Detailed project information

The exploitation of natural resources in polar areas is an instructive example of the way man is dealing with the natural resources in the world. In both Polar Regions the voyages of discovery enabled the commercial companies to penetrate into the polar areas to begin with the exploitation of the natural resources and to start scientific research. On many places in the regions settlements and stations were established to support the production of raw materials and to facilitate scientific research.

Until now, the exploitation of natural resources in polar areas and the history of science were almost exclusively studied from a regional and national approach based on written sources in the archives in the countries involved. The aim of the IPY LASHIPA-project # 636 is to study the various (hunting, whaling, mining and research) settlements/stations in the field and the written sources in the archives from a bi-polar, international and comparative perspective.

The principal research question of the coordinating project is:

Why, how and under what economic circumstances were the natural resources in the Polar Regions exploited, what was the role of the settlements/stations in this process? What were the economic results and what were the consequences of these activities for the natural environment, the geopolitical situation, and the development of the international law?

Field research will be carried out in the historical sites in both polar areas and archive research will be done in the countries involved in the project to collect the necessary data to answer the principal question of this research. In this way the exploitation activities in polar areas of companies from Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Russia and the USA will be studied in the field and in the archives. The outcome of the various studies will be compared with each other to achieve a better understanding of the exploitation of natural resources in Polar Regions.

For practical and methodological reasons the research will concentrate on two selected areas: Green Harbour on Spitsbergen and the Antarctic Peninsula including South Georgia. Both areas have had a very similar and comparable exploitation history.

LASHIPA-NL, the Dutch part of the international project will concentrate on the exploitation of the natural resources in Green Harbour in Spitsbergen. One PhD-project of LASHIPA-NL will focus on the pre-industrial exploitation of natural resources in Green Harbour. It?s an archaeological project which will concentrate on the excavation of the remains of an early European whaling station and a Pomor hunting station on Kokerineset. The other PhD-project of LASHIPA-NL will study the history of the coal exploitation of the Dutch Spitsbergen Coal Company (NESPICO) in the same fjord in de period after the industrial revolution.

The post-doc of LASHIPA-NL has the task to produce a synthesis based on previous research in polar history, the outcome of the two PhD-projects of LASHIPA-NL, and the other LASHIPA projects in the Antarctica peninsula (South Georgia) to explain the development of polar industries, the economic results and its consequences for the natural environment, the geopolitical and the development of international law.

Articles

• D. Avango, Prof. dr. L. Hacquebord (2009). Settlements in an Arctic Resource Frontier Region. Arctic Anthropology. pp. 25-39
• Dr. D.J. Avango (2009). Reflections on the Achievements in Sweden. Journal of Nothern Studies. pp. 115-127
• Prof. dr. L. Hacquebord (2009). Kopenhagen en de toekomst van het Noordpoolgebied.. Internationale Spectator. pp. 562-565
• Prof. dr. L. Hacquebord (2009). Zeitschrift fur auslandisches offentliches Recht und Volkerrecht.. Heidelberg Journal of International Law. pp. 655-668
• Prof. dr. L. Hacquebord (2009). Back to the Future, The Past, Present and Future of Resource Development in a Changing Arctic.. Journal of Nothern Studies. pp. 7-21