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Svalbard Quiz: 12 Questions About the Arctic Archipelago
Halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, Svalbard is a land of glaciers, polar bears and months of endless daylight or darkness. This Svalbard quiz has 12 questions with answers.
Svalbard featured in the Bing Homepage Quiz, which asked about the ocean around it, its famous animal and its summers of endless daylight.
Play the Svalbard Quiz
Pick A, B or C for each question. The right answer turns green and a short fact explains it.
Svalbard Quiz Questions and Answers
Every question with its answer and explanation. Open “Show answer” after you guess.
1 Which ocean surrounds the Svalbard archipelago?
- A Pacific Ocean
- B Arctic Ocean
- C North Atlantic only
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✓ Answer: B. Arctic Ocean
Did you know? Svalbard lies between about 74° and 81° north, in the Arctic Ocean.
2 Which country governs Svalbard?
- A Denmark
- B Norway
- C Russia
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✓ Answer: B. Norway
Did you know? Norwegian sovereignty was confirmed by the Svalbard Treaty signed in Paris in 1920.
3 What is the largest settlement on Svalbard?
- A Tromsø
- B Longyearbyen
- C Nuuk
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✓ Answer: B. Longyearbyen
Did you know? Longyearbyen was founded as a mining town by American John Munro Longyear in 1906.
4 Which large predator is the most famous animal of Svalbard?
- A Polar bear
- B Grey wolf
- C Grizzly bear
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✓ Answer: A. Polar bear
Did you know? Residents and visitors must carry protection when leaving the settlements because of polar bears.
5 What happens to the sun in Longyearbyen in midsummer?
- A It stays below the horizon
- B It never sets
- C It rises for one hour
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✓ Answer: B. It never sets
Did you know? The midnight sun lasts roughly from late April to late August.
6 What is stored inside the Global Seed Vault on Svalbard?
- A Gold reserves
- B Frozen seed samples
- C Ice cores
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✓ Answer: B. Frozen seed samples
Did you know? The vault opened in 2008 and can store millions of seed samples.
7 What is the name of Svalbard's largest island?
- A Bear Island
- B Nordaustlandet
- C Spitsbergen
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✓ Answer: C. Spitsbergen
Did you know? Spitsbergen means 'pointed mountains', a name given by Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz in 1596.
8 What industry first built permanent settlements on Svalbard?
- A Oil drilling
- B Coal mining
- C Fishing
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✓ Answer: B. Coal mining
Did you know? Coal mining began in the early 1900s; tourism and research are now more important.
9 Which sea to the south and east of Svalbard is named after a Dutch explorer?
- A Barents Sea
- B Bering Sea
- C Kara Sea
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✓ Answer: A. Barents Sea
Did you know? Willem Barentsz explored the region in the 1590s.
10 Svalbard's reindeer are known for being what, compared with mainland reindeer?
- A Larger and faster
- B Shorter and stockier
- C Completely white
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✓ Answer: B. Shorter and stockier
Did you know? Svalbard reindeer have short legs and thick coats to save heat in the cold.
11 Which marine mammal with long tusks lives around Svalbard?
- A Walrus
- B Elephant seal
- C Narwhal only
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✓ Answer: A. Walrus
Did you know? Walruses were once hunted heavily there but have been protected since 1952.
12 What is the polar night?
- A Winter weeks when the sun stays below the horizon
- B The aurora season in summer
- C A summer festival
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✓ Answer: A. Winter weeks when the sun stays below the horizon
Did you know? In Longyearbyen the polar night runs from about late October to mid-February.
About Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean under Norwegian sovereignty since the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, which also gives citizens of signatory countries equal rights to do business there. The largest island is Spitsbergen, and the administrative center is Longyearbyen, one of the northernmost towns in the world.
Coal mining built the first permanent settlements; today research and tourism are central to the economy. Ny-Ålesund hosts international research stations, and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, opened in 2008, stores backup copies of seeds from gene banks around the world deep inside a mountain.
Midnight sun and polar night
Because Svalbard lies far north of the Arctic Circle, the sun does not set at all in Longyearbyen from about late April to late August. In winter the opposite happens: the polar night lasts from late October to mid-February. That summer of endless daylight was one of the questions in the September 16, 2026 Bing Homepage Quiz.
Svalbard Quiz FAQ
Which country does Svalbard belong to?
Norway. Its sovereignty was recognized by the Svalbard Treaty of 1920.
Are there more polar bears than people on Svalbard?
The Barents Sea region, which includes Svalbard, has an estimated population of around 3,000 polar bears, while Svalbard has roughly 3,000 residents. People must carry protection outside settlements.
What is stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?
Duplicate seed samples from gene banks worldwide, kept frozen as a backup in case original collections are lost.