Svalbard Treaty

The Svalbard Treaty, signed in Paris after the First World War, recognized the full sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago, which had previously been terra nullius, a land belonging to no state. At the same time, it guaranteed citizens and companies of all signatory countries equal rights to fish, hunt and carry out mining and other commercial activity on the islands, and it prohibited the use of the archipelago for military purposes. The treaty took effect in 1925, when the islands also began to be called Svalbard instead of Spitsbergen. Coal mining had long been the main activity, with Norwegian and Russian settlements such as Longyearbyen and Barentsburg. The treaty still shapes how the islands are governed, including questions about resources in the surrounding waters.

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