Vadsø (; ; ) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

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 A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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

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 is the town of Vadsø, which is also the

county. Other settlements in Vadsø include Ekkerøy, Kiby,

Krampenes , , or is a village in Vadsø Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Varangerfjorden on the eastern shore of the Varanger Peninsula. It lies along the European route E75 highway, about northeast of Va ...

, Skallelv, Valen, and

Vestre Jakobselv , , or is a village in Vadsø Municipality in Finnmark county, in extreme northeastern Norway. The village lies along the European route E75 highway about west of the town of Vadsø and the same distance east of the village of Nesseby in neighbo ...

. The municipality is the 83rd largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Vadsø is the 166th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 5,807. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

is and its population has decreased by 6.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The village of Vadsø was granted town status in 1833. In 1838, the town of Vadsø and the entire rural district surrounding the

Varangerfjord The Varangerfjord (; ; ; ) is the easternmost fjord in Norway, north of Finland. The fjord is located in Finnmark county between the Varanger Peninsula and the mainland of Norway. Extents The fjord flows through the municipalities of Vardø ...

en were established as the new Vadsø Municipality (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). The law required that all towns should be separated from their rural districts, but because of a low population and very few voters, this was impossible to carry out for the municipality of Vadsø in 1838. (This was also true in the nearby towns of

Hammerfest Hammerfest or Hámmárfeasta is a town/cityIn the Norwegian language, the word ''by'' can be translated as "town" or "city". that is also the administrative centre of Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the nor ...

and

Vardø Vardo or Vardø may refer to: Places * Vardø Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway *Vardø (town) (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative centre of Vard� ...

.) In 1839, the western district (population: 598) was separated to become the new

Nesseby Municipality or (also unofficially ''Uuniemi'' in Kven language, Kven and Finnish language, Finnish) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the vi ...

. This left Vadsø with 388 residents. In 1858, Vadsø Municipality changed again:

(population: 706) was merged back into Vadsø and the district of Vadsø located south of the

Varangerfjorden The Varangerfjord (; ; ; ) is the easternmost fjord in Norway, north of Finland. The fjord is located in Finnmark county between the Varanger Peninsula and the mainland of Norway. Extents The fjord flows through the municipalities of Vardø, ...

(population: 1,171) was separated to form the new

Sør-Varanger Municipality Sør-Varanger (; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kirkenes. Other settlements in the municipality include the vill ...

. This change resulted in a population of 2,050 in Vadsø Municipality. In 1864, the western district of Vadsø (population: 866) was separated (once again) to re-create

, leaving Vadsø with 1,367 residents. On 1 January 1894, the rest of the rural district (population: 1,296) surrounding the town of Vadsø was separated to form the new

Nord-Varanger Municipality Nord-Varanger is a former municipality in Finnmark county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1894 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Vadsø Municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was in the town o ...

. This left just the town of Vadsø remaining in the municipality of Vadsø which now had 1,114 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964,

(population: 1,587) was merged with the town of Vadsø (population: 3,353) to form the present-day Vadsø Municipality. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; ; ; ) was a county in northern Norway that existed from 2020 to 2023. The county was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. It was the largest county by area in Norway, encompassing about , and w ...

county. Previously, it had been part of the old

county. On 1 January 2024, the

county was divided and the municipality once again became part of

county.

Name

The municipality is named after the town of Vadsø. The name of the town comes from the island

Vadsøya Vadsøya is an island in Vadsø Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The island lies in the Varangerfjorden, just south of the coast of the mainland Varanger Peninsula. The island is part of the town of Vadsø. The island is connected to th ...

, since that was the original townsite. 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 name would be ''*Vazøy'', ''*Vatsøy'', ''*Vassøy''; the eldest references to the town show the forms ''Vasthøen'' (1520) and ''Vaadsøenn'' (1567). The first element is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of which means "

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

" and the last element is which means "

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 ...

". Therefore, the meaning of the name is "the island with drinking water".

