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Spitsbergen

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The Northern Sea Route ( NSR ) ( Russian : Се́верный морско́й путь , romanized :  Severnyy morskoy put , shortened to Севморпуть, Sevmorput ) is a shipping route about 5,600 kilometres (3,500 mi) long. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route between the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region.

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134-516: Spitsbergen ( Urban East Norwegian: [ˈspɪ̀tsˌbærɡn̩] ; formerly known as West Spitsbergen ; Norwegian : Vest Spitsbergen or Vestspitsbergen [ˈvɛ̂stˌspɪtsbærɡn̩] , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen ) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway in the Arctic Ocean . Constituting the westernmost bulk of

268-739: A free economic zone and a demilitarized zone . The Norwegian Store Norske and the Russian Arktikugol are the only mining companies at Spitsbergen. Research and tourism have become the important supplementary industries, featuring among others the University Centre in Svalbard and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault . No roads connect the settlements; instead snowmobiles, aircraft and boats serve as local transport. Svalbard Airport, Longyearbyen provides

402-423: A 200-nautical-mile (370 km; 230 mi) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around Svalbard in 1977, Norway retains a restrictive fisheries policy in the zone, and the claims are disputed by Russia. Tourism is focused on the environment and is centered on Longyearbyen. Activities include hiking, kayaking, walks through glacier caves and snow-scooter and dog-sled safaris. Cruise ships generate a significant portion of

536-465: A digital space that will provide various services to cargo carriers, shipowners, captains, insurers, and other participants in the logistics market on the NSR. In particular, it involves issuing permits for the passage of vessels, monitoring, dispatching, and managing the work of the fleet. The single digital platform will collect information from all the available sources, for example, hydrometeorological data,

670-435: A distinct dialect at the level of farm clusters. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Many linguists note a trend toward regionalization of dialects that diminishes the differences at such local levels; there is, however, a renewed interest in preserving dialects. Norwegian nouns are inflected for number (singular/plural) and for definiteness (indefinite/definite). In

804-548: A few dialects, definite nouns are also inflected for the dative case . Norwegian nouns belong to three noun classes (genders): masculine, feminine and neuter. All feminine nouns can optionally be inflected using masculine noun class morphology in Bokmål due to its Danish heritage. In comparison, the use of all three genders (including the feminine) is mandatory in Nynorsk. All Norwegian dialects have traditionally retained all

938-705: A few privately owned houses, most of which are recreational cabins. Because of this, it is almost impossible to live on Spitsbergen without working for an established institution. Since the resettlement of Spitsbergen in the early 20th century, coal mining has been the dominant commercial activity. Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani , a subsidiary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry , operates Svea Nord in Sveagruva and Mine 7 in Longyearbyen. The former produced 3.4 million tonnes in 2008, while

1072-400: A high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable. In both accents, these pitch movements are followed by a rise of intonational nature (phrase accent)—the size (and presence) of which signals emphasis or focus, and corresponds in function to the normal accent in languages that lack lexical tone , such as English. That rise culminates in

1206-473: A mine. Sveagruva is a dorm town, with workers commuting from Longyearbyen on a weekly basis. Since 2002, Longyearbyen Community Council has had many of the same responsibilities of a municipality , including utilities, education, cultural facilities, fire department, roads and ports. No care or nursing services are available, nor is welfare payment available. Norwegian residents retain pension and medical rights through their mainland municipalities. The hospital

1340-501: A noun, unlike English which has a separate article, the , to indicate the same. In general, almost all nouns in Bokmål follow these patterns (like the words in the examples above): In contrast, almost all nouns in Nynorsk follow these patterns (the noun gender system is more pronounced than in Bokmål): There is in general no way to infer what grammatical gender a specific noun has, but there are some patterns of nouns where

1474-516: A population of 2,753, of whom 423 were Russian or Ukrainian , 10 were Polish and 322 were non-Norwegians living in Norwegian settlements. The largest non-Norwegian groups in Longyearbyen in 2005 were from Thailand, Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Germany. Spitsbergen is among the safest places on Earth, with virtually no crime. Longyearbyen is the largest settlement on the island, the seat of

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1608-431: A school, library, sports center, community center, swimming pool, farm and greenhouse. Pyramiden has similar facilities; both are built in typical Soviet style and are the site of the world's two most northerly Lenin statues and other socialist realism artwork. The three main industries on Spitsbergen are coal mining, tourism and research. In 2007, there were 484 people working in the mining sector, 211 people working in

1742-421: A single language, to be called Samnorsk . A 1946 poll showed that this policy was supported by 79% of Norwegians at the time. However, opponents of the official policy still managed to create a massive protest movement against Samnorsk in the 1950s, fighting in particular the use of "radical" forms in Bokmål text books in schools. In the reform in 1959, the 1938 reform was partially reversed in Bokmål, but Nynorsk

1876-428: A single vote. The name Nynorsk , the linguistic term for modern Norwegian , was chosen to contrast with Danish and emphasise the historical connection to Old Norwegian. Today, this meaning is often lost, and it is commonly mistaken as a "new" Norwegian in contrast to the "real" Norwegian Bokmål. Bokmål and Nynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. This was a result of a state policy to merge Nynorsk and Bokmål into

2010-587: A winter population of 35 and a summer population of 180. Poland operates the Polish Polar Station at Hornsund , with ten permanent residents. Barentsburg is the only remaining Russian settlement, after Pyramiden was abandoned in 1998. A company town, all facilities are owned by Arktikugol, which operates a coal mine. In addition to the mining facilities, Arktikugol has opened a hotel and souvenir shop, catering to tourists taking day trips or hikes from Longyearbyen. The village has facilities such as

2144-482: A year-round arctic shipping route. Rosatom is a state corporation that organizes the navigation of vessels in the waters of the NSR in accordance with the Merchant Shipping Code, manages a fleet of powerful nuclear icebreakers, ensures the safety and uninterrupted operation of navigation, provides port services for gas tankers in case of unfavorable weather conditions. Rosatom , a legacy member of

