1.
Nidaros Cathedral
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Nidaros Cathedral is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. Built over the site of Saint Olav, the king of Norway in the 11th century. It is the location for the consecration of the King of Norway. It was built from 1070 to 1300, and designated as the cathedral for the Diocese of Nidaros in 1152, after the Protestant Reformation, it was taken from the Roman Catholics by the Lutheran Church in 1537. It is the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world, Nidaros Cathedral was built beginning in 1070 to memorialize the burial place of Olav II of Norway, the king who was killed in 1030 in the Battle of Stiklestad. He was canonized as Saint Olav a year later by the bishop of Nidaros and it was designated the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537 under the Reformation. Since the Reformation, it has served as the cathedral of the Lutheran bishops of Trondheim in the Diocese of Nidaros, the architectural style of the cathedral is Romanesque and Gothic. Historically it has been an important destination for pilgrims coming from all of Northern Europe, along with Vår Frue Church, the cathedral is part of the Nidaros og Vår Frue parish in the Nidaros deanery in the Diocese of Nidaros. Work on the cathedral as a memorial to St. Olav started in 1070 and it was finished some time around 1300, nearly 150 years after being established as the cathedral of the diocese. The cathedral was damaged by fires in 1327 and again in 1531. The nave was destroyed and was not rebuilt until the restoration in early 1900s, in 1708, the church burned down completely except for the stone walls. It was struck by lightning in 1719, and was ravaged by fire. Major rebuilding and restoration of the started in 1869, initially led by architect Heinrich Ernst Schirmer. It was officially completed in 2001, maintenance of the cathedral is an ongoing process. The oldest parts of the cathedral consist of the octagon with its surrounding ambulatory and this was the site of the original high altar, with the reliquary casket of Saint Olav, and choir. Design of the octagon may have inspired by the Corona of Canterbury Cathedral. Similarly, the choir shows English influence, and appears to have been modeled after the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral and it is joined to the octagon by a stone screen that fills the entire east side of the choir. Built into the side of the ambulatory is a small well
2.
Trondheim
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Trondheim, historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It has a population of 187,353, and is the third most populous municipality in Norway and it is the third largest city in the country, with a population of 169,972 inhabitants within the city borders. The city functions as the centre of Sør-Trøndelag county. Trondheim lies on the shore of Trondheim Fjord at the mouth of the river Nidelva. The settlement was founded in 997 as a trading post, from 1152 to 1537, the city was the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros, since then, it has remained the seat of the Lutheran Diocese of Nidaros and the Nidaros Cathedral. The current municipality dates from 1964, when Trondheim merged with Byneset, Leinstrand, Strinda, for the ecclesiastical history, see Archiepiscopate of Nidaros Trondheim was named Kaupangen by Viking King Olav Tryggvason in 997. Shortly thereafter it came to be called Nidaros, in the beginning it was frequently used as a military retainer of King Olav I. It was frequently used as the seat of the king, and was the capital of Norway until 1217, people have been living in the region for thousands of years as evidenced by the rock carvings in central Norway, the Nøstvet and Lihult cultures and the Corded Ware culture. In ancient times, the Kings of Norway were hailed at Øretinget in Trondheim, Harald Fairhair was hailed as the king here, as was his son, Haakon I, called the Good. The battle of Kalvskinnet took place in Trondheim in 1179, King Sverre Sigurdsson, some scholars believe that the famous Lewis chessmen, 12th-century chess pieces carved from walrus ivory found in the Hebrides and now at the British Museum, may have been made in Trondheim. Trondheim was the seat of the Archdiocese of Nidaros for Norway from 1152, due to the introduction of Lutheran Protestantism in 1537, the last Archbishop, Olav Engelbrektsson, had to flee from the city to the Netherlands, where he died in present-day Lier, Belgium. The city has experienced major fires. Since much of the city was made of wooden buildings, many of the fires caused severe damage. Great fires ravaged the city in 1598,1651,1681,1708, twice in 1717,1742,1788,1841 and 1842, however, the 1651 fire destroyed 90% of all buildings within the city limits. The fire in 1681 led to an almost total reconstruction of the city, overseen by General Johan Caspar von Cicignon, broad avenues like Munkegaten were created, with no regard for property rights, in order to stop the next fire. At the time, the city had a population of roughly 8000 inhabitants, after the Treaty of Roskilde on 26 February 1658, Trondheim and the rest of Trøndelag, became Swedish territory for a brief period, but the area was reconquered 10 months later. The conflict was settled by the Treaty of Copenhagen on 27 May 1660. During World War II, Trondheim was occupied by Nazi Germany from 9 April 1940, the home of the most notorious Norwegian Gestapo agent, Henry Rinnan, was in Trondheim
3.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
4.
