See what life is like in the world's northernmost town, where it's dark for 4 months a year and polar bears roam free

While location are a mates of mini settlements further successful the north, Longyearbyen is the first of immoderate important size.

The municipality has a organization of astir 2,400 residents, according to Visit Svalbard.

After its find by Dutch explorer Willem Barents successful 1596, Svalbard became a guidelines for hunting and sportfishing the ample animals inhabiting the archipelago.

English, Danish, Dutch, and French companies fought complete the hunting grounds, which were rich | successful walrus and bowhead whales. It's estimated that the Dutch unsocial killed 60,000 whales betwixt the 17th and 18th centuries.

At the move of the 20th century, Longyearbyen was established arsenic a ember mining town; however, mining operations person since shuttered.

Mining has been phased retired of the full area, pinch Svalbard's last mine, the Norwegian-run Mine 7, closing successful June 2025. The entranceway to the past Norwegian ember excavation successful the municipality was permanently sealed earlier this year.

As mining phased out, Longyearbyen has go a destination for adventurous visitors and technological researchers. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, complete 150,000 group visited Svalbard arsenic a whole, according to 2018 data.

The municipality hosts the last day seed vault, which stores 1.4 cardinal seed samples.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is located 400 feet wrong a upland adjacent Longyearbyen and is location to complete 1.4 cardinal seed samples.

Its architecture would besides make it a spectacular lair for a Bond villain.

Wandering polar bears airs a very existent threat to the organization of Longyearbyen. While the bears chiefly unrecorded northbound of Longyearbyen connected the battalion ice, they tin occasionally task into municipality successful hunt of food.

In 2018, a polar carnivore was killed connected Svalbard aft it attacked a cruise vessel guard, the BBC reported. In 2011, a 17-year-old student from the UK was killed by an emaciated polar carnivore that approached a group connected Spitsbergen arsenic they camped, The Guardian reported.

Although polar carnivore encounters are rare, residents and visitors are instructed to transportation a firearm aliases a "suitable intends of scaring off" bears erstwhile walking extracurricular the municipality limits.

The governor of Svalbard really has a six-page study detailing the champion weapons to ward disconnected polar bears.

Residents besides person to contend pinch natural disasters.

Two group died successful an avalanche successful Longyearbyen successful 2015 that destroyed 11 flat buildings. In 2017, different avalanche caused further harm to the town.

While location is simply a mini graveyard — the northernmost 1 successful the world — coffin burials were banned successful the 1950s aft the deceased started to resurface owed to pouring permafrost, the Financial Times reported.

The land besides lacks the accommodation to attraction for the earnestly sick aliases pregnant women, arsenic the Longyearbyen Hospital lacks a maternity ward. If you're nearing the extremity of life aliases astir to springiness birth, you person to spell backmost to the mainland to person due care.

Immigrants successful Svalbard use from a unsocial treaty that allows them to participate the archipelago without a specific visa aliases activity permit, arsenic agelong arsenic they tin support themselves financially.

Hans-Henrik Hartmann, past caput of the ineligible portion astatine the Norwegian government's migration department, told Al Jazeera successful 2006: "If an asylum seeker is refused residence successful Norway, he tin settee successful Svalbard truthful agelong arsenic he tin get location and is capable to salary for himself."

Recent data, however, propose that much group time off Svalbard annually than move there, and a 2022 study reported that 64% of the town's residents enactment for less than 5 years.

While the cost of living successful Longyearbyen is unsurprisingly precocious owed to its distant location, residents tin use from the town's institutions, specified arsenic the school, which reportedly serves astir 235 pupils aged 6 to 18.

It is — besides unsurprisingly — the northernmost schoolhouse successful the world.

Students astatine the schoolhouse won't conscionable study maths and literature.

"They will study really to behave successful nature, really to behave pinch polar bears, really to past successful winter, really to find a safe spot to camp, aliases really to woody pinch avalanches," a coach told The Guardian successful 2007.

The University Centre successful Svalbard (UNIS) is, you guessed it, the northernmost tertiary schoolhouse successful the world.

Many of the 700 students who return courses location each twelvemonth don't person to salary immoderate tuition fees — they only salary an management "semester fee" of 710 Norwegian Krone, which is astir $75.

They are offered courses successful Arctic biology, Arctic geology, Arctic geophysics, and Arctic technology.

All students must study really to usage a firearm, per Visit Svalbard.

Due to Longyearbyen's utmost bluish location, it experiences a "polar night" each twelvemonth betwixt mid-November and precocious January.

Besides those months of full darkness, the region's "dark season," erstwhile the sun remains nether the sky but mightiness illuminate a twilight, expands from precocious October to mid-February.

Every year, the group of Longyearbyen observe the extremity of the acheronian play pinch the Sun Festival Week, according to Visit Svalbard. During the festival, the municipality gathers connected the aged infirmary steps to observe the sun's return. The saying goes that "the sun is declared backmost successful Longyearbyen erstwhile its rays scope the steps."