Sørfold is a
municipality|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
in
Nordlandis a county in Norway, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is in Bodø. The remote Arctic...
county||-|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. It is part of the
SaltenSalten is a district in Nordland in North Norway, consisting of the municipalities Meløy, Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen and Hamarøy....
traditional regionNorway is divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords, plains, or coastlines,...
. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of
StraumenStraumen is the administrative centre of Sørfold municipality, Norway. Its population is 827....
. The old municipality of
FoldenFolden is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway.It was created as Folden formannskapsdistrikt in 1837.Folden existed until January 1, 1887, when it was split to form two new municipalities: Nordfold-Kjerringøy and Sørfold. Before the partition Folden had a population of 3.293....
was divided into Sørfold and
Nordfold-KjerringøyNordfold-Kjerringøy is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway.It was created when Folden was split into Nordfold-Kjerringøy and Sørfold on 1 January 1887. At that time Nordfold-Kjerringøy had a population of 1.347...
on 1 January 1887.
The municipality is named after the
FoldaFolda is a fiord in Nordland county, Norway, within the Steigen and Sørfold municipalities. It empties into the Vestfjord about 25 miles northeast of Bodø. It splits into two inland branches, the Nordfolda and Sørfolda....
fjordGeologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a v-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age...
(
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
:
Fold). The inner part of the fjord is divided into two arms
Nordfolda ("the northern Folda") and
Sørfolda ("the southern Folda").
Sørfold is a
municipality|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
in
Nordlandis a county in Norway, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is in Bodø. The remote Arctic...
county||-|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. It is part of the
SaltenSalten is a district in Nordland in North Norway, consisting of the municipalities Meløy, Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen and Hamarøy....
traditional regionNorway is divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords, plains, or coastlines,...
. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of
StraumenStraumen is the administrative centre of Sørfold municipality, Norway. Its population is 827....
. The old municipality of
FoldenFolden is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway.It was created as Folden formannskapsdistrikt in 1837.Folden existed until January 1, 1887, when it was split to form two new municipalities: Nordfold-Kjerringøy and Sørfold. Before the partition Folden had a population of 3.293....
was divided into Sørfold and
Nordfold-KjerringøyNordfold-Kjerringøy is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway.It was created when Folden was split into Nordfold-Kjerringøy and Sørfold on 1 January 1887. At that time Nordfold-Kjerringøy had a population of 1.347...
on 1 January 1887.
Name
The municipality is named after the
FoldaFolda is a fiord in Nordland county, Norway, within the Steigen and Sørfold municipalities. It empties into the Vestfjord about 25 miles northeast of Bodø. It splits into two inland branches, the Nordfolda and Sørfolda....
fjordGeologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a v-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age...
(
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
:
Fold). The inner part of the fjord is divided into two arms
Nordfolda ("the northern Folda") and
Sørfolda ("the southern Folda"). The meaning of the fjord name is unknown (maybe "the broad one").
Coat-of-arms
The
coat-of-armsA 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. Historically, they were used by knights to identify them apart from enemy...
is from modern times. They were granted on 24 April 1987. The arms show a wheel of a
turbineA turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid or air flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum, with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they...
in a
hydroelectric power plantHydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
. The streams around the municipality contained many
rapidA rapid is a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. A rapid is a hydrological feature between a run and a cascade. A rapid is characterised by the river becoming shallower and having some rocks exposed above the...
s and
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
s, which are partly harnessed to generate
electricityElectricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge...
. This has provided a major source of income for the community.
Geography
The district's total land area is , of which is covered with permanent
iceIce is a solid phase, usually crystalline, of a non-metallic substance that is liquid or gas at room temperature, such as carbon dioxide ice , ammonia ice, or methane ice. However, the predominant use of the term ice is for water ice, technically restricted to one of the 15 known crystalline phases...
and
snowSnow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure. Snowflakes...
, and only lies below the 150-meter
contour lineA contour line of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value. In cartography, a contour line joins points of equal elevation above a given level, such as mean sea level...
. The total length of coastline is . In 1987, only was being farmed.
Rago National ParkRago National Park is a national park in Sørfold municipality in the county of Nordland, Norway. Rago borders Sweden's Padjelanta National Park. When its 167 km² in area is combined with adjacent protected areas for a total area of 5700 km², they create the largest protected area in Europe.The...
, with its wild nature dominated by bare rock, streams, and pine
forestA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities presently cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators,...
, is located in Sørfold. There are several
nature reserveA nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
s. Veikdalen nature reserve, roughly 300 meters above sea level, protects a largely undisturbed
pinePines are coniferous 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.-Distribution:...
and
birchBirch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae.-Description:...
forest (some logging before 1918) with many standing dead pine trees.
The small village of Mørsvikbotten is located in the north of the district. Mørsvikbotten has a school, a grocery shop, a small church, an
aquacultureAquaculture is the farming of freshwater and saltwater organisms such as finfish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Also known as aquafarming, aquaculture involves cultivating aquatic populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
co-op, and a few camping sites. Five kilometers north of Mørsvikbotten lies the lake
MørsvikvatnetMørsvikvatnet is a lake located in Sørfold municipality in Nordland, Norway. The E6 road goes along its western edge....
. In this area, Mørsry, the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
army had a prisoner-of-war camp during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
housing mostly
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n POWs. They were building a railway, which was intended to be a link between
Fauskeis a town and municipality located in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Fauske with approximately 6,000 inhabitants....
and
Narvikis a town and municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
. Some ruins of the camp, the foundations of the railway line, a tunnel, and roads can still be observed. A small, now empty, cemetery for fallen Russian soldiers is located close to the camp, 50 meters on the left-hand side just before the single concrete bridge. Other lakes are
AndkjelvatnetAndkjelvatnet is a Norwegian lake which lies in Sørfold municipality in Nordland....
,
SildhopvatnetSildhopvatnet is a Norwegian lake that lies in Sørfold municipality in Nordland....
and
TrollvatnetTrollvatnet is a Norwegian lake that lies in Sørfold municipality in Nordland....
.