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The Discovery and Early Exploitation of Svalbard. Some Historiographical Notes

2005; Routledge; Volume: 22; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/08003830510020343

1503-111X

Thor B. Arlov,

Arctic and Russian Policy Studies

Abstract The chronology of the earliest history of Svalbard (Spitsbergen) has been, and still is, a controversial issue in historiography, partly due to inconclusive evidence and lack of sources that open up for different interpretations, but also because of particular interests in this contested region. This survey of a dozen important works shows that historiography reflects the changing national interests in Svalbard over time and the variations in intensity of political debate. By 1920, three different history traditions had established themselves with regard to the question of discovery and early exploitation: the Norwegian "Viking hypothesis", the Russian "Pomor hypothesis" and the nationally more neutral "Barentsz hypothesis". While Barentsz' discovery in 1596 is generally accepted as a historical fact, the hypotheses about earlier visits have proved strikingly resilient. The "archaeological turn" around 1970 introduced a fourth hypothesis, the possibility of a Stone Age settlement, and also hopes that new material evidence would finally solve the question of chronology. This has not happened; archaeological research has augmented historiography, but not caused a fundamental shift in positions and interpretations – national historical traditions remain influential. Notes 1. I use the term historiography to denote both the writing of history and the critical study of historical practice and its products. 2. See the Annex to the Svalbard Treaty, particularly section 2.9. 3. I use the modern term Svalbard throughout, although the contemporary name would usually be Spitsbergen. 4. A close reading of most of these works is done in Arlov (Citation1988), on which the following is largely based. 5. There is an account of the same expedition by Theunis Claesz, who was on board Rijp's ship. One of the observations recorded by Claesz is beheaded walruses in the sea. This baffled them, says Claesz, as they knew Russians often took the heads to secure the valuable teeth (Ulfsby, Citation1997: 198). This fragment has been interpreted as an indication of a Russian presence at Svalbard at the time. 6. Gerritsz' work was reprinted and translated numerous times. A facsimile of the original edition was published by F. Muller in Amsterdam in 1878. For a commented issue, see Naber (Citation1924). 7. It seems probable that Gerritsz got the logbook (or a copy of it) from Plancius, who was Barentsz' mentor and inspiration and who would be the most likely recipient of the documents brought back to Holland by the survivors of the expedition in 1597. 8. The Swedish diplomatic initiative stranded, largely because Russia rejected changing Svalbard's status as terra nullius, which was widely recognized by European governments. 9. Conway has himself given substantial contributions to the history of cartography, some of which are included in an annex to No Man's Land. 10. This merging of nationalism and Arctic interests is described and analysed in detail in the recent three volume work Norsk polarhistorie, Oslo, 2004. 11. Particularly Gustav Storm's edition of Monumenta historica Norvegiæ, Kristiania 1880, and a series of other works by that author and Alexander Bugge, see the references in Nansen (Citation1911). 12. Actually the book was probably written around 1910, in parallel with Ræstad's doctoral dissertation Kongens Strømme. It is likely, however, that Ræstad was familiar with Nansen's work. See Arlov (Citation1988: 63–64). 13. In the same volume of Literaturnyj vestnik, Filippov also published a bibliography on Spitsbergen. 14. In the Norwegian press, the name Svalbard had already been frequently used long before 1925. 15. I fully adhere to the evaluation of the archaeologist Hein B. Bjerck (Citation1999), who most systematically has tested and rejected this hypothesis. 16. The research of Louwrens Hacquebord and his colleagues has clearly demonstrated that the popular notions of Smeerenburg as a lively "town" with thousands of "inhabitants" in the seventeenth century are pure legend. 17. An excavation at Tusenøyane in 2001 of a stone heap resembling an Iron Age burial failed to provide evidence of "Vikings", see Svalbardposten 30/2001. 18. The dates given in parentheses refer to the doctoral dissertations of Starkov, Jasinski and Hultgreen. In Starkov's case, a more recently published work in Russian is also referred to, as it sums up much of his earlier research in a representative way. Chochorowski is not listed with individual works here, but is represented as co-author of many of the articles that make up Jasinski's dissertation. 19. Personally, I have come down from the fence – on Hultgreen's side. Although I will not completely rule out the possibility of Pomor visits (or Norse, for that matter) to Svalbard before Barentsz, I think Hultgreen presents the most plausible and consistent theory on the chronology (Arlov Citation2003: 47–54).