2278-413: Is Bokmål will study Nynorsk as a mandatory subject throughout both elementary and high school. A 2005 poll indicates that 86.3% use primarily Bokmål as their daily written language, 5.5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7.5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing

2412-545: Is a demilitarized zone , as the treaty prohibits the establishment of military installations. The treaty requires Norway to protect the natural environment. The island is administered by the Governor of Svalbard , who holds the responsibility as both county governor and chief of police , as well as authority granted from the executive branch. Although Norway is part of the European Economic Area (EEA) and

2546-488: Is a " doomsday " seedbank to store seeds from as many of the world's crop varieties and their botanical wild relatives as possible. A cooperation between the government of Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust , the vault is cut into rock near Longyearbyen, keeping it at a natural −6 °C (21 °F) and refrigerating the seeds to −18 °C (0 °F). The Svalbard Undersea Cable System

2680-574: Is a 1,440-kilometre (890 mi) fibre optic line from Svalbard to Harstad , needed for communicating with polar orbiting satellite through Svalbard Satellite Station and installations in Ny-Ålesund. The Arctic World Archive , a huge digital archiving concern run by Norwegian private company Piql and the state-owned coal-mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani , opened in March 2017. In mid-2020, it acquired its biggest customer in

2814-411: Is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The now-abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål and is far closer to Danish while

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2948-492: Is also planned to build two more icebreakers of this prototype. These icebreakers will be equipped with a two-reactor power plant with RITM-400 reactors with a capacity of 315 MW. The maximum ice thickness overcome by these icebreakers will exceed 4 meters. It was reported in 2023 that Rosmorport , a state-owned agency of the Russian Ministry of Transport , has plans to run cruises for tourists in icebreakers along

3082-604: Is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish , Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects , in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages , constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While

3216-509: Is high, the economic advantage of the NSR-SCR combined shipping scheme is obvious. Ice thickness directly affects the shipping cost. Now, when the Arctic ice is slowly melting due to weather conditions, the cost of icebreaking service is expected to reduce. Also, vessels of some ice classes can sail on the NSR independently. That is why the NSR icebreaker escort fee may be several times lower than

3350-467: Is little precipitation, giving the island a steppe climate, plants still have good access to water because the cold climate reduces evaporation. The growing season is very short, and may last only a few weeks. There are six national parks on Spitsbergen: Indre Wijdefjorden , Nordenskiöld Land , Nordre Isfjorden Land , Nordvest-Spitsbergen , Sassen-Bünsow Land and Sør-Spitsbergen . The island also features Festningen Geotope Protected Area ; some of

3484-703: Is part of University Hospital of North Norway , while the airport is operated by state-owned Avinor . Ny-Ålesund and Barentsburg are company towns with all infrastructure owned by Kings Bay and Arktikugol, respectively. Other public offices with presence on Svalbard are the Norwegian Directorate of Mining , the Norwegian Polar Institute , the Norwegian Tax Administration and the Church of Norway . Svalbard

3618-612: Is possible by snowmobile during winter, or by ship all year round. All settlements have ports, and Longyearbyen has a bus system. Svalbard Airport, Longyear , located 3 km (2 mi) from Longyearbyen, is the only airport offering air transport for the island. Scandinavian Airlines has daily scheduled services to Tromsø and Oslo ; there are also irregular charter services to Russia. Lufttransport provides regular corporate charter services from Longyearbyen to Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben and Svea Airport for Kings Bay and Store Norske; these flights are in general not available to

3752-609: Is regulated by the Norwegian Academy , which determines acceptable spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. There is also an unofficial form of Nynorsk, called Høgnorsk , discarding the post-1917 reforms, and thus close to Ivar Aasen's original Landsmål. It is supported by Ivar Aasen-sambandet , but has found no widespread use. In 2010, 86.5% of the pupils in the primary and lower secondary schools in Norway receive education in Bokmål, while 13.0% receive education in Nynorsk. From

3886-481: Is subordinate Nord-Troms District Court and Hålogaland Court of Appeal , both located in Tromsø. Ny-Ålesund is a permanent settlement based entirely on research. Formerly a mining town, it is still a company town operated by the Norwegian state-owned Kings Bay . While there is some tourism at the village, Norwegian authorities limit the access to the outpost to minimise impact on the scientific work. Ny-Ålesund has

4020-579: Is the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen , while the second-largest settlement is the Russian coal-mining settlement of Barentsburg . (This was sold by the Netherlands in 1932 to the Soviet company Arktikugol.) Other settlements on the island include the former Russian mining communities of Grumantbyen and Pyramiden (abandoned in 1961 and 1998, respectively), a Polish research station at Hornsund , and

4154-532: Is the largest Mesozoic marine reptile ever found—a pliosaur estimated to be almost 15 m (49 ft) long. Svalbard has permafrost and tundra , with both low, middle and high Arctic vegetation . One hundred and sixty-five species of plants have been found on the archipelago. Only those areas which defrost in the summer have vegetation. Vegetation is most abundant in Nordenskiöld Land , around Isfjorden and where effected by guano . While there

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4288-459: Is to write in dialect for informal use. When writing an SMS, Facebook update, or fridge note, many people, especially young ones, write approximations of the way they talk rather than using Bokmål or Nynorsk. There is general agreement that a wide range of differences makes it difficult to estimate the number of different Norwegian dialects. Variations in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation cut across geographical boundaries and can create

4422-587: Is today to a large extent the same language as Bokmål though somewhat closer to the Danish language. It is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy , which translates the name as 'Standard Norwegian'. The other is Høgnorsk ('High Norwegian'), a more purist form of Nynorsk, which maintains the language in an original form as given by Ivar Aasen and rejects most of the reforms from the 20th century; this form has limited use. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, but not for how to speak

4556-405: Is uvular [ ʁ ] or [ χ ] . And in the dialects of North-Western Norway, it is realized as [ r ] , much like the trilled ⟨rr⟩ of Spanish. Norwegian is a pitch-accent language with two distinct pitch patterns, like Swedish. They are used to differentiate two-syllable words with otherwise identical pronunciation. For example, in many East Norwegian dialects,