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 20 February 1976. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

, a reindeer's head

couped The heads of humans and other animals are frequently occurring charges in heraldry. The blazon, or heraldic description, usually states whether an animal's head is couped (as if cut off cleanly at the neck), erased (as if forcibly ripped from th ...

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

"'' (). This means the arms have a red

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is the head of a

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

stag. The reindeer head has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used.

Reindeer husbandry Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

is common in the municipality and of great economic importance, especially important among the

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

population. The reindeer also symbolizes freedom, strength, and endurance. The arms were designed by

Hallvard Trætteberg Hallvard Trætteberg (21 April 1898 in Løten Municipality – 21 November 1987 in Oslo) was the leading Norwegian heraldic artist and the expert adviser on heraldry to the Government of Norway and the Norwegian royal family for much of the 2 ...

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has one parish () within the municipality of Vadsø. It is part of the Varanger prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms and Finnmark counties as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral, t ...

History

In the 16th century, the settlement of Vadsø consisted of a

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

and the old

Vadsø Church Vadsø Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Vadsø Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the town of Vadsø. It is the main church for the Vadsø parish which is part of the Varanger prosti (deanery) in th ...

, located on the island of

. The settlement later moved to the mainland.

Pomor trade The Pomor trade (; ) was carried out between the Pomors of Northwest Russia and the people along the coast of northern Norway, as far south as Bodø (town), Bodø. The trade went on from 1740 until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Pomor tr ...

led Vadsø to be a major trading centre in this part of Norway. Township privilege was granted in 1833, and soon settlers came from

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and the northern part of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, which suffered from

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

. Finnish was rapidly becoming the language of the majority, and this continued for decades. As of 2016, Finnish is still spoken in some households. During the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, Vadsø suffered several air raids from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, which bombed German troops. However, there are, unlike most places in Finnmark, a number of 19th century wooden houses preserved close to the city centre, notably the house of Esbensen, built by a Norwegian, and the house of Tuomainen, built by a Finn. On the island of Vadsøya is the airship mast used by

Umberto Nobile Umberto Nobile (; 21 January 1885 – 30 July 1978) was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships in the Aviation between the World Wars, years between the two Worl ...

and

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...

for their expedition over the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

with the airship ''Norge'' in 1926, and used again on Nobile's flight with the airship ''Italia'' in 1928.

Government

All municipalities in Norway are responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or 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 object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. 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, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

is Indirect election, indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Indre og Østre Finnmark District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

of Vadsø is made up of 21 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political Political party, party.

Mayors

The Mayor#Scandinavia, mayors () of Vadsø: *c.1860–1891: Vilhelm Andersen *1892–1894: Nikolai Prebensen (Conservative Party (Norway), H) *1922–1923: Johan Grønvigh *1924–1925: Jakob Laurits Smith Bredrup *1926–1927: August Absalon Trasti (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1928-1929: Terje Wold (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1929–1931: August Absalon Trasti (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1932-1932: Richard Rasmussen *1933-1933: Andreas Brodtkorb Esbensen *1934–1936: Terje Wold (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1937-1945: Magnus Methi (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1953–1959: Anders Aune (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1962–1963: Jarle Johansen (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1964–1972: Henry Nikolai Karlsen (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1972-1979: Roger Hans Jenssen *1980–1983: Paul Rudolf Basma (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1984–1995: Aage Noren (Labour Party (Norway), Ap) *1995-2003: Anne Strifeldt (Arbeiderpartiet, Ap) *2003-2007: Hauk Henrik Johnsen (Arbeiderpartiet, Ap) *2007-2013: Svein Dragnes (Arbeiderpartiet, Ap) *2014-2015: Rolf Arne Hanssen (Socialist Left Party (Norway), SV) *2015-2019: Hans-Jacob Bønå (Conservative Party (Norway), H) *2019–present: Wenche Pederson (Arbeiderpartiet, Ap)

Geography

The municipality of Vadsø forms the southern coast of the Varanger Peninsula. The treeline lies at 100 m - 200 m ASL, highest at sheltered areas into the fjord away from the sea. There is no conifer forest in the municipality, the treeline is made up of birch forest, and willow shrubs are also common. The

lies along the southern coast of the municipality and the river Jakobselva (Vadsø), Jakobselva runs along the western border of Vadsø. The small islands of Lille Ekkerøy, Vadsø, Lille Ekkerøy and

lie in the Varangerfjorden. The Varangerhalvøya National Park lies in a large part of the interior parts of the municipality. The "midnight sun" is above the horizon from 17 May to 28 July (73 days), and the period with continuous daylight lasts a bit longer, polar night from 25 November to 17 January (54 days). The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Skipskjølen.

