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'Nord-Norge' or 'Nord-Noreg' (Norwegian for 'North Norway') is the geographical region of northern Norway, consisting of the three counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark.
Some of the largest towns in North Norway (from south to north) are Mosjøen, Mo i Rana, Bodø, Narvik, Harstad, Tromsø, Alta and Hammerfest.
The region is multi-cultural – housing not just Norwegians – but also the indigenous Sami people, the Norwegian Finns (known as Kvens) and Russian populations. The Norwegian language dominates in most of the area; Sami inhabitants are mainly found in inner parts and some of the fjord areas of Finnmark. Finnish is spoken in only a few communities in the east of Finnmark.

Contents

Geography

History

Languages

Cuisine

Climate

Sources

Famous people from the north

External links

Geography

North Norway covers about a third of Norway. The southernmost part, roughly the part south of the Arctic Circle, is called Helgeland. Here there is a multitude of islands and skerries on the outside of the coastal range, some flat, some with impressive shapes, like Mount Torghatten, which has a hole right through it, and the Seven Sisters near Sandnessjøen. The inland is covered with dense spruce forests and mountains near the Swedish border; some of the biggest rivers in the region are the Vefsna and the Rana. The highest mountain in Nord-Norge is found here in the Okstindan range south of Mo i Rana with Oksskolten reaching 1,915 m above sea level, and with the glacier Okstindbreen.
The Saltfjellet range, with its Svartisen glacier and intersecting Arctic Circle, divides Helgeland from the next region, called Salten. Notable peaks in Salten are the Børvasstindan south of Bodø, the Steigartindan, the phallic Hamarøytinden and the most spectacular of them all, Stetinden, that looms over the Tysfjord, bordering the Ofoten landscape. Between Saltfjellet and eastern Finnmark, all Norwegian spruce trees have traditionally been hand planted and are mostly privately owned.

Lofoten is a chain of peaks that jut out of the ocean. From the mainland side it looks very barren, but behind the violet-black peaks there are also flatlands with good grazing for sheep, partially on soil made from seaweed. The Vesterålen islands consist of smaller and bigger islands with a huge variation of landscape. Ofoten, further inland, is a fjord landscape with high mountains, the highest is Storsteinfjellet in Narvik, 1,894 m above sea level, and there are also glaciers, like Frostisen and Blåisen.
Troms county has surprising greenery for the latitude, and the inner waterways and fjords are lined with birch forests, and further inland there are pine forests and highlands around the rivers Målselv and Reisa. Big islands like Senja, Kvaløya and Ringvassøya have green, forested interiors and a barren, mountainous coastline, with smaller islands offshore. The Lyngen Alps are the highest mountains of the area, rising to 1,833 metres, an area of glaciers and waterfalls. The waterfall of Mollisfossen in Nordreisa, at 269 metres, is the highest waterfall in the north.

Finnmark county has fjords and glaciers in the far southwest, and the northwestern coasts are characterized by big islands, like Sørøya and Seiland. The inland is covered by Finnmarksvidda a plateau about 300-400 metres high, with bush vegetation and the rivers of Alta-Kautokeino and Tana/Deatnu. Even at this latitude, pockets of pine forests manage to survive, notably in Alta, Karasjok, Porsanger and Sør-Varanger. East of Honningsvåg, there are no islands protecting the barren coasts that rise directly up from the sea. The landscape towards the Russian border is comparatively flat. Knivskjellodden on the island of Magerøya marks the northern end of Europe; tourism is directed to the slightly more southern, but much more accessible North Cape, whereas Kinnarodden on the Nordkyn peninsula is the northernmost point of Europe's mainland.

History

The oldest culture in the area is called Komsa, named after a mountain in Alta. The first people possibly came around 12-13,000 years ago, but it is uncertain whether they came from southern Norway or from the Kola Peninsula. Today the rock carvings at Hjemmeluft in Alta or at Leknes in Nordland are among the remainders of the Stone Age cultures, showing reindeer swimming across the fjords. A significant find area is between the river Tana and the fjord of Varanger, where the reindeer probably ran over the isthmus on the way between the winter and summer grazing. However, we do not know the ethnic identity of the Stone Age cultures. Metals were introduced around 500 BC or possibly somewhat earlier.
The oldest culture present today is the Sami culture, that we can trace back at least 2,000 years. They were accompanied by people of Germanic origin around 200-300 AD, that settled along the coasts roughly up to Tromsø. The two ethnic groups traded with each other, and there seems to have been quite a lot of intermarriage. The nature of the co-existence is still being hotly debated.
In the Viking age, several chieftains along the coast played a significant role in Norwegian history, usually resisting unification of Norway. Among the well known you find Hårek from Tjøtta and Tore Hund, who killed Saint Olav at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. The chieftain and poet Øyvind Skaldespiller was the first to receive international acclaim, as his poems were rewarded when the Icelandic parliament organized a money collection to buy him a thick ring of gold. This flourishing period of resistance was followed by a take-over from the south, reducing the might and wealth of the chieftains.