4690-496: Is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, and also in the upper parts of mountain valleys in the southern and eastern parts of Norway. Examples are Setesdal , the western part of Telemark county ( fylke ) and several municipalities in Hallingdal , Valdres , and Gudbrandsdalen . It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in many rural parts of Trøndelag (mid-Norway) and

4824-626: The Arctic Economic Council , also provides navigation and hydrographic support in the waters of the Northern Sea Route, develops the infrastructure of sea harbors, and manages the state property of these ports. For this purpose, the Directorate of the Northern Sea Route was formed, that now manages three subordinate organizations "Atomflot" (ROSATOMFLOT), "Hydrographic Enterprise" and "ChukotAtomEnergo". Recently,

4958-738: The Bering Strait ( Cape Dezhnev ). The NSR straddles the seas of the Arctic Ocean ( Kara , Laptev , East Siberian and Chukchi Seas ). The entire route lies in Arctic waters and within Russia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and is included in what has been called the Northeast Passage , analogous to Canada's Northwest Passage . The Northern Sea Route itself does not include the Barents Sea , and it therefore does not reach

5092-466: The Dano-Norwegian language that replaced Middle Norwegian as the elite language after the union of Denmark–Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries and then evolved in Norway, while Nynorsk was developed based upon a collective of spoken Norwegian dialects. Norwegian is one of the two official languages in Norway, along with Sámi , a Finno-Ugric language spoken by less than one percent of

5226-587: The Germanic languages evolved, further branching off into the North Germanic languages , of which Norwegian is one. Proto-Norse is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic during the first centuries AD in what is today Southern Sweden. It is the earliest stage of a characteristically North Germanic language, and the language attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions,

5360-638: The Hanseatic League between 1250 and 1450 in the main Scandinavian cities brought large Middle Low German –speaking populations to Norway. The influence of their language on Scandinavian is comparable with that of French on English after the Norman conquest . In the late Middle Ages, dialects began to develop in Scandinavia because the population was rural and little travel occurred. When

5494-565: The IUCN Red List . Particularly Storfjorden and Nordvest-Spitsbergen are important breeding ground for seabirds. The Arctic tern has the furthest migration, all the way to Antarctica . Only two songbirds migrate to Spitsbergen to breed: the snow bunting and the northern wheatear . Rock ptarmigan is the only bird to overwinter. Two partial skeletons of Pliosaurus funkei from the Jurassic period were discovered in 2008. It

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5628-778: The Polish Polar Station , Indian Himadri Station , and the Chinese Arctic Yellow River Station , plus Russian facilities in Barentsburg. The University Centre in Svalbard in Longyearbyen offers undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses to 350 students in various arctic sciences, particularly biology , geology and geophysics . Courses are provided to supplement studies at the mainland universities; there are no tuition fees and courses are held in English, with Norwegian and international students equally represented. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault

5762-564: The Reformation came from Germany, Martin Luther 's High German translation of the Bible was quickly translated into Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic. Norway entered a union with Denmark in 1397 and Danish, over time, replaced Middle Norwegian as the language of the elite, the church, literature, and the law. When the union with Denmark ended in 1814, the Dano-Norwegian koiné had become

5896-572: The Schengen Agreement , Svalbard is not part of the Schengen Area nor EEA. Residents of Spitsbergen do not need visas for Schengen but are prohibited from reaching Svalbard from mainland Norway without them. People without a means of income can be rejected as residents by the governor. Citizens of any treaty signatory country may visit the island without a visa. Russia retains a consulate in Barentsburg . In 2009, Spitsbergen had

6030-490: The Suez Canal is 12,840 nautical miles, but only 5,770 nautical miles through the Northern Sea Route. For the corporate players in bulk shipping of relatively low-value raw materials, cost savings for fuel are a crucial driver to explore the Northern Sea Route for commercial transits, more than delivery time, or environmental concerns. Sailing along the NSR can also help to reduce emission costs due to shorter distances. With

6164-518: The "Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route" (" Glavsevmorput ") was established on the basis of the Naval Operations Headquarters of FSUE “Atomflot”. The main purpose of the creation of Glavsevmorput is to organize the navigation of vessels in the waters of the Northern Sea Route. Glavsevmorput Federal State Budgetary Institution solves the following tasks: ensuring the organization of icebreaking vessels taking into account

6298-530: The 14th or 15th century, although solid evidence preceding the 17th century is lacking. Following the English whalers and others in referring to the archipelago as Greenland, they named it Grumant (Грумант). The name Svalbard is first mentioned in Icelandic sagas of the 10th and 11th centuries, but this may have been Jan Mayen . Early whaling expeditions to Svalbard in general and Spitsbergen in particular tended, because of currents and fauna, to cluster on

6432-621: The 17th and 18th centuries, English whalers referred to the islands as "Greenland", a practice still followed in 1780 and criticized by Sigismund Bacstrom at that time. The "Spitzbergen" spelling was used in English during the 19th century, for instance by Beechey, Laing, and the Royal Society . In 1906 the Arctic explorer Sir Martin Conway regarded the Spitzbergen spelling as incorrect; he preferred Spitsbergen , as he noted that

6566-475: The 20th century, being used by large newspapers, encyclopedias, and a significant proportion of the population of the capital Oslo, surrounding areas, and other urban areas, as well as much of the literary tradition. Since the reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005), the official Bokmål can be adapted to be almost identical with modern Riksmål. The differences between written Riksmål and Bokmål are comparable to American and British English differences . Riksmål

6700-583: The Allied weather station in Operation Zitronella . On 6 September, a squadron consisting of Tirpitz , the battleship Scharnhorst , and nine destroyers weighed anchor in Altenfjord and Kåfjord and headed for Spitsbergen, to attack the Allied base. At dawn on 8 September 1943, Tirpitz and Scharnhorst opened fire against the two 3-inch guns which comprised the defences of Barentsburg, and

