Birtavarre

660 inhabitants for each km ²

Birtavarre (or Kåfjordbotn or kvenisch Pirttivaara or North Sami Gáivuonbahta ) is a " Tettsted " in the community Kåfjord in Troms in Norway. Birtavarre is one of three places in the community and houses the Health Services (Norwegian helsetjenester ) for Kåfjords helsesenter. The place has an extensive range of services, including shops, a petrol station, a workshop, a tool for action (Norwegian husflidutsalg ), a hairdresser and a campground with cabins. The place also has a wool spinning, weaving unwashed wool with machines from the early 20th century.

Birtavarre is the gateway to Haltitunturi, Finland 's highest mountain. From the E6, which runs in front of the place, you can follow the regional road 333 (Norwegian fylkesvei 333), following which follows an open in the summer, gravel mountain road that leads to the foot of Haltitunturi on the inner side of the lake Guolasjávri.

In earlier times there were in Ankerlia a mining area with smelting, which is obtained from the North - Troms Museum. During the operation of the mines in the name Birtavarre came into use after the place actually was originally called Kåfjordbotn. Because it simultaneously was a pit operation in place at Kåfjord eponymous Kåfjord and many miners therefore arrived at the wrong Kåfjord, they took practical reasons before the name change. The Sámi name of the place is the translation of Kåfjordbotn. The name Birtavarre is derived from the name of the nearby fells Pirttivaara i Kåfjord.

Mines and smelting

The oldest known Erzfund in the area was in the 1860s. The wholesaler Christian August Anker from Halden, Halden today, founded in 1898 with a capital of £ 50,000, the Firmat Norwegian Copper Mines Ltd.. Although there were foreclosures and a fire in 1903 destroyed all the buildings in a single day, the mines remained more or less until 1919 to operate until floods and fires the other end sat.

The people who worked in the pit of Birtaverre came mainly from the local area, from the communities Kåfjord and Nordreisa. But some also came from far away and they were the workers from Russia and Karelia. The work was hard and dangerous, something about which blind Fredrik writes in his pamphlet poem.

• Ruins of Ankerlia

The ruins of Ankerlia are now an open air museum with a trail through the old cottage plants, apartment buildings, barracks, office buildings and shops.