or is a large

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 ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

county, in the extreme northern part of

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 lies along the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

Nordkapp Municipality Nordkapp (; or ; or ) is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Honningsvåg, where most residents live. Other settlements in Nordkapp include the villages of Gjesvær, Kåfjor ...

, just north of the Porsanger Peninsula. The mouth of Porsangerfjorden lies off the east coast of the island. Magerøya has an area of and the highest elevation on the island is the mountain Gråkallfjellet. The most northern point on the island is also the northernmost point in Norway outside of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

and Bjørnøya: Knivskjellodden. The island features a bleak, barren, tundra-covered landscape devoid of any trees (except for a few small pockets of mountain

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

), with steep cliffs along the coast, and dramatic mountainscapes in the interior. On southern Magerøya, archaeologists have found evidence of settlements dating back 10,000 years. Due to its location inside the Arctic Circle, the Sun does not set from mid-May to late July and does not rise from mid-November to late January.

Places on Magerøya

The main population centre on the island is the town of

Honningsvåg Honningsvåg is the northernmost cities and towns, northernmost city/town in mainland Norway. It is located in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county. Honningsvåg was declared a city in 1996, despite its small population. The town has a po ...

. Other smaller settlements include the fishing villages of Gjesvær, Skarsvåg, Nordvågen, and

Kamøyvær Kamøyvær is a fishing village in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies along the Kamøyfjorden on the east side of the island of Magerøya, about northwest of the town of Honningsvåg. It sits at the end of a cul-de ...

. North Cape is a very popular tourist attraction on the northern shore of the island.

Transportation

Magerøya's main claim to fame is the North Cape, a steep cliff cape on the northern coast that is a major

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

. To accommodate the large numbers of tourists that visit the island, a subsea

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

was built from 1993 to 1999. The North Cape Tunnel is part of the

European route E69 European route E69 is an European Route, E-road between Olderfjord and North Cape, Norway, North Cape in northern Norway. The road is long. It contains five tunnels, totalling . The longest, the North Cape Tunnel, is long and reaches below s ...

highway. It is long and reaches a depth of below sea level. For a time, it was one of the longest and deepest subsea tunnels in the world. Fog or ice may occur inside the tunnel, even in summer. Norway's Hurtigruten ferry service stops at the town of

on Magerøya since the waters around the island remain ice-free all year round due to the warm North Atlantic drift. Honningsvåg Airport is located on the eastern part of the island.

Media gallery

Mageroya E-69 road.jpg, View from Tunel na wyspe Mageroya.jpg, North Cape Tunnel entrance Nordkapp Skarsvåg.JPG, Skarsvåg village with some of the world's northernmost trees Tufjorden.JPG, Tiny village of Tufjorden

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mageroeya Islands of Finnmark Islands of the Barents Sea Nordkapp

Places on Magerøya

Transportation

Media gallery

See also

References