Introduction
Largest settlement and administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway
Place in Svalbard, NorwayLongyearbyenTown (de facto capital)View of LongyearbyenAurora above LongyearbyenGlobal Seed VaultSvalbard ChurchThe Culture House
Coat of armsLocation of Longyearbyen (red) in SvalbardLongyearbyenShow map of ArcticLongyearbyenShow map of EarthCoordinates: 78°13′N 15°38′E / 78.217°N 15.633°E / 78.217; 15.633Sovereign state NorwayTerritorySvalbardIslandSpitsbergenFounded1907Incorporated1 January 2002Government • BodyLongyearbyen Community Council • MayorLeif Terje AunevikArea • Total10 km2 (3.9 sq mi)Population (2026) • Total2,817 • Density259.5/km2 (672/sq mi)Postal code9170 and 9171Websitewww.lokalstyre.no
Longyearbyen (Urban East Norwegian: [ˈlɔ̀ŋjɛrˌbyːən], locally [ˈlɔ̀ŋjɑrˌbyːən], "Longyear Town") is one of the world's northernmost settlements, with an estimated population of around 2,400–2,800, and is the capital and largest settled area of Svalbard. 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. As of 2002, Longyearbyen Community Council is an official Norwegian municipality. It is the seat of the Governor of Svalbard. As of 2024, the town's mayor is Leif Terje Aunevik.
Known as Longyear City until 1926, the town was established by and named after American John Munro Longyear, whose Arctic Coal Company started coal-mining there in 1906. Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK) took over the mining operations in 1916, and still conducts mining. The German Kriegsmarine almost completely destroyed the town on 8 September 1943, but rebuilding took place after the Second World War. Historically, Longyearbyen was a company town, but most mining operations moved to Sveagruva during the 1990s, and production ceased in 2017 due to immense financial losses suffered by SNSK since 2014 due to market conditions. Meanwhile, the town has seen a large increase in tourism and research. This includes the arrival of institutions such as the University Centre in Svalbard, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and Svalbard Satellite Station. Svalbard Airport, Svalbard Church and the Svalbardbutikken department store serve the community.
History
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Longyear City in 1908 (top) and 1925 (bottom)
Early 20th century[edit]
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,: 55  and Norway Post operated a post office at Hotellneset from 1897 to 1899.: 104  The first commercially viable coal on Svalbard was harvested by Søren Zakariassen in 1899.: 45  In 1901, Bergen-Spitsbergen Kullgrube-kompani started mining coal in Adventtoppen.: 46 
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 coal fields. 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 labourers, and named the town Longyear City.: 46  Coal was transported the 1.2 kilometers (0.75 mi) from the mine to the port using an aerial tramway built by the aerial cableway company Adolf Bleichert & Co. of Leipzig, Germany.: 148  In 1913, the company started preliminary work to open Mine 2a.: 47 
Following financial difficulties during the First World War,: 46  the mining operations were bought by Store Norske, which was incorporated in Kristiania (renamed Oslo 1926) on 30 November 1916.: 119  That year, SNSK built five new barracks, including one that was made into a hospital.: 83  SNSK introduced its own money with the approval of Norges Bank, consisting entirely of banknotes at par with Norwegian krone.: 116  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.: 64  Two years later, 26 men were killed in a coal dust explosion in Mine 1. This resulted in the mine being closed: 46  and the electrification of Mine 2.: 47  The same year, the first truck was delivered for use in the mining operations.: 69 
The Church of Norway appointed Thorleif Østenstad as Svalbard's first vicar and teacher in 1920.: 126  A school was established jointly by the church and SNSK and had an inaugural eight pupils.: 114  The first church in Svalbard opened on 28 August 1921,: 126  and the church's reading room was from then on used as a school.: 114  Longyear City was renamed Longyearbyen in 1926.: 85 
The Norwegian Telecommunications Administration established a coast radio station, Svalbard Radio, at Finneset in 1911, which was moved to Longyearbyen in 1930.: 149  The town's tourist industry started in 1935, when SS Lyngen started calling regularly during the summer season.: 153  In 1937, SNSK established Sverdrupbyen to house workers for Mine 1b, and operation of the mine started in 1939.: 143  In 1938, Longyearbyen's first road was completed, between the town centre and Sverdrupbyen.: 166  Operations at Mine 2b, a different entrance to Mine 2a, started in 1939.: 47 
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;: 74  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.: 73  With Longyearbyen depopulated, a small German garrison and air strip 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.: 75 
In September 1943, the Kriegsmarine dispatched two battleships, Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, and nine destroyers to bombard Longyearbyen, Barentsburg and Grumant.: 75  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.: 74 
Post-Second World War[edit]
The old power station, one of a handful of buildings that survived the Second World War, and the cable centre
