Alta, Norway

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Alta, Norway

(also: Áltá [or formerly Álaheadju] in Northern Sami

Northern Sami

Northern or North Sami is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The speaking area of Northern Sami covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland as well as northwestern parts of Russia....
, Alattio or Alta in Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
/Kven

Kven language

The Kven language, also known as Kvennish, is a Finno-Ugric language, spoken mostly by the Kven population in Northern Norway. From a linguistic point of view the Kven language is a mutually intelligible dialect of Finnish language, but for political and historical reasons it received in 2005 status of a legal minority language in Norw...
) is a town

List of cities in Norway

This is a list of cities in Norway.The Norwegian name for city is by. Cities were formerly categorized as kj?pstad or ladested , each with special city rights....
and municipality

Municipalities of Norway

||}Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called county , and 430 municipality . The capital city Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality....
in Finnmark

Finnmark

or Finnm?rku is a Counties of Norway in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast....
county

Counties of Norway

||-||}Norway is divided into 19 subnational, called county . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 Municipalities of Norway ....
, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alta.

Alta was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt

Formannskapsdistrikt

Formannskaps-distrikt was the name for a Norway local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Charles XIV John of Sweden on 14 January 1837....
). The new municipality of Talvik

Talvik

Talvik is a former municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. Originally a part of Alta, Norway formannskapsdistrikt, Talvik became a separate municipality in 1863 with 1 938 inhabitants....
was separated from Alta on 1 January 1863, but it was merged back into Alta on 1 January 1964.

municipality is probably named after the fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord or fiord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by Glacier....
(Altafjorden).

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Alta, Norway'

Start a new discussion about 'Alta, Norway'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

(also: Áltá [or formerly Álaheadju] in Northern Sami

Northern Sami

Finnish language

Kven language

List of cities in Norway

This is a list of cities in Norway.The Norwegian name for city is by. Cities were formerly categorized as kj?pstad or ladested , each with special city rights....
and municipality

Municipalities of Norway

||}Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called county , and 430 municipality . The capital city Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality....
in Finnmark

Finnmark

Counties of Norway

||-||}Norway is divided into 19 subnational, called county . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 Municipalities of Norway ....
, Norway

Norway

Formannskapsdistrikt

Talvik

General information

Name

The municipality is probably named after the fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord or fiord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by Glacier....
(Altafjorden). Prior to 1918, the name was written Alten.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways....
is from modern times. They were granted on 9 July 1976. The arms show an arrow

Arrow

An arrow is a pointed projectile that is shot with a bow . It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures....
point

Arrowhead

An arrowhead is point of an arrow, or a shape resembling such a point; as archaeological artifacts arrowheads are a subclass of projectile points....
, derived from the findings of quartzite

Quartzite

Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonics compression within orogeny....
arrow points dating from the late Stone Age

Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistory time period during which humans widely used Rock for toolmaking.Stone tools were made from a variety of different kinds of stone....
and found in the area. The quartzite was quarried in the municipality and tools thereof were all over the Northern Norway.

History

The Rock carvings at Alta

Rock carvings at Alta

The Rock carvings at Alta are part of an Archaeology site near the town of Alta, Norway in the county of Finnmark in northern Norway. Since the first carvings ? or more correctly, the petroglyphs ? were discovered in 1972, more than 5000 carvings have been found on several sites around Alta....
, dating from circa 4200 BC to 500 BC, are on the UNESCO

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945....
list of World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....
s. The Komsa culture was named after the Komsa mountain in Alta municipality, where the first archeological remains of this culture were discovered.

In World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the German battleship Tirpitz

German battleship Tirpitz

Tirpitz was the second Bismarck class battleship battleship of the Germany Kriegsmarine, sister ship of German battleship Bismarck, named after Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz....
used Kåfjord

Kåfjord, Alta

K?fjord is a fjord in northern Norway, an arm of the Altafjord, in the county of Finnmark. It is also a village located on the fjord. The village is in the municipality of Alta, Norway, 18km west of the town of Alta on the European route E6....
, an arm of Altafjord, as a harbor

Harbor

A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural....
, and was damaged here by attacking allied warplanes.

Altasaken
Alta controversy

The Alta controversy refers to a political controversy in Norway in the late 1970s and early 1980s concerning the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Altaelva in Finnmark, Northern Norway....
in 1979 made headlines for weeks, as many people (especially Sami people

Sami people

The S?mi people, are the indigenous people Indigenous peoples of Europe inhabiting S?pmi , which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia....
and environmentalists) demonstrated and used civil disobedience to prevent the building of a dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
in order to produce hydropower

Hydropower

Hydropower, hydraulic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes....
. The dam was built, however, and the river still offers good salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout,the difference is often attributed to the migratory life of the salmon as compared to the residential behaviour of trout, this holds true for the Atlantic salmon....
fishing.

Alta became a city (town) in 1999. The population has been growing steadily for many years.

