Ny-Ålesund

Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is a small town in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard,. Svaldbard is part of Norway. Ny-Ålesund is on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya). It lies on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden.

It is a company town, the whole settlement is owned by one company. This company is called Kings Bay. It provides facilities for permanent research activities by 19 institutions from 11 countries. The town is ultimately owned by the Ministry of Climate and Environment and is not incorporated (i.e. is not recognised as a town by the Norwegian government). Ny-Ålesund has an all-year permanent population of 30 to 35. During summer, the population can reach 114. Its facilities include Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben, Svalbard Rocket Range, a port and Ny-Ålesund Town and Mine Museum, as well as a number of buildings dedicated to research and environmental monitoring activities. It is the northernmost functional civilian settlement in the world.

The town was founded in 1917 by Peter Brandal and his mining company, Kings Bay Kull Comp. Initially mining was carried out until 1929, but it was unprofitable for most of the 1920s. There were a series of air expeditions launched from Ny-Ålesund towards the North Pole. The company was nationalized in 1933 and the town was used for tourism and as a fishing port. Mining resumed for some months in 1941 and then from 1945. After several fatal incidents occurred including a mining accident on 5 November 1962 that killed 21 miners in what became known as the Kings Bay Affair, mining activity was terminated and Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet resigned. Kongsfjord Telemetry Station opened in 1967 and the town gradually transformed into a research settlement, with the Norwegian Polar Institute having had a year-round presence since 1968. As of 2021, 18 institutions from 11 countries have a more or less permanent presence in Ny-Ålesund – five of them with year-round activity, the remaining primarily present during the spring-summer-autumn field season.

Ny-Alesund also has the most-northerly post office in the world.

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References

• Brekke, Berit (1996). Ny-Ålesund (in Norwegian). Norwegian Polar Institute. ISBN 978-82-7666-090-6.
• Hanoa, Rolf (1993). Kings Bay Kull Comp. A/S 1917–1992 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Schibsted. ISBN 978-82-516-1448-1.
• Hisdal, Vidar (1998). Svalbard: nature and history. Oslo: Norwegian Polar Institute. ISBN 978-82-7666-152-1.
• Holm, Kari (1999). Longyearbyen – Svalbard: historisk veiviser (in Norwegian). ISBN 978-82-992142-4-7.
• Kriege, J.; Russo, A. (April 2000). "A History of the European Space Agency 1958–1987: Volume I The story of ESRO and ELDO, 1958–1973" (PDF). European Space Agency. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
• Tamnes, Rolf (1992). Svalbard og den politiske avmakt (in Norwegian). Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies.
• Thusesen, Nils Petter (2005). Svalbards historie i årstall (in Norwegian). Oslo: Orion. ISBN 978-82-458-0742-4.
• Ulfstein, Geir (1995). The Svalbard Treaty. Scandinavian University Press. ISBN 978-8200227137.
• Øvregard, Per (1996). Televerket: I samfunnets tjeneste (in Norwegian). Vol. 2. Norsk Telemuseum. ISBN 978-8291335100.

Other websites

• Official website