Alesund Library

Ny-Ålesund was first discovered in 1610, when coal deposits were discovered around Kongsfjorden. Not until the 1860s were they investigated more carefully. Ålesund-based Peter Brandal bought the claims in 1916 and established the company Kings Bay. The town, originally known as Brandal City and Kings Bay, was founded that summer when coal mining commenced. The first research installation, a geophysical station at Kvadehuken, was established in 1920. The mining was soon unprofitable and was kept running through state subsidies. In the mid-1920s the town was used for a series of airship expeditions towards the North Pole. Mining operations shut down in 1929 and Kings Bay was nationalized. The town was maintained during the 1930s, when saw the installation of a fisheries station and the establishment of a tourist hotel. The town was resettled with miners on 7 May 1940, just to experience an evacuation in August 1941. Miners returned on 13 August 1945 and the town was gradually expanded, including construction of a school, and new mines were opened. During the late 1950s Norsk Polar Navigasjon attempted to build an airport, but never received permission. Ny-Ålesund experienced a series of mining accidents, with the ones in 1948, 1951 and 1952 each killing more than ten men. Safety measures were enforced, causing mines to be closed for upgrades and production remaining low. The final accident occurred on 5 November 1962, killing twenty-one miners. The succeeding Kings Bay Affair caused Kings Bay to terminate all mining operations from 5 November and forced Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet to resign. Kings Bay retained the company town and gradually transformed it into a research community. Kongsfjord Telemetry Station and Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben commenced operations in 1967, and the following year the Norwegian Polar Institute established itself in Ny-Ålesund. Starting in the 1970s the town experienced a gradual growth in research and tourism, with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research an early agent. Cultural heritage became an area of focus from the 1980s and from 1992 the authorities permitted foreign research institutions to establish permanent stations in town.
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