Climate

Vadsø town has a subarctic climate, with long winters and a cool short summer. Part of the municipality is upland at the Varanger peninsula with alpine tundra climate above the treeline. According to data provided by Vadsø Airport, July is the warmest month with an average temperature of , while the average daytime temperature hovers around ; on the contrary, February is the coldest, with the average temperature dropping to . The annual precipitation is about . Spring is a relatively dry season, and precipitation is mainly concentrated in late summer and early autumn. Extreme temperatures ranged from on February 6, 2012 to on 2018 European heatwave, July 19, 2018.

Wildlife

Birdlife

Situated on the shores of the

the municipality of Vadsø is known for its birdlife. Many of its coastal localities like Ekkerøy, Store Ekkerøy are internationally known for its rich and interesting birdlife. The harbor at Vadsø can produce all three species of eider, including the small Steller's eider.

River fishing

Fishing permits (for salmon fishing) are sold for use on specific rivers, including Komag-elva.

Transportation

E75-Nord-Varangerfjord-2012-07-08-12-00-013

Vadsø Airport is located in Kiby, just to the east of the town. The town is also a port of call for the Hurtigruten coastal express boats. Vadsø is located along the European route E75 highway.

Economy

The service industries have more impact on employment than the total of farming, fishing and the manufacturing industry. The city has suppliers to the regional construction industries, including a concrete works. One bookstore exists (2023).

Notable people

* Mathias Bonsach Krogh (1754 in Vadsø – 1828), a clergyman who was the first Diocese of Hålogaland, Bishop of Hålogaland * Sigurd Kloumann (1879 in Vadsø – 1953), an engineer and hydropower developer * Terje Wold (1899 – 1972), a politician, mayor of Vadsø in the 1930s, and the 15th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1958 to 1969 * Anders John Aune (1923 – 2011), a politician who was mayor of Vadsø in the 1950s * Einar Niemi (born 1943 in Nord-Varanger), a historian of the cultural heritage of Northern Norway * Harald Norvik (born 1946 in Vadsø), the former CEO of Statoil, Telenor & ConocoPhillips * Bodil Niska (born 1954 in Vadsø), a jazz musician who plays the saxophone * Harald Devold (1964–2016), a jazz musician who lived in Vadsø from 1995 * Stig Henrik Hoff (born 1965 in Vadsø), an actor. Retrieved 30 September 2020. * Ingvild Aleksandersen (born 1968 in Vadsø), a lawyer who was County Governor of Finnmark county 2016 to 2018

Sport

* Aage Steen (1900 in Vadsø – 1982), a boxer who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics * Lars Bohinen (born 1969 in Vadsø), a former professional footballer with 355 club caps and 49 for Norway national football team, Norway * Sigurd Rushfeldt (born 1972 in Vadsø), a football coach and former player with 485 club caps and 38 for Norway national football team, Norway * Morten Gamst Pedersen (born 1981 in Vadsø), a professional footballer with over 500 club caps and 83 for Norway national football team, Norway *Kristin Harila, a mountaineer who climbed the 14 tallest mountains in the world and setting multiple world speed records

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Vadsø is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with the following cities: * – Holstebro, Denmark * – Karkkila,

* – Kemijärvi, Finland * – Murmansk, Russia * – Oxelösund,

Notes

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from Statistics Norway
Varanger.com
tourist information about Varanger area

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vadso Vadsø, Municipalities of Finnmark Populated places established in 1838 Populated places of Arctic Norway 1838 establishments in Norway