Nordkinnhalvøya

Geographical location

On the Norwegian peninsula Nordkinn (also Nordkyn ) is to find the northern end of Europe's mainland. The peninsula is situated in Finnmark county between the Laksefjord the west and the Tanafjord in the east. The highest point of the peninsula is high 486 m. The approximately one kilometer wide isthmus Hopseidet connects the peninsula with the rest of the mainland.

The North Cape is a bit north (71 ° 10 ' 21 " north latitude ), but is located on the island Magerøya. The exact point on the northern peninsula chin (Norwegian Nordkinnhalvøya ) is called Kinnarodden (71 ° 7 ' 57 "N, 27 ° 39' 26.9 " O71.13249527.657466 ) and is located at 71 ° 08 ' 01 " north latitude. To get there, a 24 km hike needs to be done, which is not in bad weather without risk. Until the fall of 2001 were on the way there two old wrecks of Junkers Ju 88 aircraft which were involved in World War II in the Battle of the battleship Scharnhorst. In August 1989, the Northern Peninsula chin was ever connected to the Norwegian road network.

On the north chin Peninsula there are the larger towns Kjøllefjord ( 1,300 inhabitants as of 1997), Mehamn (900 inhabitants) and Gamvik (270 inhabitants) and Sjånes (230 inhabitants) located in the southeast. The valley is also the border between the municipalities and Lebesby Gamvik. Kjøllefjord and Mehamn are two stations of the Hurtigruten ships that sail around the Nordkinn between Honningsvåg and Kjøllefjord there and reach the northernmost point.

Climate and vegetation

The warmest month of the year is August with an average temperature of 9.6 ° C. The wind often blows strongly, especially in winter. In January wind was at 21 days with the wind strength " liten kuling " ( thickness 5/ 6) or more measured. Opened in 1989 " Nordkyn road " of Bekkarfjord Hopseidet after passing through very inhospitable areas had to be evacuated in 1996 to 238 days.

The vegetation seems at first sight quite barren and poor. But the Nordkyn peninsula with 350 registered plant species not as vegetationsarm as people think. The vegetation corresponds to a large part of the southern Norwegian high mountains at elevations of 1,000 to 1,500 meters. Therefore you can find alpine plants with beach plants side by side.

History

The first people were already more than 9,000 years ago down on the peninsula. None of today's cities, however, is older than 400-500 years. Agriculture and Fisheries was at all times livelihood of the population. A good port and the short distance to the fishing fields was particularly important. The Pomor trade, which was operated until the First World War, was on the whole of a bartering with the Russians, where fish was exchanged for flour and other essential goods.

Around 1900, the operation known whalers and inventor Svein Foyn own whaling station in Mehamn. It was the largest factory of its kind in Finnmark County. However, it was not too long. When the fishermen were affected in 1903 by a bad fishing season, they blamed the whalers. In " Mehamn -riot " on June 2 who traveled Fischer tore down the factory and destroyed. In this violent battle among other soldiers had to be used to maintain law and order. The factory was never rebuilt because the whale population was already dropped dramatically.