Plans were laid during the war to ensure a quick reconstruction and resumption 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.: 79  Nybyen was established in 1946 and consisted of five barracks, each housing 72 people.: 94  The first issue of Svalbardposten was published in November 1948. Until then, various wall newspapers had been published irregularly.: 133  In 1949, Longyearbyen received a telephone connection with the mainland via a radio connection between Svalbard Radio and Harstad.: 149  In 1949, a farm was built in Longyearbyen to hold cattle (for milk), pigs, and hens.: 37  A local radio station started broadcasting in 1950.: 150  The burial ground remained in use until 1950, with 44 people buried.: 65  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 centre Huset opened in 1951.: 57 
Mining in Mine 1b was terminated in 1958,: 47  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.: 48  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. From the same year, Braathens SAFE started serving the tundra airport with irregular winter flights.: 154–158  In 1957, a principal was hired at the primary school and a new church was opened on 24 August 1958.: 126  From 1961, the primary school was supplemented by a private middle school.: 114  A branch of Tromsø Sparebank opened in 1959.: 16 
In the 1960s, the town's farm was closed and replaced by industrial liquefaction of powdered milk.: 86  The first serial-produced snowmobile was taken into use in 1961. By 1969, there were 140 registered snowmobiles and only 33 registered cars.: 69  From 1962 to 1984, a recreational centre was run at Sverdrupbyen.: 143  Ordinary operation in Mine 4 started in 1966 but was terminated by 1970,: 48  two years after Mine 2b closed.: 47  Operations in Mine 6 commenced in 1969.: 48  Television broadcasting equipment was installed in 1969, with the schedule of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation being aired with a two-week delay.: 150 
Longyearbyen in 1989, view from aerial tramway
In 1971, a new school building, with a combined primary and lower secondary school, was opened, along with a new gym and a 12.5-meter (41 ft) swimming pool.: 114  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.: 134  Operations of Mine 3 started in March 1971: 47  and operations in Mine 7 commenced the following year.: 48  In 1973, the Ministry of Trade and Industry bought a third of SNSK. It continued buying additional shares until it reached a 99.94 per cent ownership in 1976. The airport was opened in 1975 and initially provided four weekly services to mainland Norway and semi-weekly services to Russia.: 129  In 1978, the community received satellite communications with the mainland.: 150  The same year, an upper secondary program was introduced at the public school.: 114  From 1984, television programmes were broadcast live via satellite.: 150 
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.: 116  Mine 6 closed the following year.: 108  From 1982, SNSK permitted private individuals to own and operate cars. By 1990, there were 353 registered cars and 883 snowscooters.: 70  On 1 July 1983, SNSK moved its head office from Bergen to Longyearbyen.: 119  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.
University Centre in Svalbard
During the 1990s, the authorities started a process to "normalise" Longyearbyen by abolishing the company town scheme and introducing a full range of services, a varied economy and local democracy.: 86  Commercial enterprises included a shopping mall replacing SNSK's provision store in 1992.: 125  Similarly, Esso opened a commercial fuel station in 1994.: 70  The Svalbard Council changed its regulations from 1993 and allowed parties to run for election.: 136  In a step to increase tourism, Svalbard Polar Hotel opened in 1995,: 132  and a year later mining of Mine 3 terminated.: 47  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.: 44  The University Centre in Svalbard opened on 6 September 1993 and had 30 students in its inaugural semester.: 164  Telenor Mobil established GSM coverage in 1995,: 151  and in 2004 the Svalbard Undersea Cable System opened, providing fiber-optic cable connection to the mainland. The European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) opened a radar in 1996,: 36  followed by Svalbard Satellite Station in 1999: 141  and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in 2008.
21st century[edit]
Mine 2b was mined from 1938 to 1969 and today, it is a heritage site
The Norwegian side of Svalbard in January 2021 announced its plans to phase out all the coal mining activities on the island. On 30 June 2025 the Mine 7, the last Norwegian coal mine in Svalbard, was closed, though the mine in Barentsburg continued operation.
Following the 2022 Russian invasion into Ukraine, Longyearbyen and the Svalbard island became an important geopolitical location for Russia and NATO, due to the relative proximity of Svalbard to the Kola Peninsula, an important Russian port housing its nuclear-armed naval fleet, and its strategic location for Western intelligence, which potentially mean it can become a target of Russia. In 2022 Russian trawlers were spotted as they severed an undersea communications cable that connected mainland Norway to Svalbard. In May 2025 Britain's foreign secretary, David Lammy, arrived in Svalbard to promote "close defence and intelligence ties with Norway and mutual efforts to track hostile activity in the Arctic".
