Porsanger ( se, Porsáŋgu; fkv, Porsanki) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

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 A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality is the village of Lakselv. Other villages in the municipality include Børselv, Brenna, Indre Billefjord,

Kistrand Kistrand ( sme, Čuđegieddi; fkv, Ryssämarkka) is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the eastern side of the Porsanger Peninsula, along the western shore of the Porsangerfjorden. The vil ...

Olderfjord Olderfjord ( sme, Leaibevuotna; fkv, Leipovuono) is a village in Porsanger in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the end of Olderfjorden on the eastern coast of the Porsanger Peninsula, along the shore of the Porsangerfjorden ...

, and

Skoganvarre Skoganvarre ( sme, Skuvvanvárri) is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located along the Lakselva river and the European route E06 highway, about half-way between the villages of Lakselv and K ...

. The municipality is the 3rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Porsanger is the 204th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,904, many of whom have a Kven (Kainu) or Sami background. The municipality's

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 ...

is and its population has decreased by 1.1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of ''Kistrand'' (renamed ''Porsanger'' in 1964) was established on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

law). On 1 January 1851, the southern part of Kistrand (population: 869) was separated to become the new Kautokeino Municipality. On 1 January 1861, the northern part of Kistrand (population: 345) was separated to become the new Kjelvik Municipality. On 1 January 1866, the southern part of Kistrand (population: 515) was separated to become the new

Karasjok Municipality ( se, Kárášjohka ; fkv, Kaarasjoki) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karasjok. Other villages include Dorvonjárga, Šuoššjávri, and Váljohka. Th ...

. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed

county. Previously, it had been part of the old

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

county.

Name

The municipality was originally named

, after the farm where the main parish church (

Kistrand Church Kistrand Church ( no, Kistrand kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kistrand. It is the main church for the Porsanger parish which is part ...

) was located. In 1964, the municipality was renamed ''Porsanger'', after the local Porsangerfjorden. The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

form of the name was ''Porsangr''. The first element is probably the name of the plant ''pors'' or ''finnmarkspors'' (''

Rhododendron tomentosum ''Rhododendron tomentosum'' ( syn. ''Ledum palustre''), commonly known as marsh Labrador tea, northern Labrador tea or wild rosemary, is a flowering plant in the subsection '' Ledum'' of the large genus '' Rhododendron'' in the family Ericaceae. ...

''). Another theory is that is comes from Sami ''borsi'' which means "

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

". The last word is ''angr'' which means "

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

". Since 2004, the municipality has had three official names: Porsanger, Porsáŋgu, and Porsanki, since it has three official languages: Norwegian, Northern Sami, and Kven.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

was granted on 16 June 1967. Porsanger is one of the largest municipalities in the

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...

that are not dependent on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

. Instead the local people historically farmed

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, which is still an importance source of income. The arms thus show three silver leaping reindeer on a red background.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

has one parish () within the municipality of Porsanger. It is part of the

Indre Finnmark prosti Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland ( no, Nord-Hålogaland bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms og Finnmark county as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø ...

History

The area has been settled by

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

since time immemorial. In the 18th century, people from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, escaping

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

and war, settled along the Porsangerfjorden. These people are today known as Kven. Today, three official languages are in use, and the municipality is named ''Porsanger'', ''Porsáŋgu'', and ''Porsanki'' (the name in Norwegian, Northern Sami, and Kven/ Finnish respectively).

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Porsanger, are responsible for

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...

, senior citizen services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...

, and municipal

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

of elected representatives, which in turn elect a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. The municipality falls under the

Indre Finnmark District Court Indre Finnmark District Court ( no, Indre Finnmark tingrett or sme, Sis-Finnmárkku diggegoddi) was a district court in Finnmark county, Norway. The court was based in the village of Tana Bru. The court existed from 2004 until 2021. It served th ...

and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

of Porsanger is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

breakdown of the council is as follows:

Economy

Halkavarre,_Porsanger,_Finnmark,_Norway_-_panoramio

Lakselv Airport, Banak Lakselv Airport ( no, Lakselv lufthavn; ) is an international airport located at Banak, north of Lakselv, in the municipality of Porsanger, Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Co-located with the military Station Group Banak, the airport is own ...

is located on the Banak peninsula, just north of Lakselv village, along the coast of the fjord. The airport has connections to

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

and

Kirkenes Kirkenes (; ; Skolt Sami: ''Ǩeârkknjargg;'' fi, Kirkkoniemi; ; russian: Киркенес) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town ...

and it is operated by Widerøe. There are also charter flights in the summer season. The airport is also used by the Royal Norwegian Air Force's

Station Group Banak Station Group Banak ( no, Stasjonsgruppe Banak), formerly Banak Air Station (), is a military airbase located at Banak, just north of Lakselv in Porsanger in Troms og Finnmark, Norway. Operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF), it serve ...

