Country Norway County Finnmark Municipality ID NO-2029 Area 1,253 km² | Region Northern Norway District Øst-Finnmark Time zone CET (UTC+01:00) | |
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Weather -7°C, Wind NW at 37 km/h, 70% Humidity | ||
Nord-Varanger is a former municipality in Finnmark county in Norway. It is located in the present-day Vadsø Municipality on the southern half of the Varanger Peninsula, east of the Jakobselva river, along the Varangerfjorden.
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Name
The meaning of the name Nord-Varanger is originally the name of the Varangerfjorden, (Old Norse: Ver(j)angr). The first part is ver meaning "fishing village" and the last part is angr which means "fjord". It was first probably used for the narrow fjord on the inside of Angsnes which now is called "Meskfjorden" and leads in to Varangerbotn. Nord means "north", therefore it is the north side of the Varangerfjord.
History
The kjøpstad (market town) of Vadsø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Because of the low population in the rural area around the town, the municipality originally included the rural area around it. That rural area was known as the Vadsø landsogn. On 1 January 1894, Vadsø landsogn was separated from the town of Vadsø and became the new municipality called Nord-Varanger. Nord-Varanger had an initial population of 1,296. On 1 January 1964 during a time of many municipal mergers nationwide, Nord-Varanger (population: 1,587) was merged back together with the town of Vadsø to create the present-day Vadsø Municipality.