David Broome

Contest: Business and science
Note: Abandoned Arctic Mine, Julenissegruva Mine, Svalbard, Norway
Locate: Julenissegruva Mine
City: Longyearbyen
Comment: Svalbard is an Arctic Archipelago under Norwegian Sovereignty, situated roughly halfway between the northern coast of mainland Europe and the North Pole. It may have been discovered as early as the 12th century, by the Vikings during Norse expeditions, but it was not formally discovered until the late 1500's, when the Dutch were attempting to locate a Northern Sea Route. The first settlement on the island was established by the Dutch in 1619, and focused primarily on Whaling and hunting for commerce. In the centuries that followed, Britain, Denmark, Norway, France and Russia also established settlements on Svalbard for the commercial resources. In 1920, the Treaty of Svalbard granted Norway sovereignty over the archipelago.
With a polar bear population nearly double that of the human population, only a small hand-full of communities remain on Svalbard today; all being Norwegian and Russian, but also including international research stations. The 3 sectors of economy on Svalbard, today, include coal mining, Research and tourism. This is a photo from the historic abandoned Julenissegruva Coal Mine, just outside of Svalbard's capitol and largest settlement, Longyearbyen.