The Svalbard Treaty is signed at Paris
Norway receives full sovereignty over the archipelago, and every party receives equal rights of access and commercial activity there under Norwegian law. It is the first modern attempt to answer the polar sovereignty question, and it answers it in the opposite direction to the one Antarctica would take forty years later - by settling sovereignty and opening access, rather than by suspending sovereignty altogether.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- The Svalbard Treaty (1920) · treaty · Norway · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Treaty concerning the Archipelago of Spitsbergen (Svalbard Treaty)
The treaty recognises the full and absolute sovereignty of Norway over Svalbard while granting nationals of all contracting parties equal rights of access and of commercial activity there, subject to Norwegian law, and restricts warlike uses of the archipelago. V55 VERIFICATION BASIS: not opened during production; no research channel was available. The extent to which the equal-treatment provisions apply to maritime zones beyond the territorial sea is legally disputed and this record takes no position on it.
Government of Norway · 1920-02-09 (signed); in force 1925 · Partly verified
Treaty concerning the Archipelago of Spitsbergen, Paris, 9 February 1920; text published by the Norwegian government at https://www.regjeringen.no/