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 LONGYEARBYEN
Longyearbyen's
history is closely related to mining. Longyearbyen is located next
to Adventfjorden, where several mines were started.
An American firm, Arctic Coal directed by John Munroe Longyear, started
a coal mine at the current location in 1906, and called it Longyear
City.
In 1915 Arctic Coal sold the mine to a Norwegian company, Store Norske
Spitsbergen kullkompani.
More and more people (1600 inhabitants) are living in Longyearbyen,
but now the primary activity is tourism, and service-related fields.
In addition there are several scientific enterprises, including UNIS
- the University courses on Svalbard, an auroral research station,
EISCAT - the European Scattering Radar, Svalsat - a satellite station
for contacting satellites in polar orbits, run in cooperation with
NASA, and several others.
There is a wide range of accommodation alternatives available in Longyearbyen,
from guesthouses to full service, high quality hotels.
Longyearbyen also has a camping, near the airport, which is the northernmost
camping of the world.
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