Mehamn
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Mehamn ( sme, Donjevuotna; fkv, Meehamina) is the administrative centre of
Gamvik Municipality ( sme, Gáŋgaviika) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mehamn. The other main villages in Gamvik include Gamvik and Skjånes. Gamvik is known as one of the ...
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), 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 village is located on the small Vedvik peninsula, itself part of the greater
Nordkinn Peninsula Cape Nordkinn ( no, Kinnarodden or ) at is the northernmost point on the Nordkinn Peninsula in county, Norway. It is notable for being the northernmost point of mainland Norway, and by extension the northernmost point of mainland Europe. The ...
, at the southern end of the Mehamnfjorden, a bay off of the
Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
. The village of
Gamvik ( sme, Gáŋgaviika) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mehamn. The other main villages in Gamvik include ...
lies about to the east and the village of
Kjøllefjord Kjøllefjord is the administrative centre of Lebesby Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located on the northwestern part of the Nordkinn Peninsula, on the shore of a small fjord which empties into the larger Laksefj ...
(in
Lebesby Municipality Lebesby ( sme, Davvesiida and fkv, Lebespyy) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kjøllefjord. Other villages in the municipality include Ifjord, Kunes, Lebes ...
) lies about to the southwest. Mehamn Chapel is located in this village. The village has a population (2017) of 779 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 .


History


Whaling

Svend Foyn established the
whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...
station in Mehamn that was built in 1884-1885. It was put into use starting in the spring of 1885, and it became the largest of its kind in Finnmark county. After Foyn’s death in 1894, the whaling station was run by Foyn’s whaling company. Svend Foyn also established the Svend Foyn Chapel, in Mehamn starting in 1887.


Mehamn Rebellion

The background for the Mehamn rebellion was a period of miserable
cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...
and
capelin The capelin or caplin (''Mallotus villosus'') is a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic oceans. In summer, it grazes on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin ...
fishing. The fishermen blamed the local whaling. They believed that the whales chased the fish towards the shore. With few whales left, the fish stayed out of reach. Frustrations were growing by the day during spring of 1903. By
Whitsun Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the ...
day, about 2000 angry fishermen were in harbour in Mehamn. At the time, the village had 123 permanent residents. When the new manager of the whaling station denied help to a fishing boat that came from sea with a broken helm, the fishermen had had enough. On 2 June 1903, a large number of them gathered outside the factory. During the following two days, machinery was destroyed, chimneys were torn down, and the large steam boilers were sunk. The guard and the single police officer could do nothing but watch. Military forces from
Vardø ( fi, Vuoreija, fkv, Vuorea, se, Várggát) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, more to the east than Saint Petersburg or Istanbul. The administr ...
and
Harstad ( se, Hárstták) is the second-most populated municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the town of Harstad, the most populous town in Central Hålogalan ...
were mobilized, but did not reach Mehamn before the factory was completely destroyed and the situation was calm again. Some of the vandals were caught and convicted. They received very light sentences in jail and then the following autumn, general elections were held, and the Labour Party, which had fought for the protection of the whales, entered
parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
for the first time with four MPs. They all represented the three northernmost counties of Norway. They were said to have "ridden to Parliament on a whale’s back." In December, a law was passed ensuring the preservation of the whales in Norwegian waters off the coast of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark.


1982 air crash

On 11 March 1982, a
Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and is the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 40 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, and 3 Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, serves over 40 ...
Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restart ...
crashed into the sea on approach to Mehamn Airport during flight from
Berlevåg Airport Berlevåg Airport ( no, Berlevåg lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving Berlevåg Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The airport is situated northwest of the village of Berlevåg and is owned and operated by Avinor. The air ...
, killing all on board. Despite controversies regarding the cause of the crash,
clear-air turbulence In meteorology, clear-air turbulence (CAT) is the turbulent movement of air masses in the absence of any visual clues, such as clouds, and is caused when bodies of air moving at widely different speeds meet. The atmospheric region most suscept ...
over the Mehamnfjorden was determined as the official cause.


Climate

Mehamn has a boreal (subarctic) climate, with short and cool summers. The winters are long and sometimes windy, but winter temperatures are moderated by the nearby open sea and mild for the latitude.


Transportation

Norwegian County Road 888 connects Mehamn to the European route E6 highway at the base of the Nordkinn Peninsula, and from there on to the towns of Kirkenes in the east and Alta in the west. Mehamn is a port of call for the
Hurtigruten ''Hurtigruten'' (), formally Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen-Kirkenes"), is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports no ...
coastal ship. Mehamn is also connected by air via
Mehamn Airport Mehamn Airport ( no, Mehamn lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving the village of Mehamn in Gamvik Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It also serves the villages Kjøllefjord and Gamvik. The airport is outside of the village ...
, with services by
Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and is the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 40 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, and 3 Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, serves over 40 ...
to the nearby city of
Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...
.


References


External links

{{authority control Villages in Finnmark Gamvik Populated places of Arctic Norway