Sommarøy is an old

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 m ...

in the western part of

Tromsø Municipality 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located about west of the city of Tromsø and is a popular tourist destination due to its white sand beaches and scenery. The village has a population (2017) of 321 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 . The

of Sommarøy covers the island of

Store Sommarøya Store Sommarøya or Sommarøya is an island in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island is located about west of the city of Tromsø and is a popular tourist destination due to its white sand beaches and scenery. The ...

as well as part of the neighboring island of

Hillesøya Hillesøya is an island and fishing village in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island is dominated by a mountain, but the southeastern third of the island is relatively flat and that is where the residents of the isl ...

and many smaller surrounding islands. The village is a typical fishing village with great local fishing fleets and substantial fish processing and other industries. Tourism is also important in Sommarøy. There is a hotel and rental cabins are available.

History

The original settlement site was on the neighboring island of

where the old

Hillesøy Church Hillesøy Church ( no, Hillesøy kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the Brensholmen area on the western part of the island of Kvaløya. It is the churc ...

was located. This site was where successive churches have stood from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

until the late 1800s when the church was moved to Brensholmen on the island of Kvaløya. The main centre of the village moved to

island around 1900.

Time

On the island of Sommarøy, the sun does not set from 18 May to 26 July, a full 69 days. This is then followed by long polar nights from November to January, when the sun does not rise at all due to the location north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

. In June 2019,

Innovation Norway Innovation Norway is a state-owned company and a national development bank. The company's programs and services are intended to stimulate entrepreneurship in Norway. Its head office is in Oslo, and an office in each of the Norwegian counties. It al ...

conducted a marketing campaigncalled

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...

by some claiming that local inhabitants wanted Sommarøy to declare itself as the world's first time-free zone and had petitioned the Norwegian government to abolish

civil time In modern usage, civil time refers to statutory time as designated by civilian authorities. Modern civil time is generally national standard time in a time zone at a fixed offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), possibly adjusted by daylig ...

on the island. The story was covered in more than 1650 articles which potentially reached up to 1.2 billion people. The value of this coverage was estimated at 11.4 million USD, whereas Innovation Norway spent less than 60,000 USD on the campaign.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sommaroy Villages in Troms Tromsø Populated places of Arctic Norway