Church of Norway
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The Church of Norway, from 2017 called the Peoples Church, is a Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity that serves as the peoples church and the largest church in Norway. The church was established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark–Norway in 1536–1537 broke ties with the Holy See, the church professes the Lutheran Christian faith, with its foundation on the Bible, the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, Luthers Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. The church is a member of the Porvoo Communion with 12 other churches and it has also signed some other ecumenical texts, including the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church. Until 1969, the name for administrative purposes was simply the State Church or sometimes just the Church. While the church remains state-funded and integrated in the administration with a special constitutional role, it is largely self-governing in doctrinal matters. On 27 May,2016, Stortinget passed a new bill that establishes the Church of Norway as an independent legal entity rather than a branch of the civil service, the Church of Norway officially ceased to be the state church on January 1,2017. Until 1845 the Church of Norway was the only religious organization in Norway. Dissenterloven was a passed by the Storting on 16 July 1845 that allowed the establishment of alternative religious bodies. This bill was in 1969 replaced by Lov om trudomssamfunn og ymist anna, until 2012 the constitutional head of the church was the King of Norway, who is obliged to profess himself a Lutheran. After the constitutional amendment of May 21,2012, the church is self-governed with regard to doctrinal issues, bishops and priests are civil servants also after the 2012 constitutional reform. Each parish has an autonomous administration, the state itself does not administer church buildings, buildings and adjacent land instead belong to the parish as an independent public institution. The Minister of Church Affairs, Trond Giske, was responsible for proposing the 2012 amendments, the church itself explained that, In 2012 the Parliament changed the constitution such that Norway no longer has a public religion. The Church of Norway can accordingly no longer be labeled as state church, a bill passed in 2016 created the Church of Norway as an independent legal entity, effective from 1 January 2017. The church has a structure, with 1,284 parishes,106 deaneries,11 dioceses and since 2 October 2011. The dioceses are – according to the rank of the five historic sees and then according to age, Nidaros, seated in Trondheim, bishops, Presiding Bishop of Nidaros and Bishop of Nidaros Cathedral Deanery Helga Haugland Byfuglien, Bishop of Nidaros Tor Singsaas. Bjørgvin, seated in Bergen, covering the counties of Hordaland, Oslo, seated in Oslo, covering Oslo and parts of the county of Akershus. Stavanger, seated in Stavanger, covering the county of Rogaland, Hamar, seated in Hamar, covering the counties of Hedmark and Oppland. Nord-Hålogaland, seated in Tromsø, covering the counties of Troms and Finnmark, agder og Telemark, seated in Kristiansand, covering the counties of Vest-Agder, Aust-Agder and Telemark
5.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
6.
Nordland
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The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is in Bodø, the remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen has been administered from Nordland since 1995. In the southern part is Vega, listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, the county is divided into traditional districts. These are Helgeland in the south, Salten in the centre, in the northwest lie the archipelagoes of Lofoten and Vesterålen. Nordland is located along the northwestern coast of the Scandinavian peninsula in Northern Norway, due to the large distance to the densely populated parts of Europe, this is one of the least polluted areas in Europe. Nordland extends about 500 km from Nord-Trøndelag to Troms, the distance by road from Bindal in the far south of the county to Andenes on the northern tip is roughly 800 km. Nordland has a coastline, with many fjords. From south to north, the main fjords are Bindalsfjord, Vefsnfjord, Ranfjord, Saltfjord-Skjerstadfjord, Folda, Tysfjord, Ofotfjord and Andfjord, which is shared with Troms county. The best-known is perhaps the Vestfjorden, which is not really a fjord, the Raftsundet strait, with its famous branch Trollfjord, is the shortest waterway connecting Lofoten and Vesterålen. The continental shelf is very narrow west of Andenes, nowhere else in Norway is the ocean only a few kilometres from shore. Saltstraumen whirlpool is just southeast of Bodø, and Moskenstraumen is located in southern Lofoten, the southern part of Norways largest island, Hinnøya is in Nordland, as is the third largest island, Langøya. In the fjords, the brim is much less developed, There might be a more gradual slope, with hills, towards the mountains. There are often valleys at the head of fjords, usually with a river at the centre of the valley, Mo i Rana, Mosjøen and Rognan are situated in such valleys. Norways second largest glacier, Svartisen, the second largest lake, Røssvatnet, the largest river is Vefsna which forms the Laksforsen waterfall. The Saltfjellet mountain range forms a border between Helgeland and Salten, and is where the Arctic Circle cuts through the county. The interior of Nordland, towards the border with Sweden, is dominated by the Kjølen Mountains, the highest mountain in Nordland is Oksskolten in Okstindan range, the second highest is Suliskongen in Fauske, and the third is Storsteinfjellet in Narvik. Stetind in Tysfjord has been voted as Norways national mountain, There are many glaciers in the mountains, like Blåmannsisen, Okstindbreen, the Sulitjelma Glacier, and Frostisen -7 of the 15 largest glaciers in continental Norway are located in Nordland. This Cambrian - Silurian bedrock, much of it mica schist, is by far the largest area in Norway with soft bedrock rich in nutritions good for plant growth
7.
