Smerenburg ( niderl. Smeerenburg ) - a former settlement on the island of Amsterdam in the north-west of Spitsbergen , founded by Danish and Dutch whalers in 1614 . One of the most northern European settlements. During the first phase of active whaling in Svalbard, Smerenburg served as a center of operations in the north of the archipelago. The name of the settlement comes from the Dutch word smeer - “ blubber ” and burg - “city”. At present, remains of copper stoves for the production of blubber are preserved, as well as petrified whale oil residues around these furnaces. Blubber was used in food, and its remnants - as fuel.
History
The settlement on this site was first founded in 1614 by the Netherlands North Greenland Company ( Netherlands. Noordsche Compagnie ). There was a temporary whalers, whose inhabitants lived in tents. In 1619, a large ship carrying timber and other building materials arrived in Svalbard to organize a permanent settlement. Tents and temporary stoves were replaced with wooden houses and copper boilers set on brick foundations.
In 1619, only the Dutch ( Amsterdam branch of the company, in the eastern part) and the Danes (on the west) lived in Smerenburg. In 1625, the Dutch expelled the Danes from Smerenburg, and the western part of the settlement passed to other branches of the company - in Hoorn , Enkhuizen and Vlissingen . By 1633, all branches of the North Greenland Company were represented here. In the period of the greatest prosperity in Smerenburg there were 16-17 houses. No later than 1631, a fort was built in the center of the settlement, mainly to protect against the Danes. In order to be able to pass between buildings on land, a water drainage system was constructed. In the village, seven double and one single furnaces were also built for the manufacture of blubber . Three houses and two double ovens belonged to Amsterdam, the rest to offices in Middelburg , Vera , Vlissingen, Enkhuizene, Delft and Hoorn. The population reached 200 people engaged in work in the settlement, making blubber and whale oil, cutting whales and making oil containers.
In 1632, the Dutch whaling station on Jan Mayen was destroyed by Basque warships hired by Denmark. After that, the Netherlands sent seven men under the command of Jacob Segers van der Brugge to spend the winter in Smerenburg in 1633-1634. They all survived, and the experiment was repeated the following winter, when the seven sailors set off again to spend the winter in Smerenburg. This time they all died, and no more wintering attempts were made in the settlement.
The decline of Smerenburg began in the 1640s. There is evidence that the Khoorn branch of the company still used Smerenburg in 1657. Around 1660, when the whaling methods changed, the settlement was abandoned and no longer used. In 1973, the ruins of Smerenburg entered the Northwest-Svalbard national park.
Sources
- Conway, William Martin. Early Dutch and English Voyages to Spitsbergen in the Seventeenth Century. - London, 1904.
- Conway, William Martin. There is a list of man’s landmarks. - Cambridge, At the University Press, 1906.
- Dalgård, Sune. Dansk-Norsk Hvalfangst 1615-1660: En Studie over Danmark-Norges Stilling and Europæisk Merkantil Expansion. - GEC Gads Forlag, 1962.
- Ellis, Richard. Men & Whales. - Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. - ISBN 1-55821-696-0 .