In the middle ages, churches were built along the coast. By 1150, Lenvik was the northernmost. In 1252 the first church was built in Tromsø, adding it to Norway. Finally in 1307 the Vardø church was built, clearly establishing that this was part of Norway. This was accompanied by the building of a fortress. At roughly the same time, the cod fishing gained momentum. Dried cod was exported through Bergen to the whole Hanseatic world, bringing prosperity to the north. This is reflected in the numerous pieces of imported church art from the late middle ages. There were numerous wars with the republic of Novgorod in Russia at the time, that stopped by the late 15th century.
Reduced fish prices in the 17th century led to a significant decline in the population. Large coastal areas were depopulated, and Sami culture made a comeback, as it was less dependent on fish exports. After 1700, the Russians started to come every summer on trading expeditions, bringing rye in exchange for fish. In the 1740s the first settlers from Finland, escaping hunger and war, came. In 1789, the trade monopoly of the city of Bergen was lifted, and Hammerfest and Vardø were issued their city charters, and Tromsø followed suit in 1794. Interrupted by the British blockade of the Napoleonic wars, this introduced a period of unprecedented growth in the north. Bodø was founded in 1816, and Vadsø in 1833. The Hurtigruten shipping line, introduced in 1893, gave quicker communications with the south. In 1906, the iron mines in Kirkenes opened.
At the same time, the ethnic diversity of the area came under threat. All the progress within fishing and agriculture was introduced by Norwegians, making Sami and Finnish ways less attractive. In schools, only Norwegian was promoted, and from around 1900, the Norwegian authorities were very insistent that all should speak Norwegian only. From now on, the Sami language was not used in schools, churches and in public administration. Settlers on state lands in Finnmark had to prove they could speak Norwegian before they were allowed to settle.
This region of Norway was the area most affected by World War II. In 1940, the Allies and the Germans fought over the strategic port for iron exports of Narvik. King Haakon VII and the government fled towards the north, and stayed in the Tromsø area for three weeks. On May 27, Bodø was bombed by German planes, and on June 7, the Allies retreated from the North, forcing the King and government to flee to Britain from Tromsø.
In 1944, the German Wehrmacht started to retreat from the Murmansk front. They burned everything after them in the area between the Russian border and the Lyngen fjord, as part of their tactics. The population was forcibly evacuated, although a third of them chose to hide in the wilderness instead. All who were found where shot.

After WW II, reconstruction was on the agenda. Norway made a huge effort to rebuild the destroyed towns and villages. Also, modernizing fishing and agriculture was important, as Northern Norway was considerably poorer and less developed than the south. In 1946 the huge steel works of Mo i Rana were founded, heralding industrialization of the north.
Communications were also improved, as airports were built throughout the area, notably in Bodø 1952 and Tromsø in 1964. The train network was extended to reach Bodø in 1961. In 1972, the University of Tromsø opened, accompanied by a number of colleges, notably in Bodø, Alta, Harstad and Narvik. In 1972 and 1994, the strong anti-EU movements of the north were instrumental when Norway voted against EU membership in referendums.
The tide has also turned for the Sami population of the north. Sami-language instruction was introduced in schools in the 1970s. In 1979, the building of a hydro-electric dam in Alta caused huge demonstrations, giving the Sami question national attention for virtually the first time. The result was a significant effort by the authorities to promote Sami language and culture. In 1989, the Norwegian Sami parliament, Samediggi, opened, and the Law of Finnmark of 2005 dealt with the land question.
Working against all this, emigration to the south has been strong after World War II, and today Oslo is Norway's biggest city. The population is slowly declining in the north, although the regional centres of Bodø, Tromsø and Alta continue to grow. Lately, the off-shore gas field of Snøhvit, off Hammerfest, has brought hopes of new development in the north, and the population of the north hopes that oil and gas might give new optimism.

Languages

The Northern Norwegian dialects share a common, musical intonation, different from the southern dialects of Norway. Apart from this, there is great variation in sound system, grammar and vocabulary. In general, one can say that the southernmost of the northern dialects, particularly in Helgeland and Salten, are the most distinct. Notably they cut grammar endings (like French relative to Italian). Further north, the dialects are somewhat more in line with standard Norwegian (Bokmål). In some inland valleys in the county of Troms, settlers from the inland of Southern Norway immigrated 200 years ago. Even today, these dialects have southern characteristics in intonation and vocabulary.
Earlier, Northern dialects had a low status in Norway, but recently they have been used extensively in song lyrics, poetry, in TV and radio. Today, anyone from fishermen to university professors via insurance agents use their dialects even at work.
Sami is spoken in three main dialects: Southern Sami south of the Arctic Circle, Lule Sami mainly between Bodø and Narvik, and Northern Sami in the rest. Originally, Pite Sami and Ume Sami was spoken around Bodø, but these dialects are now extinct on the Norwegian side of the border. Eastern Sami was originally spoken in Neiden, close to Kirkenes, but it is more or less extinct. Sami is an official language (in addition to Norwegian) in the municipalities of Kåfjord, Kautokeino, Karasjok, Porsanger, Tana and Nesseby.
The Finnish spoken in western regions, from Storfjord to Porsanger, is quite distinct, although comprehensible for people from Finland. Further east, around Vadsø and Kirkenes, the spoken Finnish resembles standard Finnish. Finnish is official in addition to Sami and Norwegian in Porsanger municipality.

