Skibotn
Encyclopedia
Skibotn is a village with approximately 700 inhabitants in Storfjord
Storfjord
Storfjord is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hatteng.- General information :...

 municipality, located on the southeastern shore of the Lyngen Fjord in the Northern Norwegian county of Troms
Troms
or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...

. The village area is located at the crossroads of the highways E6
European route E6
European route 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. The route ends close to the Norwegian border with Russia...

 and E8
European route E8
The European route E 8 is a European route that goes from Tromsø, Norway to Turku, Finland. The length of the route is .* E 8: Tromsø – Nordkjosbotn – Skibotn – Kilpisjärvi – Kaaresuvanto – Muonio – Tornio – Keminmaa – Kemi – Oulu – Liminka – Raahe – Kalajoki – Kokkola – Vaasa – Pori –...

. The distance by road to Kilpisjärvi
Kilpisjärvi
Kilpisjärvi is a village in the municipality of Enontekiö, Lapland, Finland. It is located in Finland's northern "arm" near the very northwesternmost point of Finland....

, the northernmost community in the western "arm" of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, is approximately 50 kilometres (31.1 mi).

The modern day residents of Skibotn are mostly either descendant of the Kven people and Sami people
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

, or immigrants - and their descendants - of Southern and Central Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

Geography

Skibotn is located in a valley, surrounded by large mountains - such as Nallagais, Imagais, Steindalsbreen, Balggesvarr and Storfjellet. The river Skibotnelva empties into the fjord at Skibotn. The Skibotnelva river flows from the lakes Rihpojávri
Rihpojávri
Rihpojávri is a lake which lies in the municipality of Storfjord in Troms county, Norway, just to the south of European route E8. The lake is a reservoir that has a dam on the north end. The water leaving the lake flows into the Rihpojohka river which then flows into the Skibotnelva....

 and Gálggojávri. Skibotn is known for its dry climate with frequent clear skies in the Skibotn valley, and the calcareous pine forests, with rare orchids. Due to the climate with few clouds, there is an astrophysical observatory located in Skibotn

Notable residents

The well known Sami writer Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as Áillohaš in the Northern Sami language was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his life in Käsivarsi, close to the border of Sweden, and also in Skibotn in Norway...

 lived in Skibotn for a significant part of his life. Leonhard Seppala
Leonhard Seppala
Leonhard Seppala was a Norwegian born American Sled dog racer who participated the 1932 Winter Olympics. Seppala is considered the founder of the Siberian Husky breed. -Background:...

, the dog sled racing legend, was born in Skibotn. Astrid Båhl, who designed the first official Sámi flag
Sami flag
The Sami flag is the flag of the Sámi people, the indigenous nation of the Nordic countries and the Kola Peninsula of the Russian Federation. The flag is also sometimes used to represent the territory of Sápmi, the traditional area of Sámi inhabitance....

 (based on an unofficial flag by Synnøve Persen), also lived in Skibotn.

External links

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