. The Norwegian Army also has a

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

at Porsangermoen ( Garrison of Porsanger), and so the military presence in Porsanger is quite heavy. The local newspapers are Finnmark Dagblad and

Ságat ''Ságat'' is a Sámi newspaper written in Norwegian that is published in Leavdnja, Finnmark, Norway. History and profile ''Ságat'' was founded in Vadsø in 1957 and moved to Leavdnja in 1981, where it still is based today. It maintains office ...

. The northernmost winery is located here, using crowberries instead of

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

Geography

Porsanger Municipality is the third largest municipality in Norway by area, with . The municipality surrounds the inner part of the Porsangerfjorden, the fourth longest fjord in Norway and the longest in

. The Porsangerfjorden is a wide, open body of water with many

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s. The

Porsanger Peninsula The Porsanger Peninsula ( no, Porsangerhalvøya) is a peninsula in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The large peninsula sits between the Altafjorden and the Porsangerfjorden and includes parts of the municipalities of Alta, Hammerfest, Måsøy, ...

lies on the western shore of the fjord and the Sværholt Peninsula lies on the eastern shore. The biggest village (and municipal centre) is the village of Lakselv at the fjord's southern end. There are many smaller villages spread around the fjord on both sides, notably

, Børselv, and Indre Billefjord.

Stabbursdalen National Park Stabbursdalen National Park ( no, Stabbursdalen nasjonalpark) is a national park in North Norway. It contains the northernmost pine forest in the world. It is located in Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The park surrounds the ...

, with the world's northernmost

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, lies just west of the fjord and the village of Lakselv. The Stabburselva river runs through the park. Other notable rivers include the

Børselva Børselva (, ) is a river in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The long river runs from the mountains down to the village of Børselv, and it then empties out into the Porsangerfjorden. The river has a watershed and at ...

and

Lakselva Lakselva ( se, Leavdnjajohka; fkv, Lemmijoki) is a river in Troms og Finnmark county in northern Norway. It begins in Karasjok Municipality runs north through Porsanger Municipality into the Porsangerfjorden, a fjord off of the Barents Sea. The ...

, both are well known for their

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

. The lakes

Gákkajávri Gákkajávri is a lake that lies in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The lake lies just east of the European route E06 highway, between the villages of Lakselv and Karasjok. The village of Skoganvarre Skoganvarre ...

and

Kjæsvannet Kjæsvannet ( sme, Keaisajávri or ) is a lake on the border of the municipalities of Porsanger and Lebesby in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The lake is located on the Sværholt Peninsula The Sværholt Peninsula ( no, Sværholthalvøya) is ...

are both located in the municipality. In Porsanger, there is

midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, t ...

from 16 May until 27 July each year and there is polar night from 25 November to 16 January.

Birdlife

Porsanger is an area of rich and varied

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

fauna. Here one can find such species as pine grosbeak. Away from the

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

s, it is the surrounding

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s that have the greatest diversity. During spring, thousands of red knots stop to rest and feed along the shores of Porsangerfjord.

Climate

Lakselv has a

boreal climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

with modest precipitation and long winters, but still with annual mean well above freezing, ensuring there is no permafrost. The winters are less severe in terms of cold than would be expected for a town at 70 degrees latitude. The all-time high temperature was recorded on 5 July 2021. This is the warmest temperature ever recorded north of 70 degrees North in Europe. The all-time low is from January 1986. The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below ) in spring is 24 May and average date for first freeze in autumn is 6 September giving a frost-free season of 105 days. The weather station (recording since Aug 1945) is located at Banak Airport, from the town.

Notable people

John Persen John Andreas Persen (9 November 1941 – 12 December 2014) was a Norwegian composer. John Persen grew up in a laestadian, Sami family in Ráigeadja in Porsanger and was a son-in-law of Finn Strømsted. In 1968, John Persen moved to Oslo to st ...

(1941–2014) a Norwegian composer, he grew up in Ráigeadja *

Synnøve Persen Synnøve Persen (born 22 February 1950) is a Norwegian Sámi artist, author, and activist who has played an influential role in bringing Sámi identity to contemporary art. She has been twice nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for t ...

(born 1950 in Beavgohpis) a Norwegian Sámi artist, author and activist *

Ivar Thomassen Ivar Thomassen (19 July 1954 – 28 November 2016) was a Norwegian folk singer, songwriter, and jazz pianist . Biography Thomassen was from Russenes in Porsanger, Norway. He lived in Alta and taught at Alta high school. From 1989 to 1997, he ...

(1954 in Russenes – 2016) a Norwegian folk singer, songwriter and jazz pianist * Arnljot Elgsæter (born 1944 in Kistrand) a physicist and academic * Kåre Olli (born 1959) a Sami Arbeiderparti politician

References

External links

*
Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

Activities & tourism in PorsangerAngling in Porsanger
{{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Municipalities of Troms og Finnmark Populated places of Arctic Norway 1838 establishments in Norway Kven language municipalities Sámi-language municipalities