6834-678: The Atlantic. The Northern Sea Route currently serves the Arctic ports and major rivers of Siberia by importing fuel, equipment, food and exporting timber and minerals. There are currently six major seaports located on the NSR route in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation: Sabetta, Dikson, Dudinka, Khatanga, Tiksi, and Pevek ports. Some parts of the route are only free of ice for two months per year, but melting Arctic ice caps are likely to increase traffic and

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6968-626: The Center for Marine Research showed that exceeding the maximum permissible concentrations in the atmospheric air, sea waters, and bottom sediments, which could indicate the impact of economic activities at this stage of development of the NSR was not recorded. Proponents of using the sea route for global trade claim that because it is considerably shorter than the existing sea routes from Asia to Europe, usage emits less CO 2 , by cutting time at sea, and fuel consumption, by more than half. The distance from Murmansk (Russia) to Yokohama (Japan) through

7102-698: The Fourth IMO GHG Study 2020, sea cargo transportation is responsible for 2.9% of global emissions. In the next 20 years the trading maritime volume is expected to double. Marine transport produces about 1 gigaton of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions per year and has been struggling for many years to reduce its environmental impact. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has obliged sea carriers to reduce CO 2 emissions by 50% by 2050. Marine transport generates 14% of all transport emissions, and effective techniques that could replace marine engines powered by fossil fuels are not currently used, in

7236-455: The Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language. The board's work has been subject to considerable controversy throughout the years. Both Nynorsk and Bokmål have a great variety of optional forms. The Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Riksmål is called moderate or conservative , depending on one's viewpoint, while the Bokmål that uses

7370-408: The NSR water area. Researchers and economists usually compare the Northern Sea Route with the conventional Suez Canal Route. The first route is shorter, which allow to save on fuel, but it is connected with environmental risks and increased operating costs. However, the above-mentioned research can be considered disputable and incomplete, as it does not consider such factors like the reduced length of

7504-764: The North Atlantic has recently been cited by historians as the first step of the Danish–Norwegian state into overseas colonialism. It eventually built a small overseas empire of East Indian trade posts, North Atlantic possessions (such as Greenland and Iceland), and a small Atlantic trade route between possessions on the Guinea Coast (in modern Ghana) and what are now the United States Virgin Islands . The entire Svalbard archipelago, nominally ruled first by Denmark–Norway , and later

7638-468: The Northern Sea Route (NSR) remains low in comparison to the Suez Canal . Though, the cargo traffic is steadily growing every year. The research shows that the NSR-SCR combined shipping scheme can be more competitive than the use of the Suez Canal Route only. If the shipping company provides sufficient loading on the NSR, uses a reliable ice-class vessel for navigation and the price of crude oil

7772-556: The Northern Sea Route (comparing to the Suez Canal) and, therefore, reduced CO2 emissions; the absence of charge payments for the passage; no risks of a pirate attack; the reduced cost of journey due to its reduced length. Major shipping companies encounter substantial costs due to carbon emissions, whereas the deployment of nuclear icebreakers, which operate without hydrocarbon fuel and produce very low carbon emissions, offers an economic advantage for shippers. Some studies recommend

7906-497: The Northern Sea Route in 2022 was 34.034 million tonnes, slightly less than in 2021. Total number of voyages in 2022 was 2994, made by 314 vessels. In the months from January to July, the number of voyages was higher than in 2021. 280 voyages was made with LNG from the Sabetta port. The volume of cargo transported along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in 2023 reached a historical maximum and amounted to 36.254 million tons. In 2023,

8040-654: The Northern Sea Route is a strategically important transport artery, it can already be called economically profitable in comparison, for example, with the Suez Canal due to a number of reasons: As the development of the icebreaking fleet is the most important condition for constant navigation in Arctic waters, another three nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 are currently being built in St. Petersburg : Yakutiya , Chukotka and Leningrad laid down in January 2024. All nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 will be able to change

8174-642: The Northern Sea Route may be ice-free by 2030, earlier than the Northwest Passage or Transpolar Sea Route . A 2016 report by the Copenhagen Business School found that large-scale trans-Arctic shipping may become economically viable by 2040. The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping maintains an ice class . The Rosneft corporation often contracts the Zvezda Shipyard to build its LNG carriers , for use with

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8308-562: The Norwegians (as Union between Sweden and Norway from 1814 to 1905, independent Norway from 1905), remained a source of riches for fishery and whaling vessels from many nations. The islands also became the launching point for a number of Arctic explorers, including William Edward Parry , Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , Otto Martin Torell , Alfred Gabriel Nathorst , Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton . Between 1913 and 1920, Spitsbergen

8442-547: The SCR toll. State Corporation Rosatom assumes the possibility and functions of the NSR and ensures the safety of navigation on the high technological level. Besides organizing the navigation along the NSR and the icebreaking services with the world's only nuclear icebreaker fleet, Rosatom is planning to implement the Arctic Ice Regime Shipping System (AIRSS) methodology. This system will represent

8576-658: The archipelago Svalbard in 1925, the main island becoming Spitsbergen . By the end of the 20th century, this usage had become common. The first recorded sighting of the island was by Willem Barentsz, a Dutch explorer who came across it while searching for the Northern Sea Route in June 1596. The first good map, with the east coast roughly indicated, appeared in 1623, printed by Willem Janszoon Blaeu . Around 1660 and 1728, better maps were produced. The archipelago may have been known to Russian Pomor hunters as early as

8710-607: The archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea . Spitsbergen covers an area of 37,673 km (14,546 sq mi), making it the largest island in Norway and the 36th largest in the world . The administrative centre is Longyearbyen . Other settlements, in addition to research outposts, are the mining community of Barentsburg , the research community of Ny-Ålesund , and

8844-440: The archipelago. Once named Spitsbergen after its largest island, the Svalbard archipelago was made a part of Norway—not a dependency—by the Svalbard Act of 1925 . Since this date, it has been a region of Norway, with a Norwegian-appointed governor resident at the administrative centre of Longyearbyen. Limitations on the imposition of certain Norwegian laws are outlined in the Spitsbergen Treaty. The largest settlement on Spitsbergen

