Spitzbergen (Svalbard), a Norwegian territory, is a group of mountainous islands in the Artic Ocean 360 miles (579 km.) north of Norway. The islands have an area of 23,957 sq. mi. (62,050 sq. km.) and a population of about 4,000. West Spitzbergen, the largest island, is the seat of administration. Sealing and fishing are economically important. Despite rich carboniferous and tertiary coal deposits, coal mining, which was started on a commercial scale in 1904, produces small quantities. ,Spitzbergen was probably discovered in 1194, but modern knowledge of it dates from 1596 and William Barents. Quarrels among the various nationalities involved in the whaling industry, which was set up in 1611, resulted in de facto division of the coast, but despite diverse interests in, and claims to the islands by British, Dutch, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Russian and Americans, the question of sovereignty was not resolved until 1920 when a treaty agreed to by the claimants awarded the islands to Norway.,, ,In 1932, the Russian mining company Artikugol began operations in the islands.,,