Portal:Norway/Selected article/8
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Bjørnøya (IPA: [ˈbjøːɳøja]), meaning "Bear Island" in Norwegian, is an arctic island of Norway that forms the southernmost part of Svalbard. It is located in the western part of the Barents Sea, approximately halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape. It was discovered by Willem Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk on 10 June 1596, and it was named when a polar bear was seen swimming nearby. Bjørnøya was considered terra nullius until the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 placed it under Norwegian sovereignty. Despite its remote location and barren nature, the island has seen commercial activities in past centuries, such as coal mining, fishing and whaling. However, no settlements have lasted more than a few years, and Bjørnøya is now uninhabited except for personnel working at the island's meteorological station. Along with the adjacent waters, Bjørnøya was declared a nature reserve in 2002.