Troms
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Troms is a county in Northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest, norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea, the entire county, which was established in 1866, is located north of the Arctic circle. The Troms County Municipality is the body for the county, elected by the people of Troms, while the Troms county governor is a representative of the King. The county had a population of 161,771 in 2014, until 1919 the county was formerly known as Tromsø amt. On 1 July 2006, the Northern Sami name for the county, the county is named after the island Tromsøya on which it is located. Several theories exist as to the etymology of Troms, one theory holds Troms- to derive from the old name of the island. Several islands and rivers in Norway have the name Tromsa, the mountains name in Sámi, Rumbbučohkka, is identical in meaning, and it is said to have been a sacred mountain for the Sámi in pre-Christian times. The Sámi name of the island, Romsa, is assumed to be a loan from Norse –, however, an alternative form – Tromsa – is in informal use. There is a theory that holds the Norwegian name of Tromsø derives from the Sámi name, a common misunderstanding is that Tromsøs Sámi name is Romssa with a double s. This, however, is the accusative and genitive form of the noun used when, for example, the coat of arms of Troms was made by Hallvard Trætteberg, and adopted by royal resolution on 15 January 1960. The official blazon in Norwegian translates to On a field Gules a griffin Or, Trætteberg chose to have the griffin as charge because that animal was the symbol of the mighty clan of Bjarne Erlingsson on Bjarkøy in the 13th century. Troms is located in the part of the Scandinavian peninsula. Due to the distance to the more densely populated areas of the continent. Troms has a rugged and indented coastline facing the Norwegian Sea. However, the large and mountainous islands along the coast provide an excellent sheltered waterway on the inside, starting in the south, the largest islands are, northeastern part of Hinnøya, Grytøya, Senja, Kvaløya, Ringvassøya, Reinøy, Vannøy, and Arnøy. Some of these islands, most noteworthy Senja, have a rugged outer coast with mountains. There are several fjords that stretch quite far inland
8.
Finnmark
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Finnmark is a county in the extreme northeastern part 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, the county was formerly known as Finmarkens amt or Vardøhus amt. Since 2002, it has had two names, Finnmark and Finnmárku. It is part of the Sápmi region, which spans four countries, as well as the Barents Region, Vardø, the easternmost municipality in Norway, is located farther east than the cities of St. Petersburg and Istanbul. The Old Norse form of the name was Finnmǫrk, the first element is finn, the Norse name for the Sámi people. The last element is mǫrk which means woodland or borderland, in Norse times the name referred to any places where Sámi people were living. The coat of arms are black with a castle tower, technically described as Sable. The design is from 1967 and shows the old Vardøhus Fortress on the border with Russia. Finnmark is the northernmost and easternmost county in Norway, by area, Finnmark is Norways largest county, even larger than the neighboring country of Denmark. However, with a population of about 75,000, it is also the least populated of all Norwegian counties, Finnmark has a total coastline of 6,844 kilometres, including 3,155 kilometres of coastline on the islands. Nearly 12,300 people or 16.6 percent of the population in 2000 was living in the 100-meter belt along the coastline. Honningsvåg in Finnmark claims to be the northernmost city of the world, the coast is indented by large fjords, many of which are false fjords, as they are not carved out by glaciers. The highest point is located on the top of the glacier Øksfjordjøkelen, which has an area of 45 square kilometres, both Øksfjordjøkelen and Seilandsjøkelen are located in the western part of Finnmark. The Øksfjord plateau glacier calved directly into the sea until 1900, the central and eastern part of Finnmark is generally less mountainous, and has no glaciers. The land east of Nordkapp is mostly below 300 m, the nature varies from barren coastal areas facing the Barents Sea, to more sheltered fjord areas and river valleys with gullies and tree vegetation. About half of the county is above the line. This valley has the highest density of Brown bears in Norway, lynx and moose are common in large parts of Finnmark, but rare on the coast. The interior parts of the county are part of the great Finnmarksvidda plateau, with an elevation of 300 to 400 m, with numerous lakes, the plateau is famous for its tens of thousands of reindeer owned by the Sami, and swarms of mosquitos in mid-summer
9.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
10.
