Borkenes is the administrative centre of

Kvæfjord Municipality Kvæfjord ( sme, Giehtavuotna) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Borkenes. Other villages include ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...

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 the ...

. The farming village is located on the island of

Hinnøya Hinnøya is the fourth-largest island in Norway, and the largest outside the Svalbard archipelago. The lies just off the western coast of Northern Norway. The island sits on the border of Nordland and Troms og Finnmark counties. The western ...

, about west of the city of Harstad. It is located along the Kvæfjorden (an arm of the

Gullesfjorden Gullesfjorden is a fjord that cuts into the island of Hinnøya in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located mostly within Kvæfjord Municipality, although a small part in the northwestern part of the fjord lies in Sortland Municipality in ...

), looking across the fjord at the island of Kvæøya. Borkenes skole og Kvæfjordhallen

Kvæfjord Church is located in the village centre near the local school. The village is built along the small river Råelva. The village has a population (2017) of 1,508 which gives the village a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

of .

Economy

Earlier, Borkenes was an industrial center with the production of herring oil as the main industry. Later the center for people with

mental retardation Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

at Trastad, in the northwestern part of Borkenes became a principal industry for the village. In the 1990s, the government decided to close all institutions of this scale. People who had been living there for many years could choose to move home or continue living in new housing at Borkenes. Many stayed on, and working with mentally disabled people continues to be a viable employment opportunity in the community. Today, the village is home to a

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

school which is part of the '' Rå videregående skole'' (

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

). There is some

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

in the area, where strawberries and potatoes are grown by local farmers.

Wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

and

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 ...

are available in the mountains and lakes close to residential areas, and boats are available for sea excursions.

References

{{authority control Villages in Troms Populated places of Arctic Norway Kvæfjord