Smeerenburg

Smeerenburg ( German as much as Tran - town ) is an abandoned whaling station on the island Amsterdamøya in the northwest of Svalbard, which had its heyday in the first half of the 17th century.

Dutch whalers used this site for the first time in 1614. Probably in 1619 the first permanent buildings were erected. During the intensive phase of whaling at Spitsbergen Smeerenburg was the center of activities. At the peak in the 1630s there were eight drink nettle, where Walblubber to Tran was overcooked, and 17 or 18 buildings. In the summer months they lived and worked in Smeerenburg up to 200 people. In the winter months the place was deserted, only 1633/34 wintered Jacob van der Brugge with six men to protect the devices against competitors. In the 1640s economic decline Smeerenburgs started because the number of whales that were to be found just off the coast, decreased rapidly. Around 1660 the station was finally abandoned. Today, the buildings, only the foundation walls to be seen.

In the past, the size Smeerenburgs has been greatly overestimated. It was believed that time, 200 to 300 ships with a total of over 12,000 crew had located in the harbor and that there was a church and a brothel. According to recent research, this does not correspond to the historical truth.

In 1973, the ruins of Smeerenburg part of Norway's North West Spitsbergen National Park.