Værøya or Værøy is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Værøy Municipality Værøy is an island List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the villa ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The island makes up about 89% of the land area of the whole municipality and it is home to 100% of the municipal residents.

Name

The

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

form of the island's name was . The first element is the word which means "

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

" (here referring to harsh weather and the exposed and unsheltered position of the island). The last element is which means "

". Historically, the name was spelled ''Værø'', using a Danish spelling. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Værøy''. Now the spelling uses an ''-a'' suffix for ''-øya'' which is the Norwegian word for "the island".

Geography

The island lies at the southern of the

Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

, between the islands of

Røstlandet Røstlandet or simply Røst is an island in Røst Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island makes up the majority of the land of the municipality and is home to most of its residents. The island is very low and marshy, with the high ...

and

Moskenesøya Moskenesøya () is an island at the southern end of the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. The island is shared between Moskenes Municipality and Flakstad Municipality. The tidal whirlpool system known as Moskstraumen, one of th ...

. The small, uninhabited island of

Mosken Mosken is a small uninhabited rocky island in Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island is located in the Lofoten archipelago about halfway between the islands of Værøya to the south and Moskenesøya to the north. The Mosken ...

lies a short distance north of Værøya. The

Moskenstraumen Moskstraumen is a system of tide, tidal Eddy (fluid dynamics), eddies and whirlpools, one of the strongest in the world, that forms at the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway between the Norwegian Sea and the Vestfjorden. It is located ...

strait lies to the north of the island, the

Vestfjorden Vestfjorden (; sometimes shortened to ''Vestfjord'' in English) is a long fjord or oceanic sea in Nordland county, Norway. The name literally means "the west fjord", although it is called a fjord, it could best be described as a firth or an op ...

lies to the east, and the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea (; ; ) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separate ...

is to the west. The highest point on the island is the tall mountain Nordlandsnupen. The island has two villages on it:

(on the northern edge of the island) and

Sørland Sørland is a seaside resort, fishing village, and the administrative centre of Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southern side of the island of Værøya. The village is the main population center of the isla ...

(on the southeastern peninsula). About 95% of the island's residents live in Sørland, which is also the

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality. There is also the old (now abandoned) village of Mostad on the southern part of the island. The

Værøy Church Værøy Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Sørland on the south side of the island of Værøya. It is the church for the Værøy parish which is ...

and

Old Værøy Church Old Værøy Church () is a historic parish church of the Church of Norway in Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Nordland, Værøy, Nordland on the northern side of the island of Værøya. It used to be ...

are both located on the island.

History

The

Norwegian Lundehund The Norwegian Lundehund (Norwegian: ''Norsk lundehund'') is a small dog breed of the Spitz type that originates from Norway. Its name is a compound noun composed of the elements ''lunde'', meaning puffin (Norwegian ''lunde'', "puffin", or ''lundef ...

was a dog used in Værøya to hunt

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

s on the narrow cliffs on the island. The dog breed nearly went extinct in the 20th century, but a few dogs remained and the breed has since made a comeback.

Important Bird Area

An area consisting of vertical cliffs and steep grassy slopes on the south-west peninsula of the island, along with the Måstadfjellet

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

and adjacent marine waters, has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports large breeding colonies of about 40,000 pairs of

Atlantic puffin The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family (biology), family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin being found ...

s and 15,000 to 20,000 pairs of black-legged kittiwakes.

Media gallery

DSC00156måstadfjell.JPG Nordlandsnupen.jpg Måstad 2005-07-11.jpg Værøy-lundehund-2005-07-11.jpg Sørland.jpg Værøy.jpg Fishing boats at Værøy, Norway.jpg

References