Page 10 - An-introduction-to-Svalbard

Amsterdamøya & Danskøya. Amsterdamøya and neighbouring Danskøya are situated in
Spitsbergen’s northwest corner. Amsterdamøya was the site of Smeerenburg, the main Dutch
whaling station, and there are still visible remnants from the bustling whaling activities in the
1600s. In those days, between 200 and 300 Dutch ships visited Smeerenburg each summer.
Danskøya was the starting point for Swedish engineer Andrées fatal hydrogen balloon ride.
Hornsund. A beautiful fjord system surrounded by jagged mountains and interwoven with
glaciers. On the north side of the fjord mouth is a Polish research station, established in the
1950s and manned all year round. On the south side of Hornsund is one of Svalbard's highest
mountains Hornsundtind, 1431 meters high.
Sjuøyane. A group of seven islands located north of Nordaustlandet. The northernmost island,
which is also the northernmost island in all of Svalbard, is called Rossøya. Most of these islands are
named after famous British explorers, e.g. John Phipps (1773) and William Parry (1827). Walrus
and polar bears are frequent visitors here, and puffins even breed on the northernmost Rossøya.
Hinlopen & Alkefjellet. Hinlopen is the strait between Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet. Alke-
fjellet is one of Svalbard’s most impressive bird cliffs, columnar dolorite towering more than
100 metres straight out of the sea. Some 100,000 pairs of Brünnich’s guillemots occupy the
small ledges along with neighbouring kittiwakes.
Bjørnøya/Bear Island. Bjørnøya was the very first island that Willem Barents landed on in
1596. His men saw a polar bear and killed it after a long fight, so the island owes its name to
this encounter. The southern cliff shores house enormous colonies of seabirds, among them
Brünnich’s guillemots, puffins, razorbills, black guillemots, kittiwakes and glaucous gulls.

Above: Bear Island’s impressive bird cliffs.
Upper right: Alkefjellet. Lower right: Polar bear ahead!

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