8978-424: The case of nuclear power, or still in modern era redevelopment, such as wind and solar power. Due to its shorter length, navigation on the NSR contributes to reducing the carbon footprint of maritime transport, although this entails considerable risks for fragile Arctic ecosystems. Taking care of the environmental is in focus when it comes to the development of the Northern Sea Route. For example, Rosatom evaluates

9112-400: The commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route. One study, for instance, projects "remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe, diversion of trade within Europe, heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic. Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem". At the same time, research conducted by

9246-425: The current state of the environment in NSR waters as a part of the joint project with Lomonosov Moscow State University Marine Research Centre (MSU MRC). The project involves studies that cover all components of the environment to determine the impact of maritime traffic at all ecosystem levels by means of experimental methods, special equipment, the development of digital services, and environmental practices. One of

9380-407: The destroyers ran inshore with landing parties, destroying a supply dump and wrecking a landing station. By noon, the hostilities had ended, with the landing parties returning to the ships, along with some prisoners. The German ships returned safely to Altenfjord and Kåfjord on 9 September 1943. This was the last operation for the Tirpitz . On 29 August 1996, Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 crashed on

9514-399: The dialects and comparing the dialects among the different regions. He examined the development of Icelandic , which had largely escaped the influences under which Norwegian had come. He called his work, which was published in several books from 1848 to 1873, Landsmål , meaning 'national language'. The name Landsmål is sometimes interpreted as 'rural language' or 'country language', but this

9648-596: The dialects. The retroflex consonants only appear in East Norwegian dialects as a result of sandhi , combining / ɾ / with / d / , / l / , / n / , / s / , and / t / . The realization of the rhotic / ɾ / depends on the dialect. In Eastern, Central, and Northern Norwegian dialects, it is a flap [ ɾ ] , whereas in Western and Southern Norway, and for some speakers also in Eastern Norway, it

9782-503: The draft from 10.5 to 8.1 meters, depending on the depth, which will allow them to work both at sea and in the mouths of Siberian rivers. Nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220 are powered by two RITM-200 reactors and capable of overcoming ice up to 3 meters thick. In addition, the Zvezda shipyard is working on the construction of the world's most powerful nuclear icebreaker Project 10510 "Russia", scheduled to commissioning in 2027. It

9916-581: The early 17th century, and the company's 1613 Royal Charter from the English Crown granted a monopoly on whaling in Spitsbergen, based on the (erroneous) claim that Hugh Willoughby had discovered the land in 1553. Not only had they wrongly assumed a 1553 English voyage had reached the area, but on 27 June 1607, during his first voyage in search of a "northeast passage" on behalf of the company, Henry Hudson sighted "Newland" (i.e. Spitsbergen), near

10050-644: The eighth grade onwards, pupils are required to learn both. Out of the 431 municipalities in Norway, 161 have declared that they wish to communicate with the central authorities in Bokmål, 116 (representing 12% of the population) in Nynorsk, while 156 are neutral. Of 4,549 state publications in 2000, 8% were in Nynorsk, and 92% in Bokmål. The large national newspapers ( Aftenposten , Dagbladet , and VG ) are published in Bokmål or Riksmål. Some major regional newspapers (including Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad ), many political journals, and many local newspapers use both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A newer trend

10184-724: The entire Northern Sea Route between Murmansk and Vladivostok . It was reported in July 2024 that Sibir would escort the light ice-class vessel Xin Xin Hai 1 on its voyage from the Port of Taicang near Shanghai via the Bering Strait and the NSR to the Port of Arkhangelsk before travelling on toward ports in the northern Europe . The New New Shipping Line of Hainan Yangpu , which owns at least two ice-class vessels, completed seven transits between July 2023 and December 2023, and in June 2024 signed an agreement with Rosatom to establish

10318-403: The final syllable of an accentual phrase, while the utterance-final fall common in most languages is either very small or absent. There are significant variations in pitch accent between dialects. Thus, in most of western and northern Norway (the so-called high-pitch dialects) accent 1 is falling, while accent 2 is rising in the first syllable and falling in the second syllable or somewhere around

10452-441: The form of GitHub , a subsidiary of Microsoft . Within Longyearbyen, Barentsburg and Ny-Ålesund, there are road systems, but they do not connect with each other. Off-road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground, but snowmobiles are used extensively during winter—both for commercial and recreational activities. Transport from Longyearbyen to Barentsburg (45 km or 28 mi) and Pyramiden (100 km or 62 mi)

10586-501: The forms that are close to Nynorsk is called radical . Nynorsk has forms that are close to the original Landsmål and forms that are close to Bokmål. Opponents of the spelling reforms aimed at bringing Bokmål closer to Nynorsk have retained the name Riksmål and employ spelling and grammar that predate the Samnorsk movement. Riksmål and conservative versions of Bokmål have been the de facto standard written language of Norway for most of

10720-555: The gender can be inferred. For instance, all nouns ending in - nad will be masculine in both Bokmål and Nynorsk (for instance the noun jobbsøknad , which means 'job application'). Most nouns ending in - ing will be feminine, like the noun forventning ('expectation'). Northern Sea Route Administratively, the Northern Sea Route begins at the boundary between the Barents and Kara Seas (the Kara Strait) and ends in

10854-435: The governor, and the only incorporated town. It features a hospital, primary and secondary school, university, sports centre with a swimming pool, library, cultural centre, cinema, bus transport, hotels, a bank, and several museums. The newspaper Svalbardposten is published weekly. Only a small fraction of the mining activity remains at Longyearbyen; instead, workers commute to Sveagruva (or Svea) where Store Norske operates

10988-498: The hydrometeorological, ice, and navigation conditions in the waters of the NSR; vessels navigation in the waters of the NSR; issuance, suspension, renewal, and termination of permits for sailing vessels in the waters of the NSR. To solve these tasks, the department arranges icebreaker fleet vessels in the waters of the NSR, monitors the traffic in the NSR water area, provides information on hydrometeorological, ice, and navigation conditions, and processes information from vessels located in

