The town's founder John Munro Longyear

The town's founder John Munro Longyear. . The American visited Svalbard as a cruise tourist in 1901. When he returned five years later, he founded Longyear City and started mining. , The Michigan businessman and father of seven was on a cruise in the Arctic when he had his first encounter with Svalbard's coal deposits. Longyear met the Trondhjem-Spitsbergen Kulkompani, which opened the "Trander" mine in the mountainside above Hotellneset in 1903. He was interested in mining and saw potential for business development. , Bought the coal company , After getting coal samples from the area analyzed, Longyear bought the company and started his own mining operations, which he named the Arctic Coal Company. A ship carrying labourers, timber and dynamite left Trondheim in 1906. Its arrival signaled the start of the mining adventure in Svalbard. , Suffered financial problems , Longyear later experienced financial problems and sold his company to the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani in 1916. Since then, the town has used the Norwegian name Longyearbyen. , Memorial in his honour , Longyear never lived in Svalbard. He died in 1922 at the age of 72. There is a memorial in honour of the town's founder in Old Longyearbyen. , Caption: John Munro Longyear (born 15 April 1850 in Lansing, Michigan, died 28 May 1922 in Brookline, Massachusetts).