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Kárášjohka (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....
) or (Norwegian
Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic languages language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. It is also spoken as a second language among Norwegian-Americans in the United States of America, especially in the central northern states....
) is a village 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 village of Karasjok.

arasjok is a Norwegianized form of the Sámi
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....
 name Kárášjohka. The meaning of the first element is unknown and the last element is johka which means "river".

The municipality was part of the old Kistrand
Porsanger

Porsanger or Pors??gu or Porsanki is a Municipalities of Norway in Finnmark Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv....
 municipality until 1866.






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Kárášjohka (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....
) or (Norwegian
Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic languages language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. It is also spoken as a second language among Norwegian-Americans in the United States of America, especially in the central northern states....
) is a village 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 village of Karasjok.

General information


Name

Karasjok is a Norwegianized form of the Sámi
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....
 name Kárášjohka. The meaning of the first element is unknown and the last element is johka which means "river".

The municipality was part of the old Kistrand
Porsanger

Porsanger or Pors??gu or Porsanki is a Municipalities of Norway in Finnmark Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv....
 municipality until 1866. The name of the municipality was Karasjok until 1990, when it was changed to Kárášjohka-Karasjok. It was the third municipality in Norway to get a Sami name. In 2005 the name was again changed, such that either Kárášjohka or Karasjok can be used

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 27 June 1986. The three flames are chosen as a symbol for the importance of fire to the local (nomadic) 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....
. The fire
Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
 brings both heat and thus survival during the harsh winters, but it is also a major threat, both in the tents as well as in the large pine
Pine

Pines are Pinophyta trees in the genus Pinus, in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species....
 forest
Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
s. The fire is also the point around which people gather and it is a guard against dangers. The flag contains three flames also because Kárásjoga-Karasjok is a place where three peoples live: the Sami, Norwegians
Norwegian people

Norwegians See also History of Norway and Demography of Norway.There are about 4.4 million ethnic Norwegians living in Norway today. The Norwegians are a Scandinavian ethnic group, descendants of the Norsemen , and Celts....
, and Kven
Kven

Kvens are a Norwegian ethnic minority descended from Finnish people peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries....
s.

Geography

The municipality is situated along the upper river basin of the Deatnu / Tana river, and its tributaries Anárjohka and Kárášjohka
Karasjohka

Karasjohka river joins Anarjohka downstream of Karigasniemi and forms the famous salmon fishing Tana river . Karasjok municipality in Finnmark, Norway is situated along the upper river basin of the Deatnu / Tana , and its tributaries Anarjohka and Karasjohka, and includes large tracts of the high plateau of Finnmarksvidda, which the Karas...
, and includes large tracts of the high 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....
 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 valley, unlike the plateau, is covered with 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 ....
 and birch
Downy Birch

Betula pubescens is a species of birch, native and abundant throughout northern Europe, Iceland, northern Asia and also Greenland.It is a deciduous tree growing to 10-20 m tall , with a slender crown and a trunk up to 70 cm diameter, with smooth but dull grey-white bark finely marked with dark horizontal lenticels....
 forest.

At Karigasniemi
Karigasniemi

Karigasniemi is one of the villages of Finland's most northern municipality of Utsjoki . It lies at the foot of Mount Ailig?s.The village is situated on the border between Norway and Finland 18 kilometres south-east of Karasjok....
 there is an official border crossing with Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
, and the 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....
 is passing through on its way from Lakselv
Lakselv

The town of is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Municipalities of Norway Porsanger in the Counties of Norway of Finnmark in Norway....
 to Deatnu - Tana. The nearest airport is in Lakselv.

Climate

In this far northeastern part of Norway, climate is much more continental and dry compared to the typical coastal climate in Norway. Situated in a river valley on this plateau, Karasjok has recorded the coldest official temperature ever in Norway: on 1 January 1886. The warmest temperature ever recorded in the summer is . In January 1999, there was also a cold shock, the "official" temperature recording was , but unofficially a temperature of was recorded. The warmest month on record was July 1941, with a mean (24hr) temperature of ; the coldest month was February 1966 with a mean of .

Birdlife

The birdlife to be found in this municipality is characteristic for the region. The inland habitat
Habitat

The term habitat has a number of meanings:* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows** Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play...
s of Finnmarksvidda are known for their rich bird life with species like Bluethroat
Bluethroat

The Bluethroat , is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae....
 preferring areas with scrub. The Tana river also flows through Karasjok and many of the species found in higher areas use it as a migration route.

Economy

Most people live in Karasjok (Kárášjohka) village. The village is the seat of the Sámediggi, the Sami Parliament in Norway, as well as of the Sami broadcasting, and several Sami institutions, public and private, are to be found here. 80% of the population is Sami speaking, and Sami and Norwegian have equal status in the municipality.

Tourism

The attractions include the Sami parliament, Samediggi, the Sami museum, and the church, dating from 1807. The Sami parliament was opened in 1989, by King Olav V
Olav V of Norway

Olav V was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death. Olav was born in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as the son of Prince Haakon VII of Norway and Princess Maud of the United Kingdom and given the names Alexander Edward Christian Frederik....
, the first Sami parliament president was Ole Henrik Magga
Ole Henrik Magga

Ole Henrik Magga is a Sami people linguistics and politician from Kautokeino, Norway....
, from Kautokeino
Kautokeino

or Guovdageaidnu , is a Municipalities of Norway in Finnmark Counties of Norway, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino....
. He was the president for more than eight years. The church in Karasjok is the oldest Lutheran
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
 church in Finnmark, and the only building to survive the 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....
 damage. The church is today too small, so a big, wooden church, inspired by Sami architecture, has been built. Karasjok is also the place to look for duodji
Duodji

Duodji, is a centuries old Sami people handicraft, that dates back to a time when the Sami were far more isolated from the outside world than they are today....
, Sami handicraft.

External links