Smeerenburg
Abandoned village · Norway
- Abandoned
- unknown
- Founded
- 1614
- Population
- —
- Coordinates
- 79.738, 10.990
Why it was abandoned
❔ Cause unknown
Open sources don't name a cause. If you know it, add it to Wikidata or Wikipedia.
History
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.