Smeerenburg

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Map showing the location of Smeerenburg on Amsterdam Island, Spitsbergen. © Universitetymuseum of Bergen

Rendering whale oil at Smeerenburg, painted by Cornelis de Man in 1639.

Smeerenburg • Seventeenth century Dutch whaling settlement on Amsterdam Island, Spitsbergen. The name is composed of the Dutch words smeer (fat, oil, blubber) and burg (town), and refers to the rendering of whale oil by boiling blubber. The site was successively occupied by Dutch and Danish whalers.

Country

Norway

County/ Region

• Spitsbergen

First use

1619

Associated with

Whales

Whaling