Interesting Facts about Svalbard

Did You Know?

3 curious facts about Svalbard.

• Vikings and Russians may have discovered Svalbard as early as the 12th century.
• Svalbard has an area of about 61,000 square kilometers, more than half of which are covered by snow and ice.
• Captain Pool describes from his Svalbard Expedition in 1612 that whales were so plentiful around the vessels that they virtually had to plough through them. This was all over by the end of the 18th century, when the stock of bowhead whale east and west of Greenland suffered a complete collapse. Years of intensive hunting had almost led this species to extinction.