Spitsbergen Literature Lobby

Mary Katherine Jones

doi:10.7557/13.3070

Abstract

The Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Question became an international political issue regarding the terra nullius status of the Arctic region in the light of growing commercial enterprise undertaken from 1898 onwards. The Spitsbergen Commission set up by the Peace Conference in Paris to resolve this question in the aftermath of the Great War awarded sovereignty to Norway. Elen C. Singh’s concept of the Spitsbergen Literature Lobby illustrates behind-the-scenes activity intent on resolving Spitsbergen sovereignty in favour of one particular nation, and/or securing the commercial interests of several nations. Documents analysed in this article include the initial Norwegian Government submission to the Peace Conference and the contemporaneous diary of one of its main compilers; Spitsbergen Literature Lobby texts cited by Singh, and other strategic texts published 1906-1919; and selected Spitsbergen texts published in the light of Norwegian sovereignty. Subject matter comprised Spitsbergen summaries, history (including Spitsbergen bibliographies), cartography, legal/political issues and commercial issues. The specific and general influence of the lobby and the expertise of its constituent authors is examined, as are their individual and collaborative literary efforts, as well as the rationale behind the selection of strategic texts and a summary of their time-scale, location and language of publication.

Highlights

The Spitsbergen Question was an international political issue regarding the noman’s-land status of Spitsbergen in the light of European and U.S commercial activity in this Arctic region in the early years of the twentieth century
In international diplomatic terms, Spitsbergen sovereignty was a very minor issue in 1919: Margaret MacMillan’s exhaustive survey of the Paris Peace Conference and its achievements on a global scale does not contain a single reference to the region in any context.[74]
No conclusive proof exists to date that any points of view expressed in Spitsbergen Literature Lobby texts affected official or public opinion regarding the resolution of the Spitsbergen Question in 1919, but the subjectmatter and presentation of many of the Spitsbergen Literature Lobby texts analysed in this article broadly coincided with the textual content of the pièces justificatives in the Statement submitted by the Norwegian Government to the Peace Conference

Summary

Introduction

The Spitsbergen Question was an international political issue regarding the noman’s-land status of Spitsbergen (present-day Svalbard) in the light of European and U.S commercial activity in this Arctic region in the early years of the twentieth century. Two other historical texts stating a fairly evident claim to the region were written by Isachsen: his article “La découverte du Spitsberg par les Normands” citing the discovery of “Svalbard” in 1194, reported in the Icelandic Annals, was published in La Géographie in June 1907, and part of Isachsen’s contribution to Volume 40 of the Prince of Monaco’s scientific results of his expeditions to Spitsbergen (1912) bears a shortened version of the same title.. Two other French texts addressing the Spitsbergen Question, but not connected to Charles Rabot’s pro-Norwegian publications, were René Waultrin’s article of 1908 and Camille Piccioni’s article of 1909, both published in the Revue générale de droit international public.54 Piccioni’s 1891 doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Law in Paris had focused on Roman law and perpetual neutrality in international law and the author continued to follow these threads in his exposition Spitsbergen”, “The climate and life”, “Svalbard’s history” and “At the North Pole” (including Amundsen’s airship expedition in 1925). The book is lavishly illustrated with maps, prints and photographs; the historical section is similar to the appearance of Conway’s No man’s land (Fig. 3) and has a consistently strong Norwegian focus; the luxurious look and feel of this volume is reminiscent of Wieder’s 1919 presentation of the Dutch discovery and mapping of Spitsbergen (Fig. 4)

Conclusions

73 Original titles of the book and its chapters