Birtavarre ( sme, Gáivuonbahta; fkv, Pirttivaara) is a village in the municipality of Gáivuotna-Kåfjord-Kaivuono in

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The village is located along the Kåfjordelva river ( sme, Gáivuoneatu) at the end of the Kåfjorden in the Kåfjorddalen valley in an area called ''Kåfjordbotn'' ( sme, Gaivuonbahta). The village has a population (2017) of 214 which gives the village a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of . Birtavarre is located along

European route E6 European route E6 ( no, Europavei 6, sv, Europaväg 6, or simply E6) is the main north-south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and t ...

about southeast of the municipal centre of

Olderdalen Olderdalen ( se, Dálošvággi; fkv, Junttaniemi) is the administrative centre of the municipality of Gáivuotna – Kåfjord – Kaivuono in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Olderdalen is located in the Olderdalen valley along the Kåfjorden ...

(on the north side of the fjord) and about southeast of Samuelsberg and Manndalen (on the south side of the fjord). Birtavarre Chapel is also located in the village.

Name

Birtavarre is a former mining town with smelters in Ankerlia that are preserved by the Nord-Troms Museum. It was during the mining period that the village adopted the name ''Birtavarre''. Up until that time the area had been called ''Kåfjordbotn'', meaning the end of the Kåfjorden. Since there was also mining in Kåfjord in the nearby

Alta Municipality ( se, Áltá ; fkv, Alattio; fi, Alattio) is the most populated municipality in Finnmark in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alta. Some of the main villages in the municipality in ...

, many workers ended up in the wrong Kåfjord. The name was changed simply for the practical reason of avoiding confusion. The Sámi name for the place, ''Gáivuonbahta'', is translated from the old name Kåfjordbotn. The present name for the village comes from the nearby mountain ''Pirttivaara'' which is a

Kven language The Kven language ( or ; or ; fi, kveeni or ; no, kvensk) is a Finnic language or a group of Finnish dialects spoken in the northernmost parts of Norway by the Kven people. For political and historical reasons, it received the status of a mino ...

name.

References

{{authority control Gáivuotna–Kåfjord Villages in Troms Populated places of Arctic Norway