Svalbard This week in history, 3 January
1920
The Mine 1 accident
A large accident in Mine 1 on 3 January 1920 was marked a hundred years later, in 2020.
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Friday 2 January 2026Before the Wire, which starts 26 October 2026Updated 23:59
Polar night, day 68 of 111. The sun returns 15 February.
Svalbard Wire starts on 26 October 2026. Pages before that date show the history of the island.
From the timeline, Discovery and whaling
1607
Hudson shows the way for whalers
Only when the Englishman Henry Hudson came to Svalbard in 1607 did people notice the hunting possibilities. English, Dutch, German, French, Danish and Norwegian vessels joined in, and there were several armed clashes between ships from different countries.
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The timeline by era
- 1596Discovery and whaling, 3 entries
- 1715Hunting and expeditions, 4 entries
- 1905The coal town, 6 entries
- 1920The Svalbard Treaty, 4 entries
- 1941War and rebuilding, 4 entries
- 1975The modern town, 3 entries
- 2015The present transition, 6 entries