11122-430: The iconic symbol of Spitsbergen and one of the main tourist attractions. While they are protected, persons going outside settlements are required to carry a rifle to kill polar bears in self-defence , as a last resort should they attack. Spitsbergen shares a common polar bear population with the rest of Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land . The Svalbard reindeer ( R. tarandus platyrhynchus ) is a distinct sub-species. While it

11256-588: The inhabitants on the island were Russian and Germany and the Soviet Union had a non-aggression pact until 22 June 1941. Once the non-aggression pact was ended, the United Kingdom and Canada sent military forces to the island to destroy German installations, both the Soviet coal mines and the German weather station. In 1943, the German battleship Tirpitz and an escort flotilla shelled and destroyed

11390-426: The island, killing all 141 people on board. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 established full Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard. All 40 signatory countries of the treaty have the right to conduct commercial activities on the archipelago without discrimination, although all activity is subject to Norwegian legislation. The treaty limits Norway's right to collect taxes to that of financing services on Svalbard. Spitsbergen

11524-478: The island: the Arctic fox , the Svalbard reindeer , and accidentally introduced southern vole , which are only found in Grumant. Attempts to introduce the Arctic hare and the muskox have both failed. There are fifteen to twenty types of marine mammals , including whales, dolphins, seals , walruses and polar bears . Arctic charr inhabit Linne´vatn and other freshwater lakes on the island. Polar bears are

11658-406: The joint usage of the two routes where the Northern Sea Route is used in summer when it is almost ice-free, and the Suez Canal Route is sailed in the rest of the year. The researchers also claim that the economic feasibility of the NSR largely depends on its weather conditions. Even though the Arctic ice is melting and Polar routes are being extensively studied, the amount of cargo shipped through

11792-418: The key priorities within project implementation is the ongoing interaction between the international expert community from international environmental research institutes and non-governmental organizations. Over the course of three years, representatives of leading scientific institutions from Norway , Finland , France , Iceland , Great Britain , China , India , Egypt , Malaysia , Turkey took part in

11926-483: The land formerly test-drilled on has been protected as nature reserves or national parks. Spitsbergen Island coins were issued in 1946, with Russian Cyrillic lettering, in the USSR denomination of 10 and 20 kopecks. Then in 1993, coins were again minted in Russian values of 10, 20, 50 and 100 roubles. Both series have the motto "Arctic coal". Spitsbergen was historically a base for both whaling and fishing. Norway claimed

12060-555: The language. No standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in many other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect, whether it coincides with the written norms or not, is accepted as correct spoken Norwegian. However, in areas where East Norwegian dialects are used, a tendency exists to accept a de facto spoken standard for this particular regional dialect, Urban East Norwegian or Standard East Norwegian (Norwegian: Standard østnorsk ), in which

12194-455: The largely untouched, yet fragile environment. The island has many glaciers , mountains and fjords. The Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz gave Spitsbergen its name when he discovered it in 1596. The name Spitsbergen , meaning "pointed mountains" (from the Dutch spits - pointed, bergen - mountains), at first applied both to the main island and to the associated archipelago as a whole . In

12328-563: The late 2010s, Russia began improving its defense resources near the Northern Sea Route. Two-thirds of the Arctic seas remain ice-free in summer, that is why ships have more route options. In August 2017, the first ship traversed the Northern Sea Route without the use of icebreakers . According to the New York Times , this foreshadows more shipping through the Arctic, as the sea ice melts and makes shipping easier. The Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis projected in 2015 that

12462-424: The latter sends 35% of its output to Longyearbyen Power Station. Since 2007, there has not been any significant mining by the Russian state-owned Arktikugol in Barentsburg. There has previously been some test drilling for petroleum on land, but this did not give results good enough to justify permanent operation. The Norwegian authorities do not allow offshore petroleum drilling activities for environmental reasons, and

12596-629: The local population. Around 1030, Christianity came to Scandinavia , bringing with it an influx of Latin borrowings and the Roman alphabet . These new words were related to church practices and ceremonies, although many other loanwords related to general culture also entered the language. The Scandinavian languages at this time are not considered to be separate languages, although there were minor differences among what are customarily called Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian , Old Gutnish , Old Danish, and Old Swedish . The economic and political dominance of

12730-472: The location of ships and icebreakers, port congestion. As a result, users will receive an advanced "ice navigator" that will allow to plot a precise route in view of the changing ice conditions of the NSR. In other words, the study of Sibul et al. proposed a path-finding algorithm for the NSR strategic assessment. It uses real weather as input and find the optimal shipping route. Number of complete through transits per flag state . The total traffic volume on

12864-419: The main point of entry and exit. The island has an Arctic climate , although with significantly higher temperatures than other places at the same latitude. The flora benefits from the long period of midnight sun , which compensates for the polar night . Svalbard is a breeding ground for many seabirds, and also supports polar bears , arctic foxes , reindeer and marine mammals . Six national parks protect

12998-573: The maritime industry joining the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2024 and large freight companies receiving huge carbon bills, the savings on the EU ETS from reducing emissions could be in addition to the economic benefits for shippers. The route was first conquered by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld 's Vega expedition with a single wintering in 1878–79. The Northern Sea Route is one of several Arctic shipping routes . Since

13132-504: The mid-1930s the Northern Sea Route has been an officially managed and administered shipping route along the northern/Arctic coast of Russia. A convoy of seven brand new merchant vessels (900 DWT to 5,500 DWT) built for People's Republic of China but under Polish flag from Gdynia with the assistance of Soviet icebreakers reached port of Pevek (via Kara Gates , Vilkitsky , Dmitry Laptev and Sannikov Straits), two days of navigation before Bering Strait in 1956. The administrative entity

13266-481: The mining outpost of Sveagruva . Spitsbergen was covered in 21,977 km (8,485 sq mi) of ice in 1999, which was approximately 58.5% of the island's total area. The island was first used as a whaling base in the 17th and 18th centuries, after which it was abandoned. Coal mining started at the end of the 19th century, and several permanent communities were established. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognized Norwegian sovereignty and established Svalbard as

