LASHIPA

Large-scale historical exploitation of Polar Areas

The exploitation of natural resources in the Polar Regions is an instructive example on the way man is dealing with the natural resources in the world. In both Polar Regions, the voyages of discovery enabled the western colonial powers to penetrate into the polar areas and begin exploitation of natural resources and to start scientific research. The remains of these settlements and stations, together with archival documents, are the subject for study of the LASHIPA project.


A research project for the International Polar Year 2007-2009 (IPY)

LASHIPA is a historical-archaeological research project within the framework of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2009. The objectives of the project are to explain the development of large scale natural resource exploitation in the polar areas from the 17th century until today and the consequences of that development for the geo political situation and the natural environment. The LASHIPA project brakes away from the national frameworks so common in Polar history, and seeks explanations and understandings from an international comparative perspective.


Theoretical frameworks

According to the core-periphery model of economic geography, the Polar Regions can be called Resource Frontier Regions, because they produce raw materials for the industrial centers in the core regions of the western world. Whaling, fur hunting and mining have produced raw materials for the world market for more than 400 years. The large resource exploitation ventures can also be analyzed as Actor-Networks, fulfilling the goals of a multitude of actors within industry and politics, and yet dependent on local conditions in the Polar Regions.


Research themes and questions

The project deals with some of the most central research problems regarding natural resource exploitation in the Arctic and Antarctica:
a) the driving forces behind industrial development in the polar areas,
b) the design of technology and settlements in the polar no-mans lands, and
c) international competition over natural resources and political influence in the polar areas. The central research questions are: why, how and under what economical and geo-political circumstances have the natural resources in the Polar Region been explored and exploited? What was the role of the settlements and stations in this process? What were the economic results and what were the consequences for the natural environment and the geopolitical situation?


Field work

The LASHIPA project has conducted seven field work campaigns so far:
• LASHIPA 1, 2004 – Advent Bay, Spitsbergen
• LASHIPA 2, 2005 – Cape Boheman, Spitsbergen
• LASHIPA 3, 2006 – Ice Fjord and Bellsound, Spitsbergen
• LASHIPA 4, 2007 – Green Harbour, Sptisbergen
• LASHIPA 5, 2008 – Kings Bay and Ice Fjord, Spitsbergen
• LASHIPA 6, 2009 – Prince Olav Harbour, South Georgia
• LASHIPA 7, 2009 – Cape Boheman, Spitsbergen

In March-April 2010, LASHIPA 8 will take place at South Orkney and the South Shetlands in Antarctica.


Participants

Arctic Centre, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Div. of History of Science and Technology, KTH, Sweden
Industrial Archaeology, MTU. USA
Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
European University at St Petersburg, Russia



Funding

Dutch Research Council (NWO)
Swedish Research Council (VR)


For more information please contact Dag Avango or call (+31) (0)50 3636834

Home

Last modified: 24 November 2009