Aktiebolaget Spetsbergens Svenska Kolfält (ASSK)- issued scrip money in the form of scrip notes for use in their company stores.
The Island Creek Stores Company denominated its scrip issues in Dollars & cents, while the rest of the companies issued their scrips in Kroner & Øre, units of the local norwegian currency.
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Island Creek Stores Company, Spitsbergen company store Scrip for 25 Cents (1915) [Credit: Banknote Museum] |
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Scrip issued by Island Creek Stores Company, Spitsbergen for 1 Dollar (1915) [Credit: Banknote Museum] |
Island Creek Stores Company issued a total of 9 scrip notes (coupons)- 1 Cent, 5 Cents, 10 Cents, 25 Cents, 50 Cents, 1 Dollar, 5 Dollars, 10 Dollars, 25 Dollars, for use in their Company Merchandise Stores. Most of these coupons were printed by one American printer, Southern Coupon Co, in Birmingham (AL).
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Scrip for 10 Dollar (1915), printed by Southern Coupon Co, Birmingham (AL) [Credit: Banknote Museum] |
The Kings Bay Kull Company, was founded in 1916 for mining in the Arctic region. It operated coal mines in Ny-Ålesund, which today serves as a research settlement, and through its subsidiary company Bjørnøen AS, has the ownership of the Svalbard island of Bjørnøya. Following an event known as the Kings Bay Affair (1963) in Norway surrounding unsafe mining conditions & accidents in the company operated regions of Svalbard, the company was nationalised. The company is known to have issued 2 scrip coupons during 1963-1964, denominated in Kroner, for use in its settlements.
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Kings Bay Kull Company 1963/64 Scrip issue of 5 Kroner [Credit: Banknote Museum] |
Svalbard Today
Svalbard today has some permanent settlements, almost all of which are company towns operated and staffed for the regular operations of the organisation. All such settlements have functional seaports & heliports, as it serves as a primary mode of transportation. A few settlements have road systems, though they are not interconnected with each other. Given the terrain, snowmobiles are used extensively, mostly during winters. The archipelago has a public airport in the town of Longyearbyen, with connections to Oslo, & Tromsø. Other airports are situated at Ny-Ålesund, Svea. However, these airports are company owned, and not accessible to the public as they offer only charter services.
Longyearbyen is the only incorporated town in Svalbard, and serves as the seat of the governor of Svalbard. The other major settlements include-
- Ny-Ålesund, a company town owned and operated by the Kings Bay AS, a state owned Norwegian infrastructure company. It serves as a research settlement for institutions and research stations set up by states & agencies under the Svalbard Treaty.
- Barentsburg, a company town operated by Arktikugol, a unitary state enterprise of the Russian Federation (previously, the Soviet Union). It serves as a permanent settlement inhabited by Russians and Ukrainians. A small coal mining settlement, the mined coal is sold primarily to North & West European buyers in exchange for hard cash (forex) for the Russian Federation. There are future plans by the Russian state to establish a fish processing facility in Barentsburg.
-Soubhik Chatterjee
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