In Norway there
are post offices above the Arctic Circle on the mainland. Also the island of
Jan Mayen has a post office. The region of Svalbard has four post offices on
the largest island Spitsbergen and two on the islands of Hopen and Bear Island
(Bjørnøya).
Bear Island
(Norwegian: Bjørnøya) is the southernmost island of the Norwegian Svalbard
archipelago. The island is located in the western part of the Barents Sea,
approximately halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape.
Bear Island was
discovered by the Dutch explorers Willem Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk on 10
June 1596. It was named after a polar bear that was seen swimming nearby. The
island was considered terra nullius until the Spitsbergen 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 Bear Island is now
uninhabited except for personnel working at the island's meteorological station
Herwighamna. Along with the adjacent waters, it was declared a nature reserve
in 2002.
The postmark
shows a thick-billed murre, a bird in the auk family, and the geographic
coordinates of the island, although only part of the location because the
western longitude is missing. It has been in use for many years. As stamps I
bought the most recent Norwegian Svalbard stamps from 1996. Although the postal
rate for an international letter is only NOK 17, I used the complete series
because they look very nice on the envelope.
Date sent: 28 April
2017
Date postmark: 26
May 2017
Date received:
23 June 2017
Number of days: 56
Envelope in
collection: 188
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