Smeerenburg

thumb|Remains of blubber ovens at Smeerenburg thumb|"The train oil cookery of the Amsterdam chamber of the Northern Company at Smeerenburg". Painting by Cornelis de Man (1639), based on a painting of a "Dansk hvalfangststation" (Danish whaling station) by ABR Speeck (1634). thumb|Map of the original Smeerenburg, with trade huts (red) and oil boilers (green). The names denote which city owned the relevant facilities.

Key facts

Settlement.name: Smeerenburg
Settlement.settlement_type: Whaling station
Settlement.imagesize: 300px
Settlement.pushpin_map: Svalbard
Settlement.pushpin_label_position: right
Settlement.pushpin_mapsize: 300
Settlement.pushpin_map_caption: Location in northwestern Svalbard
Settlement.subdivision_type: Country
Settlement.subdivision_type1: Syssel
Settlement.subdivision_name1: Svalbard
Settlement.subdivision_type2: Island
Settlement.subdivision_name2: Spitsbergen

Article

5 sections

Contents

History
Fact
Notes
References
External links

Smeerenburg was a whaling station on Amsterdam Island in northwest Svalbard. It was founded by the Danish and Dutch in 1619 as one of Europe's northernmost outposts. With the local bowhead whale population soon decimated and whaling developed into a pelagic industry, Smeerenburg was abandoned around 1660.