The Northernmost Town on Earth (Svalbard)

Longyearbyen on Svalbard is the northernmost settlement with over 1000 residents

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Come take a walk with me around Longyearbyen, the largest town on the Norwegian islands of Svalbard. Parts of it look familiar, but make no mistake, this place is different.

At 78 degrees North, it lies just 800 miles or 1300 kilometres from the North Pole. And with over 2,000 permanent inhabitants it is the Northernmost real town on Earth.
There are only 50km of road, including the small streets between houses, so people get around the island mainly on snowmobile. In fact there are more registered snowmobiles than residents…

.Anyone leaving town is required to travel with a gun and someone who knows how to use it because the islands are also home to polar bears. The average daytime high is below freezing for all but four months of the year, and from the end of October to mid-February the sun doesn’t rise at all. This is the long polar night. Living here is tough…

This vegetation was then covered in mud and sand and submerged under the sea. Over time it turned into the coal deposits that in the 20th century brought miners from Norway, Russia, and the US.
Most of the coal mines have now closed and the economy is gradually shifting towards tourism, education and research. Tourists take trips on snowmobiles and dog sleds…

.One day in the future Svalbard may no longer be as cold or remote as it once was. But for now it is a reminder of how through our ingenuity people can live in the most inhospitable of places.

Shot with a DJI Phantom 4 drone