Amsterdam IslandZeeberg, JaapJan. 2005. ''Into the Ice Sea: Barents' Wintering on Novaya Zemlya—A Renaissance Voyage of Discovery''. Amsterdam: Rozenberg, pp. 121, 156. ( no, Amsterdamøya) is a small island off the northwest coast of West-

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

. It is separated from

Danes Island Danes Island ( no, Danskøya) is an island in Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean with an area of . It lies just off the northwest coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the archipelago, near to Magdalenefjorden. Just to the n ...

by the strait

Danskegattet Danskegattet is a strait in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It is located between Danes Island to the south and Amsterdam Island to the north, leading into Smeerenburgfjorden Smeerenburgfjorden is a fjord in Albert I Land Albert I La ...

. Its total area is 16.8 km². Its highest point is Hiertabreen, at 472 meters above sea level. The percentage of the island covered in ice is 11.5%.

History

Amsterdam Island was first seen by Willem Barents in 1596. The Dutch first occupied it in 1614 (the year in which it was probably named), building a temporary whaling station on the island's southeastern promontory. In 1619 a semi-permanent station was constructed. It came to be called Smeerenburg (Dutch for "Blubber Town"). The settlement went into decline in the 1640s, and was abandoned sometime before 1660.

References

*Conway, W. M. 1906. No Man's Land: A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country. Cambridge: At the University Press. * Norwegian Polar Institut
Place Names of Svalbard Database
Islands of Svalbard Former Dutch colonies 17th century in the Dutch Empire 1614 establishments in the Dutch Empire Whaling in the Dutch Republic {{svalbard-geo-stub