Geography and climate

The municipality covers , in the west of the county, mostly situated along the Altafjord, taking in large tracts of woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade....
s, as well as parts of the High Plateau of Finnmarksvidda

Finnmarksvidda

Finnmarksvidda is Norway's largest mountain plateau, with an area greater than 22,000 km?. It lies at 300-500 meters above sea level. Approximately 36% of Finnmark county lies in the Finnmarksvidda....
. The river Altaelva

Altaelva

The river Altaelva has carved out one of the largest canyons in Europe on its way from the High Plateau of Finnmarksvidda down to the Altafjord....
has carved out one of the largest canyon

Canyon

A canyon, or gorge, is a deep valley between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau level....
s in Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
on its way from the plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland , usually consisting of relatively flat terrain....
down to the fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord or fiord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by Glacier....
. Most people live in the town of Alta, stretching along the inner part of the fjord, enjoying a sheltered climate; daytime mid-summer temperatures are often comparable to southern parts of Norway, and lowland areas in Alta are mostly sheltered from the winter storms. The mean annual temperature is and the Alta valley does not have permafrost

Permafrost

In geology, permafrost or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of the ground material....
but are dominated by closed-canopy forest of birch

Birch

Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae....
and pine

Scots Pine

The Scots Pine is a species of pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Ireland, Great Britain and Portugal in the west, east to eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and as far north as S?pmi ....
. Precipitation is low, with a yearly average precipitation of only . The frequent clear skies are the reason why Alta early was chosen as an excellent location for studying the aurora borealis.

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Monthly 24-hr average (°C Celsius Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death.... )	-9.0	-8.0	-5.6
4.9	10.2	13.5	12.2	7.3	1.7	-3.4	-7.5
Average precipitation (mm)	32	26	25	20	22	34	54	47	43	42	37	38
Source: * All data is for the town of Alta (Elvebakken) (4 meters amsl Above mean sea level The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum . AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach.... ) during 1961-1990.

Birdlife

For those interested in bird watching, the river outlet, known locally as Altaosen is well worth a visit. This tidal area is used as a stopover for many wetland species.

Transportation

Alta is a transportation center in Finnmark. Alta Airport

Alta Airport

Alta Airport is the airport of Alta, Norway. It is located about 6 km northeast of the town center of Alta, near the community Elvebakken on the southern shore of the Altafjord....
served 416,272 passengers in 2006. There are direct flights to Oslo

Oslo

is the Capital and largest List of cities in Norway in Norway.Metropolitan Oslo or the Greater Oslo Region makes up the third largest urban area in Scandinavia after Metropolitan Stockholm and Metropolitan Copenhagen....
. Alta also has port

Port

||-||-|-||-||-||-||-||-||-|}A port is a facility for receiving ships and transferring cargo. They are usually found at the edge of an ocean, sea, river, or lake....
facilities in the town center, and European route E6

European route E6

E 6 is the designation for the main north-south road in Norway, and the west coast of Sweden, running from the southern tip of Sweden, at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to Finnmark....
passes through Alta.

Economy

Main activities in Alta include trading, small industry, education, and public service. The town is also famous for its slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliation , homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcano ash through low grade regional metamorphism....
industry. Finnmark University College

Finnmark University College

Finnmark University College is a Education_in_Norway#Higher_education, a Norwegian state institution of higher education, in the county of Finnmark, Norway....
is situated in Alta, and there is also a research institution (Norut NIBR Finnmark). The town has the most northern Ice hotel

Ice hotel

An ice hotel is a temporary hotel made up entirely of snow and sculpted blocks of ice. They are promoted by their sponsors and have special features for travelers who are interested in novelties and unusual environments, and thus are in the class of destination hotels....
in Europe and the most northern Subway

Subway (restaurant)

Subway Restaurants, commonly known as Subway, is a restaurant franchising that primarily sells Hoagies and salads. It is owned by Doctor's Associates, Inc. ....
restaurant in the world.

Sports

Alta is home to the football club

Football team

A football team or a football club is the collective name given to a number of players who play together in a football game, be it Association football, American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, Rugby league, Rugby union, or other version of football....
Alta IF.

Notable residents

Terje Martenson Jensen
Klaus Pettersen, Norwegian football player
Egil Rasmussen
Egil Rasmussen

Egil Rasmussen was a Norway author, literature critic and musician.Born in Bossekop village, Alta, Norway municipality, his family moved to Troms? when Rasmussen was 3 years old, and he grew up there....
, author
Author

An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created....
(1903-1964)
Bjørn Wirkola
Bjørn Wirkola

Bj?rn Wirkola is former ski jumper and footballer from Norway.He became World Champion in Oslo in 1966, winning both the large and normal hill competitions....
, Norwegian ski jumper
Ski jumping

Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down an "inrun" with a take-off ramp , attempting to go as far as possible. In addition to the length that skiers jump, judges give points for style....

Alta, Norway

General information

Name

Coat-of-arms

History

Geography and climate

Birdlife

Transportation

Economy

Sports

Notable residents

See also

External links