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), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers 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 the ...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of

Lakselv ( sme, Leavdnja; fkv, Lemmijoki) is the largest village and administrative centre of Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the southern end of the large Porsangerfjorden. The village has a population ...

. Other villages in the municipality include

Børselv Børselv (, ) is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located at the base of the Sværholt Peninsula, along the east side of the Porsangerfjorden, at the outlet of the river Børselva. The village of ...

, Brenna, Indre Billefjord, Kistrand, Olderfjord, and Skoganvarre. 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: 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 ...

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 law). On 1 January 1851, the southern part of Kistrand (population: 869) was separated to become the new

Kautokeino Municipality Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other villages ...

. 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 Kistrand, after the farm where the main parish church ( Kistrand Church) was located. In 1964, the municipality was renamed ''Porsanger'', after the local

Porsangerfjorden The Porsangerfjorden ( en, Porsanger Fjord; sme, Porsáŋgguvuotna; fkv, Porsanginvuono) is a fjord in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Name The fjord is officially named ''Porsangerfjorden'' in Norwegian. It is also known informally as ''Pors ...

. The

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

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

". 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, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

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

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

, and

Kven KVEN (1520 AM, "La Voz 1520 AM & 96.3 FM") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Port Hueneme, California and serves the Ventura County area. The station is owned by Gold Coast Broadcasting and broadcasts a Spanish-language news/ta ...

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

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

, 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 has one parish () within the municipality of Porsanger. It is part of the Indre Finnmark prosti ( deanery) 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 Trom ...

History

The area has been settled by Sami people 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, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

and

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, settled along the

. These people are today known as

. Today, three official languages are in use, and the municipality is named ''Porsanger'', ''Porsáŋgu'', and ''Porsanki'' (the name in

, and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

respectively).

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Porsanger, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services,

senior citizen Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

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 during the refere ...

and other social services,

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 ...

, 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 counc ...

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 ...

. 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 The Hålogaland Court of Appeal ( no, Hålogaland lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as ...

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 featur ...

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 owne ...

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 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 ...

and Kirkenes and it is operated 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 ...

. There are also charter flights in the summer season. The airport is also used by the

Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) ( no, Luftforsvaret, , The Air Defence) is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximatel ...

's Station Group Banak. The

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

also has a garrison at Porsangermoen ( Garrison of Porsanger), and so the military presence in Porsanger is quite heavy. The local newspapers are

Finnmark Dagblad ''Finnmark Dagblad'' is a Norwegian daily newspaper, published in Hammerfest, Norway. The newspaper was founded in 1913 as ''Vestfinmarkens Socialdemokrat''. It changed its name to ''Vestfinnmark Arbeiderblad'' in 1923. From 1940 the newspaper wa ...

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 A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

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 a ...

Geography

Porsanger Municipality is the third largest municipality in Norway by area, with . The municipality surrounds the inner part of the

, the fourth longest fjord in Norway and the longest in Northern Norway. 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 lies on the western shore of the fjord and the

Sværholt Peninsula The Sværholt Peninsula ( no, Sværholthalvøya) is a peninsula in Finnmark county, Norway. The peninsula lies between the Porsangerfjorden and Laksefjorden in the municipalities of Nordkapp, Lebesby, and Porsanger Porsanger ( se, Porsáŋg ...

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 Kistrand, Olderfjord,

, and Indre Billefjord. Stabbursdalen National Park, 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 accepts ...

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 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 commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

. The lakes Gákkajávri and Kjæsvannet 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, ...

from 16 May until 27 July each year and there is

polar night The polar night is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours that occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midni ...

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 lightweig ...

fauna. Here one can find such species as

pine grosbeak The pine grosbeak (''Pinicola enucleator'') is a large member of the true finch family, Fringillidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Pinicola''. It is found in coniferous woods across Alaska, the western mountains of the United States, Can ...

. 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 (se ...

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 p ...

s that have the greatest diversity. During spring, thousands of

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the '' Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

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