13400-486: The mother tongue of around 1% of the population. From the 1840s, some writers experimented with a Norwegianised Danish by incorporating words that were descriptive of Norwegian scenery and folk life, and adopting a more Norwegian syntax. Knud Knudsen proposed to change spelling and inflection in accordance with the Dano-Norwegian koiné , known as "cultivated everyday speech." A small adjustment in this direction

13534-617: The mouth of the great bay Hudson later named the Great Indraught ( Isfjorden ). In this way, the English hoped to head off expansion in the region by the Dutch, at the time their major rival. Initially, the English tried to drive away competitors, but after disputes with the Dutch (1613–24), they, for the most part, only claimed the bays south of Kongsfjorden . From 1617 onwards, a Danish-chartered company began sending whaling fleets to Spitsbergen. This successful expansion by Denmark into

13668-477: The name was Dutch, not German. This had little effect on British practice. In 1920 the international treaty determining the status of the islands was entitled the "Spitsbergen Treaty". The islands were generally referred to in the United States as "Spitsbergen" from that time, although the spelling "Spitzbergen" also commonly occurred through the 20th century. The Norwegian administrating authorities named

13802-546: The northeastern coast is part of Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve . All human traces dating from before 1946 are automatically protected. Svalbard is on Norway's tentative list for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Norwegian language Norwegian ( endonym : norsk [ˈnɔʂːk] ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway , where it

13936-417: The oldest form of the runic alphabets . A number of inscriptions are memorials to the dead, while others are magical in content. The oldest are carved on loose objects, while later ones are chiseled in runestones . They are the oldest written record of any Germanic language. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish Around 800 AD,

14070-582: The output of the Trebs and Titov oil fields . The Yamal LNG project of Novatek is another industrial scale development which transports product via the NSR. In July 2018 the Russian government transferred the main responsibility for the Northern Sea Route to Rosatom . Rosatom is a state corporation that manages the world's only nuclear icebreakers. As of 2020 the fleet included seven vessels: Yamal , Project 10521 50 Let Pobedy , Taymyr , Vaygach , Arktika , Siberia and Ural , and as of press date

14204-810: The population. Norwegian is one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries who speak Norwegian have the opportunity to use it when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for any interpretation or translation costs. Like most of the languages in Europe, Norwegian derives from Proto-Indo-European . As early Indo-Europeans spread across Europe, they became isolated from each other and new languages developed. In northwest Europe,

14338-442: The principles of Norwegian orthography, e.g. zebra in Norwegian is written sebra . Due to historical reasons, some otherwise Norwegian family names are also written using these letters. Some letters may be modified by diacritics : é , è , ê , ó , ò , and ô . In Nynorsk, ì and ù and ỳ are occasionally seen as well. The diacritics are not compulsory, but may in a few cases distinguish between different meanings of

14472-613: The public. There are heliports in Barentsburg and Pyramiden, and helicopters are frequently used by the governor and to a lesser extent the mining company Arktikugol. The climate of Svalbard is dominated by its high latitude, with the average summer temperature at 4 °C (39 °F) to 6 °C (43 °F) and January averages at −12 °C (10 °F) to −16 °C (3 °F). The North Atlantic Current moderates Spitsbergens's temperatures, particularly during winter, giving it up to 20 °C (36 °F) higher winter temperature than similar latitudes in Russia and Canada. This keeps

14606-505: The record for transit traffic in the waters of the Northern Sea Route was also broken; more than 2.1 million tons of cargo were transported. The growing importance of the NSR as an additional route and source of stability in the global logistics chain may increase significantly due to the fact that more and more of the world's largest shipping companies are avoiding the Red Sea due to the situation with Houthi missile attacks According to

14740-406: The remote northern settlement of Ny-Ålesund . RAF , RN , Fleet Air Arm Svalbard (1941–1945) Lapland War Associated articles Allied soldiers were stationed on the island in 1941 to prevent Nazi Germany from occupying the islands. Norway came under German occupation in 1940. Germany took control of the coal fields and the weather station during this time, although most of

14874-493: The route to gather data on operational feasibility, though they did not currently see it as commercially attractive. Escort assistance was required for three days from the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy . In June 2019 Dubai-based DP World signed agreements with the Russian Direct Investment Fund , ROSATOM, and Norilsk Nickel aiming to develop the Northern Sea Route. As

15008-750: The script was simplified to the Younger Futhark , and inscriptions became more abundant. At the same time, the beginning of the Viking Age led to the spread of Old Norse to Iceland , Greenland , and the Faroe Islands . Viking colonies also existed in parts of the British Isles , France ( Normandy ), North America, and Kievan Rus . In all of these places except Iceland and the Faroes, Old Norse speakers went extinct or were absorbed into

15142-606: The southern part of northern Norway ( Nordland county). Today, Nynorsk is the official language of not only four of the nineteen Norwegian counties but also various municipalities in five other counties. NRK , the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all written publications, and Nynorsk in 8% (2000). Like some other European countries, Norway has an official "advisory board"— Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council)— that determines, after approval from

15276-400: The surrounding waters open and navigable most of the year. The interior fjord areas and valleys, sheltered by the mountains, have larger temperature differences than the coast, giving about 2 °C (4 °F) lower summer temperatures and 3 °C (5 °F) higher winter temperatures. On the south of Spitsbergen, the temperature is slightly higher than further north and west. During winter,

15410-610: The syllable boundary. The pitch accents (as well as the peculiar phrase accent in the low-tone dialects) give the Norwegian language a "singing" quality that makes it easy to distinguish from other languages. Accent 1 generally occurs in words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse , and accent 2 in words that were polysyllabic. The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. The letters c , q , w , x and z are only used in loanwords . As loanwords are assimilated into Norwegian, their spelling might change to reflect Norwegian pronunciation and

15544-414: The temperature difference between south and north is typically 5 °C (9 °F), while about 3 °C (5 °F) in summer. Spitsbergen is the meeting place for cold polar air from the north and mild, wet sea air from the south, creating low pressure and changing weather and fast winds, particularly in winter; in January, a strong breeze is registered 17% of the time at Isfjord Radio , but only 1% of

