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Come take a walk with me, around Longyearbyen.
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That's the largest town on the Norwegian islands of Svalbard.
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Parts of it may look familiar.
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But make no mistake,
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this place IS different.
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At 78° north,
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It is just 1800mi/1300km from the North Pole.
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And with over 2000 permanent residents,
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it is the northernmost real town on Earth.
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There are only 50km (31mi) of road, including the small streets between houses.
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So people get around the island mainly on snowmobile.
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In fact, there are more registered snowmobiles, than residents.
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Anyone leaving town is required to travel with a gun and someone who knows how to use it.
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Because the islands are also home to polar bears.
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The average daytime high,
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is below freezing for all but four months of the year.
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Hi.
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And from the end of October to mid February,
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the sun doesn't rise at all.
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This is the long polar night.
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Living here, is tough.
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This past December, an avalanche in town destroyed 10 homes,
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which used to be here, killing two people.
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So how did this cold, remote, ice-covered archipelago come to be inhabited?
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Well, the hills around town are rich in coal deposits,
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that have been mined for over 100 years.
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The coal was transported to the port via a series of aerial tramways.
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Some of which remain today, though they are no longer operational.
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Coal is a reminder that Svalbard was not always an Arctic ice world.
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360 million yaers ago it was actually in the tropics, just north of the equator.
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A swampy area it was covered with a precursor to modern ferns,
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which were much larger than they are today, reaching 10-30m (33-98ft) in height.
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This vegetation was then covered in mud and sand,
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and submerged under the sea.
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Over time, it turned into the coal deposites that in the 20th century
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brought miners from Norway, Russia and the US.
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Most of the coal mines have now closed and the economy
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is gradually shifting towards tourism, education and research.
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Tourists take trips on snowmobiles and dog sleds.
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There is a university center in Svalbard which offers semester courses
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in biology, physics and geology.
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And up on the side of a mountain, is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
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But that's a story for another time.
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The locals tell me that interest in the region from different nations
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is increasing.
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As the globe warms and Arctic ice shrinks
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trade routs are opening up across the north.
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And Svalbard is strategically placed between North America, Asia and Europe.
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So one day in the future, Svaldbard may no longer be as cold or as remote as it once was.
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But for now, it is a reminder of how through our ingenuity people can live
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in even the most inhospitable of places.