Cuisine

Northern Norway is surrounded by some of the richest seas in the world, and sea products constitute the main food source for traditional cuisine.
In the winter, the codfish comes to the coastal waters to spawn. Mølja, boiled codfish with liver and roe, is a rich delicacy that today is served in the best restaurants. In the summer, the colefish, or saithe, bites, and fresh saithe is often served on the beach, boiled in seawater over an open fire. Halibut is traditional Christmas food. Most fish is served plainly poached, so that the delicate fish taste is not ruined; only accompanied by boiled potatoes, carrots and possibly fried bacon. A more particular kind of fish is "gammelsei", saithe that has been conserved for a year or more.
Tender whale meat is usually served as steaks, whereas seals are an acquired taste, due to the smell. However, when processed into "Barents ham", it gets more palatable. Fresh seal meat is served at the end of the hunting season in spring, and Tromsø is the place to look for it. Reindeer are often served as finnebiff, thin slices in a cream sauce.
Traditionally, northerners regarded shellfish and prawns as bait, but lately they have developed a taste for it, and the freshest and most succulent prawns and shellfish are easily obtainable all along the coast.

Climate

There are large climatic differences from southwest to northeast in this region. Finnmarksvidda in the interior of Finnmark and some valleys in the interior of Troms, experience a more dry, continental climate with much colder winters compared to the coastal regions.
Brønnøysund in the southern part of Nordland has January and February averages of -1°C and -0.6°C (31°F), July & August 24-hr averages are both 13°C (56°F), year average is 5.6°C (42°F; about the same as in Oslo), and precipitation is 1,510 mm/year, with autumn as the wettest season (external link).
Karasjok in the eastern part of Finnmarksvidda has January and February averages of -17°C (1°F) and -15°C (4°F), July & August averages are 13°C (56°F) and 11°C (52°F), year average is -2.4°C (28°F) and precipitation is only 366 mm/year (external link).
The mean annual temperature difference between Brønnøysund and Karasjok is 8°C (15°F), about the same as the difference between Brønnøysund and Madrid, Spain (external link).

The mild maritime climate dominates along the coast and in the large fjords, even at the most northern coastal locations; in Nordkapp municipality the average January temperature is a modest -4°C (26°F) and the year average is 2°C (35°F) (external link). Some islands, like Træna and Røst, have average temperatures of approximately 1°C (33°F) in their coldest months.
Even if winter temperatures depends largely on the distance to the sea, the length of the season varies mostly with latitude: The summer (days/year with 24-hr average 10°C or more; 50°F) lasts on average 108 days in Brønnøysund, 100 days in Mosjøen, 95 in Fauske, 90 in Bodø, 85 days in eastern Lofoten and Narvik, 75 days at the inland valleys of Bardufoss and Alta, about 65 days in Tromsø and Kirkenes, 57 in Hammerfest and 0 in Vardø. This is based on a 30 year average (1961 - 1990) for each day of the year; even Vardø will on occasions experience summer days. The growing season varies from 180 days at Vega, Brønnøysund and Røst to less than 120 days in Finnmarksvidda and the Varanger Peninsula.
The extreme northeastern coast, from Nordkapp to Vardø, is situated in the arctic climate zone due to lack of summer warmth - July average in Vardø is only 9°C (48°F). However, 150 km to the south, in the Pasvik valley south of Kirkenes, July 24-hr average is up to 14°C (57°F). No other parts of Norway experience so large differences in lowland summer temperatures in such a relatively short distance.
The coldest temperature recorded is -51.4°C (-61°F) in Karasjok, and the warmest recorded is 34.3°C (94°F) in Sihcajavri in Kautokeino.

Sources

★ Bjørbæk, G. 2003. ''Norsk vær i 110 år.'' N.W. DAMM & Sønn

★ Moen, A. 1998. ''Nasjonalatlas for Norge: Vegetasjon.'' Statens Kartverk, Hønefoss

★ Norwegian Meteorological Institute (external link)

Famous people from the north

★ Knut Hamsun (1859–1952), author and Nobel laureate, from Hamarøy

★ Iselin Steiro (1986–), supermodel, from Harstad

★ The Röyksopp band duo Torbjørn Brundtland (1975–) and Svein Berge, from Tromsø

★ Lene Marlin (1980–), singer and songwriter, from Tromsø

★ Mari Boine (1956–), jazz artist, from Karasjok

★ Geir Lundestad (1945–), director of the Nobel Institute and professor of history, from Bodø

External links

★ NACC MA: North Norway

★ NorwayOnline: North Norway

★ Europe’s most spectacular cruising coast

★ Iron age boat construction in North Norway