15678-401: The three grammatical genders from Old Norse to some extent. The only exceptions are the dialect of Bergen and a few upper class sociolects at the west end of Oslo that have completely lost the feminine gender. According to Marit Westergaard , approximately 80% of nouns in Norwegian are masculine. Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages use a suffix to indicate definiteness of

15812-458: The time in July. In summer, particularly away from land, fog is common, with visibility under 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) registered 20% of the time in July. Precipitation is frequent but falls in small quantities, typically less than 400 millimetres (16 in) annually in western Spitsbergen. More rain falls in the uninhabited east side, where there can be more than 1,000 millimetres (39 in) annually. Three terrestrial mammalian species inhabit

15946-427: The tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector. The same year, mining produced a revenue of NOK 2,008 million, tourism NOK 317 million and research NOK 142 million. In 2006, the average income for economically active people was NOK 494,700—23% higher than on the mainland. Almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees; there are only

16080-454: The traffic, including stops by both offshore vessels and expeditionary cruises starting and ending in Svalbard. Traffic is strongly concentrated between March and August; overnight stays have quintupled from 1991 to 2008, when there were 93,000 guest-nights. Research on Svalbard centers on Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund, the most accessible areas in the high Arctic. Norway grants permission for any nation to conduct research on Svalbard, resulting in

16214-475: The two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age . Today there are two official forms of written Norwegian, Bokmål (Riksmål) and Nynorsk (Landsmål), each with its own variants. Bokmål developed from

16348-426: The unofficial Høgnorsk is more conservative than Nynorsk and is far closer to Faroese , Icelandic and Old Norse . Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. Each student gets assigned a native form based on which school they go to, whence the other form (known as Sidemål ) will be a mandatory school subject from elementary school through high school. For instance, a Norwegian whose main language form

16482-447: The vocabulary coincides with Bokmål. Outside Eastern Norway , this spoken variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism , rural versus urban discourse, and Norway's literary history. Historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk

16616-539: The western coast of Spitsbergen and the islands off shore. Shortly after whaling began (1611), the Danish–Norwegian crown in 1616 claimed ownership of Jan Mayen and the Spitsbergen islands, as all of Svalbard was then known, but in 1613, the English Muscovy Company had done the same. The primary and most profitable whaling grounds of this joint-stock company came to be centered on Spitsbergen in

16750-427: The word bønder ('farmers') is pronounced using the simpler tone 1, while bønner ('beans' or 'prayers') uses the more complex tone 2. Though spelling differences occasionally differentiate written words, in most cases the minimal pairs are written alike, since written Norwegian has no explicit accent marks. In most eastern low-tone dialects, accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses

16884-568: The word, e.g.: for ('for/to'), fór ('went'), fòr ('furrow') and fôr ('fodder'). Loanwords may be spelled with other diacritics, most notably ï, ü , á and à . The two legally recognized forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (literally 'book tongue') and Nynorsk ('new Norwegian'), which are regulated by the Language Council of Norway ( Språkrådet ). Two other written forms without official status also exist. One, called Riksmål ('national language'),

17018-499: The world's only transport vessel with nuclear power plant : the Sevmorput (1988). The last three nuclear icebreakers are the latest of Project 22220 . Rosatom also provides navigation and hydrographic support in the waters of the Northern Sea Route, develops the infrastructure of sea harbors, and manages the state property of these ports. In August 2018 Maersk Line sent the new "ice-class" container ship Venta Maersk through

17152-428: Was a neutral condominium . The Spitsbergen Treaty of 9 February 1920, recognises the full and absolute sovereignty of Norway over all the arctic archipelago of Svalbard. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, and not all Norwegian law applies. Originally limited to nine signatory nations, over 40 are now signatories of the treaty. Citizens of any of the signatory countries may settle in

17286-451: Was changed further towards Bokmål. Since then Bokmål has reverted even further toward traditional Riksmål, while Nynorsk still adheres to the 1959 standard. Therefore, a small minority of Nynorsk enthusiasts use a more conservative standard called Høgnorsk . The Samnorsk policy had little influence after 1960, and was officially abandoned in 2002. While the sound systems of Norwegian and Swedish are similar, considerable variation exists among

17420-480: Was clearly not Aasen's intended meaning. The name of the Danish language in Norway was a topic of hot dispute throughout the 19th century. Its proponents claimed that it was a language common to Norway and Denmark, and no more Danish than Norwegian. The proponents of Landsmål thought that the Danish character of the language should not be concealed. In 1899, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson proposed the neutral name Riksmål , meaning 'national language' like Landsmål , and this

17554-453: Was implemented in the first official reform of the Danish language in Norway in 1862 and more extensively after his death in two official reforms in 1907 and 1917. Meanwhile, a nationalistic movement strove for the development of a new written Norwegian. Ivar Aasen , a botanist and self-taught linguist, began his work to create a new Norwegian language at the age of 22. He traveled around the country collecting words and examples of grammar from

17688-641: Was officially adopted along with the 1907 spelling reform. The name Riksmål is sometimes interpreted as 'state language', but this meaning is secondary at best. (Compare to Danish rigsmål from where the name was borrowed.) After the personal union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, both languages were developed further and reached what is now considered their classic forms after a reform in 1917. Riksmål was, in 1929, officially renamed Bokmål (literally 'book language'), and Landsmål to Nynorsk (literally 'new Norwegian'). A proposition to substitute Danish-Norwegian ( dansk-norsk ) for Bokmål lost in parliament by

17822-418: Was previously almost extinct, hunting is permitted for both it and the Arctic fox. About thirty types of bird are found on Spitsbergen, most of which are migratory . The Barents Sea is among the areas in the world with most seabirds , with about 20 million counted during late summer. The most common are little auk , northern fulmar , thick-billed murre and black-legged kittiwake . Sixteen species are on

17956-639: Was sequentially updated, upgraded and renamed. Thus, in 2013, the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Administration of the Northern Sea Route” was created. In 2022 organizational authority  was transferred to the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route of Rosatom. Since 2008, the structure of Rosatom includes the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker , designed to travel the NSR. Beginning in

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