North Cape, Norway

71.17102325.783619Koordinaten: 71 ° 10 ' 16 "N, 25 ° 47 ' 1" O

The North Cape ( Nordkapplatået ) is a steeply from the Arctic Ocean up outstanding slate plateau (Cape) on the Norwegian island Magerøya and is on the territory of the municipality named after him Nordkapp. It is located on 71 ° 10 ' 16 " north latitude, approximately 2,100 kilometers from the North Pole and 514 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.

The North Cape is the northernmost point of Europe (see below), but it is a major tourism destination. In the summer there for about two and a half months of the midnight sun, in the winter, the sun does not come about two and a half months during the day over the horizon.

Infrastructure

On the less than 300 meters from the sea the towering plateau of the North Cape is an information center - the so -called " Nordkapphallen ". In this there is a restaurant, an ecumenical chapel, historical exhibitions, souvenir shops and a post office where you will receive a stamped with the current date North Cape diploma. The mail is delivered there stamped with a special North Cape postmark. As a curiosity can be found in the Nordkapphallen also a so-called Thai Pavilion, which commemorates the visit of King Chulalongkorn of Siam in 1907. The North Cape Hall was extended in 1988 until 1997 and then increased by a further 750 m². The hall is partly built into the rock. For entry into the North Cape Hall, and at times even to park on the North Cape Plateau, a fee is required.

The nearest airport is Honningsvag Valan, which is reached 31 km southeast of the E 69. He is served only in regional traffic.

Geographical location

Contrary to popular belief and the claims of the tourism industry, the North Cape is the northernmost point of Europe:

The North Cape is since the connection to the road network of the European Route 69 in 1956, the northernmost point of Europe, which can be reached by road from mainland Europe. Since June 2013, we start the 4900 km long European long-distance path E1.

The North Cape is situated in Finnmark, the northernmost county in Norway.

Tourism

Tourism to the North Cape has long traditions. Due to its peripheral location, it was often frequented by the middle of the 20th century only from a wealthy upper class. Today, the North Cape is a tourist attraction with some 200,000 visitors a year and is referred to as the northernmost outpost of civilization in Europe.

History

As the glaciers retreated at the end of the last Ice Age between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, people came to the Komsa culture in the region. They lived by catching fish, seals and birds. The Sami people in Finnmark since almost 2000 years. It is not sure when the first Norwegians settled here. The first written documents, which point to a Norwegian settlement, date from the first half of the 14th century, when a man in Honningsvåg left all his property to his daughter. There was trade driven between Norwegians who sold fish, and Russians who sold flour.

1553 left three English ships London to find the Northeast Passage to China. The ships were separated in the storm, and one of the ships, the Edward Bonaventure with Captain Richard Chancellor, happened in mid-August the rock with the name " Knyskanes ". Assuming it were Norwegian mainland, Richard Chancellor gave the slate plateau called " North Cape ".

The Dutchman Jan Huygen Linschoten immortalized the North Cape in 1594 in a copper engraving. At this time, the Dutch were the Basques and followed a whaling station had built in the area. Later, other Europeans were added. Finally, the Danish-Norwegian government banned all foreigners who had not purchased a fishing license whaling.

With Francesco Negri, a priest from Ravenna in Italy to 1664 the first tourist to have been at the North Cape. He wanted to find out how people could survive this far north. On his journey he was alone and wrote down his experiences. The French prince Louis Philip I came in 1795 on his flight from the French Revolution to the North Cape. King Oscar II visited the North Cape in 1873.

The plateau in 1828 climbed first by the Norwegian Baltazar Mathias Keilhau of the bay from Hornvika. On July 9, 1845 began with the arrival of the first holiday trip of the steamship " Prinds Gustav " from Hammerfest to the North Cape of organized tourism. 1861 Carl Vogt founded the tradition to drink champagne at the North Cape, to celebrate the arrival. The first organized group travel from London organizing the travel agent Cook 1875. The big break came for the North Cape as a tourist destination, as the Hurtigruten ship einrichtete 1893 solid connections along the coast to the north.

After the 1879 built postal service to the North Cape to Vadsø opened around 1898, the first post office, an octagonal building with champagne serving, to the North Cape.

1907 visited King Chulalongkorn of Siam ( now Thailand ) with his entourage the North Cape. The eastern Monarch sailed from Copenhagen with the chartered yacht "Albion". His visit was documented with the date and the signature of the king, carved into a stone, which today is in the North Cape Hall.

The Nordkapps Vel AS (Society for the benefit of the North Cape ) was founded in 1927 to regulate the tourism and preserve the environment. In 1956, the road was opened Honningsvåg North Cape, and thus began the modern North Cape tourism with cars and buses to the North Cape rock. Then, the first North Cape Hall was built in 1958. The sculpture of the globe in 1978 was erected.

With the unveiling of the midnight sun road monument on the North Cape on 7 June 1984, the opportunity was taken to establish a club exclusively for visitors to the North Cape: the The Royal North Cape Club. Membership is reserved for those who have made the journey to the northernmost point of Europe.

King Harald opened on 15 June 1999 the North Cape tunnel. This tunnel is 6875 m long and crosses with a maximum depth of 212 m the Magerøysund. Thus, the time of the ferry service between the mainland and Magerøya was over. Honningsvåg, the small port town in the south of Magerøya is, but still visited by the ships of the Hurtigruten.

Overlooking the North Cape of South

Cliff at the North Cape