Tynset
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Tynset is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the region of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tynset, the municipality is named after the old Tynset farm, since the first church was built here. The first element is the case of the river name Tunna. Prior to 1918, the name was written Tønset, the coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 18 October 1985, the arms show the silver/gray head of a moose on a blue background. It was chosen to symbolize the abundance of moose in the area, the parish of Tønsæt was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. Although the municipality of Alvdal was originally a part of Tynset, the former municipality of Kvikne was merged with Tynset in 1966. Tynset is the centre of the Nord-Østerdalen area of Hedmark county. Well positioned in the area of mainland Norway, Tynset lies in the upper quadrant of Norways longest valley. To the northeast lies the municipality of Tolga, south of Tynset are Rendalen and Alvdal, in the neighboring county of Sør-Trøndelag, Tynset is bordered to the north by the municipalities of Rennebu and Midtre Gauldal, and to the west by Oppdal. Tynset is known for its vast areas of forest and mountain, which are ideal for skiing, walking, cycling, hunting, in many areas are signposted paths and ski tracks are ploughed in winter. Tynset municipality also rents chalets, which used to belong to mountain farms, sheltered by mountains, the average annual precipitation in Tynset is only 400 millimetres and the mean annual temperature is 0 °C. The temperature in January averages −13 °C and the temperature falls below freezing from November until about mid-April, in July, the 24-hr average temperature is about 12 °C. July is also generally the wettest month, with a precipitation of about 70 millimetres. This corresponds to a subarctic climate. The village can be reached easily by railroad, road, the trunk road Rv3, the shortest route between Oslo and Trondheim, runs through Tynset, and the Rondevegen connects Tynset to Lillehammer, Røros and continues further into Sweden. Rv30, which passes through Rendalen, also continues into Sweden, the Rørosbanen railway line connects Tynset with the major cities of Oslo and Trondheim
11.
Northern Norway
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Northern Norway is the geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway are Mo i Rana, Bodø, Narvik, Harstad, Tromsø, Northern Norway is often described as the land of the midnight sun and the land of the northern lights. Further north, halfway to the North Pole, is the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, the region is multi-cultural, housing not just Norwegians but also the indigenous Sami people, Norwegian Finns and Russian populations. Finnish is spoken in only a few communities in the east of Finnmark, Northern Norway covers about a third of Norway. The southernmost part, roughly the part south of the Arctic Circle, is called Helgeland, the inland is covered with dense spruce forests and mountains near the Swedish border, some of the biggest rivers in the region are the Vefsna and the Ranelva. The highest mountain in Northern Norway is found here in the Okstindan range south of Mo i Rana with Oksskolten reaching 1,915 metres above sea level, the Saltfjellet range, with its Svartisen glacier and intersecting Arctic Circle, divides Helgeland from the next region, called Salten. Notable peaks in Salten are the Børvasstindan south of Bodø, Suliskongen near Fauske, the Steigartindan, between Saltfjellet and eastern Finnmark, Norway spruce trees have originally been planted and are mostly privately owned. The older plantations are now producing lumber,80 years after planted, Lofoten is a chain of peaks that jut out of the ocean. From the mainland side it looks very barren, but behind the violet-black peaks there are also flatlands with good grazing for sheep, the Vesterålen islands consist of smaller and bigger islands with a huge variation in landscape. There are also glaciers, like Frostisen and Blåisen, big islands like Senja, Kvaløya and Ringvassøya have green, forested interiors and a barren, mountainous coastline, with smaller islands offshore. The Lyngen Alps are the highest mountains of the area, rising to 1,833 metres, the 269 metres Mollisfossen waterfall in Nordreisa is the highest waterfall in the north, while Målselvfossen is Norways national waterfall. Finnmark county has fjords and glaciers in the far southwest, the inland is covered by Finnmarksvidda, a relatively barren plateau about 300 to 400 metres high, with many lakes and rivers like Alta-Kautokeino and Tana/Deatnu. Even at this latitude, pine forests grow naturally in lowland areas inland, east of Honningsvåg, there are no islands protecting the barren coasts that rise directly up from the sea. The landscape towards the Russian border is comparatively flat, Finnmark is situated north of northernmost Finland, and to the east Norway has a 196 kilometres border with Russia. The oldest known historical culture in the region is called Komsa, the first people possibly arrived around 12–13,000 years ago, but it is uncertain whether they came from southern Norway or from the Kola Peninsula. Today the rock carvings at Hjemmeluft in Alta or at Leknes in Nordland are among the remainders of the Stone Age cultures, showing reindeer swimming across the fjords. A significant find area is between the river Tana and the fjord of Varanger, where the reindeer probably ran over the isthmus on the way between the winter and summer grazing, metals were introduced around 500 BC. The Sami culture can be traced back at least 2,000 years, there is also some archeological evidence of Bronze Age agricultural settlements about 2,500 years old, as in Steigen and Sømna
