Longyearbyen is the largest populated area on the terrirory of Svalbard, located in the high Norwegian Arctic. The settlement is popular as the most easily-accesable frontier in the Arctic, and is an ideal base for the greater exploration of Svalbard.The settlement is named after American entrepreneur John Munro Longyear (1860-1922), who as head of the Arctic Coal Company founded the town and the neighbouring coal mine, the first large mine on Svalbard. Mining is still big business here, with the roadsides and mountainsides littered with mines and their equipment, but tourism is catching up fast. With nearly 2000 inhabitants, the town is the de facto "capital" of the islands, featuring the airport, a school, a shopping center, hotels, restaurants and more. http://wikitravel.org/en/Longyearbyen