The role of company promoters in the rise and fall of British mining on Spitsbergen

• Main Author: Kruse, Frigga
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Norwegian
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/f6a82a6c-cb72-4fd0-a918-e06a9d87617f; https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/selskapsgrundernes-rolle-i-britisk-gruvedrifts-vekst-og-fall-paa-spitsbergen(f6a82a6c-cb72-4fd0-a918-e06a9d87617f).html; https://uit.no/om/enhet/tmu/vis?p_document_id=465168

The coal rush that had seized the industrial world by the beginning of the twentieth century had also taken hold of Spitsbergen, a former name for Svalbard. ‘The coal rush’, however, was not a being of flesh and blood; it is easy to forget that it was an abstract notion. It did not simply happen of its own accord; it was made to happen, and very real people, sometimes called ‘actors’ in scholarly frameworks, made sure that it did. The word ‘actor’ reminds us that the once remote archipelago was a stage on which Arctic industry was about to unfold before the world. In this volume on coal mining in Svalbard, we take a closer look at some of the men who pioneered and for a time drove the historical process. This must necessarily include a reflection of what happened when such men lost their importance.