Barentsburg

Barentsburg
Russian coal mining settlement
The town from above
Heroic Soviet-style mural on the community centre building, Barentsburg
Barentsburg Location in western Svalbard
Coordinates: 78°04′0″N 14°13′0″E / 78.06667°N 14.21667°E / 78.06667; 14.21667
Country	Norway
Syssel	Svalbard
island	Spitsbergen
Population (2015)
• Total	471
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Barentsburg (Russian: Баренцбург) is the second-largest settlement on Svalbard, with about 500 inhabitants (2007), almost entirely Russians and Ukrainians. It is the site of the Barentsburg Pomor Museum.

Named after Dutch explorer Willem Barents, the town is a mining town, with coal mining conducted by the Soviet company Arktikugol since 1932. The population has declined over the decades; in its heyday, over 1,000 Soviet citizens inhabited Barentsburg.

Although Svalbard is under Norwegian sovereignty, the unique Svalbard Treaty of 1920 allows citizens of signatory countries equal rights to exploit natural resources. Russia, along with Norway (via the Sveagruva mine and Mine 7), maintains mining operations on Svalbard as a result. Russia maintains a consulate in Barentsburg, the northernmost diplomatic mission of any kind in the world. Barentsburg still has a Norwegian mail address and Norwegian phone numbers.

Barentsburg started as a Dutch mining town in the 1920s. In 1932 the Dutch sold their concession to the Soviet Union. Since 1932 the Russian state-owned Arktikugol Trust (Russian for "Arctic Coal") has been operating on Svalbard. The main economic activity is coal mining by the Arktikugol (Арктикуголь) company. The coal is usually exported to Northern European buyers. The town relies entirely on mainland Russia for food and coinage. There have been instances in which not enough food was sent, and aid packages were sent from Longyearbyen. Tourism is now being developed, but does not yet generate enough income to revive the town.