Edgeoya Island (Svalbard Norway)

Edgeoya Island is one of the three islands in Norway's Svalbard Archipelago - together with Spitsbergen (the largest) and Nordaustlandet. The archipelago is located north of the Arctic Circle, about midway between mainland Europe (Norway) and the North Pole. The island of Edgeoya covers a total area of 5073 km2 (1960 mi2), ranking it Svalbard's 3rd largest. It is named after Thomas Edge (1587-1624, English whaler and merchant). Edgeoya is seldom visited today.

Along with Barentsoya and some of the neighboring isles, Edgeoya forms part of the famous South East Svalbard Nature Reserve, which was established in 1973 by the Norwegian government. There is a large reindeer population, and Edgeoya Island is an important site for reproduction of polar bear. Moreover, the population of polar bear in this Barents Sea region is a unique deme (genetic population).

Edgeoya Island is the setting for Georgina Harding's novel "The Solitude of Thomas Cave" (2007-published), in which the title character successfully over-winters on the isle in 1616–1617.

Kapp Lee (island's headland) is its northwestern point, located north of Dolerittneset Point and on Stretehamna's southern side. Svalbard cruises are among Norway's most popular ship travel destinations - together with Norwegian Fjords (along the country's coastline). In Svalbard, tourism is an important industry, heavily supported (popularized) by "University Centre in Svalbard" and "Svalbard Global Seed Vault".

Svalbard islands were first used as whaling bases (17th-18th centuries), then abandoned. In early-20th-century started coal mining operations, and several permanent settlements were established. In 1925, Svalbard was officially incorporated into the Kingdom of Norway. Today, Norway's Store Norske and Russia's Arktikugol are the only mining companies there. Instead of roads, the only transportation between the settlements is via aircraft, boats and snowmobiles. Svalbard Airport (at Longyearbyen) serves as the archipelago's main gateway.

The list of Svalbard settlements (all located on Spitsbergen) includes Longyearbyen (main and largest), Barentsburg (Russian mining community), Ny-Alesund (research station) and Sveagruva (aka Svea, Norwegian mining community). Svalbard is the world's northernmost settlement with a permanent civilian population. There are other settlements farther north, but they are all populated by rotating groups of researchers.

Edgeoya Island cruise terminal