Nord-Varanger
Encyclopedia
Nord-Varanger is a former municipality
Former municipalities of Norway
This is a list of former municipalities of Norway, i.e. municipalities that no longer exist.When the local council system was introduced in Norway in 1837-38, the country had 392 municipalities. In 1958 the number had grown to a total of 744 rural municipalities, 64 city municipalities as well as a...

 in Finnmark
Finnmark
or Finnmárku is a county 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.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...

 county
Counties of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 430 municipalities...

 in 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...

. It is located in the present-day municipality of Vadsø
Vadsø
is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark....

 on the southern half of the Varanger Peninsula
Varanger Peninsula
Varanger Peninsula is a peninsula in Finnmark, north-eastern Norway, by the Barents Sea. The peninsula has the Tanafjord to the west, the Varangerfjord to the south and the Barents Sea to the north and east. Vadsø, Båtsfjord, Berlevåg, Vardø and Unjárga - Nesseby are the municipalities sharing the...

 along the Varangerfjord
Varangerfjord
The Varangerfjord in the county of Finnmark, is the easternmost fjord in Norway. It is approximately long. In a strict sense, it is a false fjord, as it does not have the hallmarks of a fjord carved by glaciers....

.

Name

The meaning of the name Nord-Varanger is originally the name of the Varangerfjord
Varangerfjord
The Varangerfjord in the county of Finnmark, is the easternmost fjord in Norway. It is approximately long. In a strict sense, it is a false fjord, as it does not have the hallmarks of a fjord carved by glaciers....

, (Old Norse
Old Norse
Old 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....

: Ver(j)angr). The first part is ver meaning "fishing village" and the last part is angr which means "fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

". It was first probably used for the narrow fjord on the inside of Angsnes which now is called "Meskfjorden" and leads in to Varangerbotn
Varangerbotn
Varangerbotn is the administrative centre of Nesseby municipality, Norway. It is located in inner Varangerfjord.The band The BlackSheeps comes from Varangerbotn....

. Nord means "north", therefore it is the north side of the Varangerfjord.

History

The kjøpstad
Kjobstad
Kjobstad is an old scandinavian term for "Market town" notably Norwegian. Kjobstad's were places of trade and exporting materials...

(market town) of Vadsø
Vadsø
is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark....

 was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt
Formannskapsdistrikt
Formannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian 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 Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...

). The municipality originally included the rural area around it which was known as Vadsø landsogn. On 1 January 1894 Vadsø landsogn took the name Nord-Varanger and gained status as a separate municipality. Nord-Varanger had an initial population of 1,296. On 1 January 1964, Nord-Varanger (population: 1,587) was merged together with the municipality of Vadsø.
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