Alta, Norway
| Alta kommune | |||
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| — Municipality — | |||
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| Coordinates: 69°56′25″N 23°18′38″E / 69.94028°N 23.31056°ECoordinates: 69°56′25″N 23°18′38″E / 69.94028°N 23.31056°E | |||
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Finnmark | ||
| Administrative centre | Alta | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor (2003) | Geir Ove Bakken (Ap) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 3,849 km2 (1,486 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 3,651 km2 (1,410 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 7 in Norway | ||
| Population (2004) | |||
| • Total | 19,103 | ||
| • Rank | 56 in Norway | ||
| • Density | 5/km2 (10/sq mi) | ||
| • Change (10 years) | 8.4 % | ||
| Demonym | Altaværing[1] | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | NO-2012 | ||
| Official language form | Bokmål | ||
| Website | www.alta.kommune.no | ||
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Alta (help·info) (also: Áltá [or formerly Álaheadju] in Northern Sami, Alattio or Alta in Finnish/Kven) is a town and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alta.
Alta was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The new municipality of Talvik was separated from Alta on 1 January 1863, but it was merged back into Alta on 1 January 1964.
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[edit] General information
[edit] Name
The municipality is probably named after the fjord (Altafjorden). Prior to 1918, the name was written Alten.
[edit] Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 9 July 1976. The arms show an arrow point, derived from the findings of quartzite arrow points dating from the late Stone Age and found in the area. The quartzite was quarried in the municipality and tools thereof were all over the Northern Norway.[2]
[edit] History
The Rock carvings at Alta, dating from c. 4200 BC to 500 BC, are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The Komsa culture was named after the Komsa mountain in Alta municipality, where the first archeological remains of this culture were discovered.
In the aftermath of the Sami Kautokeino rebellion of 1852, rebel leaders Mons Aslaksen Somby and Aslak Jacobsen Hætta were decapitated at Elvebakken in Alta, on October 14, 1854.
Their bodies were buried in graves just outside the Kåfjord church graveyard in Alta, but their heads were sent on to the Anatomisk Institute at the Kong Medical Frederiks University in Oslo, where they were kept for more than a century as part of the university's skull collections. The two skulls were only relinqinished by the university in 1985, following a controversy and protests by Sami activists, and were in November 1997 buried at the Kåfjord Church in Alta, at the same spot as their bodies were buried over one-hundred and forty years earlier.
In World War II, the German battleship Tirpitz used Kåfjord, an arm of Altafjord, as a harbor, and was damaged here by attacking allied warplanes.
Altasaken in 1979 made headlines for weeks, as many people (especially Sami people and environmentalists) demonstrated and used civil disobedience to prevent the building of a dam in order to produce hydropower. The dam was built, however, and the river still offers good salmon fishing. The king of Norway usually visits the river once in the summer to fish.
Alta became a city (town) in 1999. The population has been growing steadily for many years.
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The canyon carved by the Alta river (Altaelva) is the largest in Scandinavia.
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Rock carvings at Alta.
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Midnight sun in Alta
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City centre in Alta
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Langfjorden, Alta
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Altafjord is sheltered by mountains
[edit] Geography and climate
Alta is the northernmost city in the world surpassing 10,000 inhabitants. Alta municipality covers 3,845 square kilometres (1,485 sq mi), in the west of the county, mostly situated along the Altafjord, taking in large tracts of woodlands, as well as parts of the High Plateau of Finnmarksvidda. The river Altaelva has carved out one of the largest canyons in Europe on its way from the plateau down to the fjord. Most people live in the town of Alta, stretching along the inner part of the fjord, enjoying a sheltered climate; daytime mid-summer temperatures are often comparable to southern parts of Norway, and lowland areas in Alta are mostly sheltered from the winter storms. The mean annual temperature is 1.3 °C (34.3 °F) (1961–90) and the Alta valley does not have permafrost but is dominated by closed-canopy forest of birch and pine. Precipitation is low, with a yearly average precipitation of only 420 millimetres (16.5 in).[3] The frequent clear skies are the reason why Alta early was chosen as an excellent location for studying the aurora borealis.
| Climate data for Alta, Finnmark (last 10 years) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −4 (25) |
−5 (23) |
−2 (28) |
3 (37) |
8 (46) |
13 (55) |
17 (63) |
15 (59) |
10 (50) |
5 (41) |
0 (32) |
−3 (27) |
4.8 (40.6) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −9 (16) |
−9 (16) |
−7 (19) |
−2 (28) |
4 (39) |
9 (48) |
12 (54) |
11 (52) |
6 (43) |
1 (34) |
−4 (25) |
−7 (19) |
0.4 (32.8) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 32 (1.26) |
26 (1.02) |
25 (0.98) |
20 (0.79) |
22 (0.87) |
34 (1.34) |
54 (2.13) |
47 (1.85) |
43 (1.69) |
42 (1.65) |
37 (1.46) |
38 (1.5) |
420 (16.54) |
| Source: [4] | |||||||||||||
[edit] Birdlife
For those interested in bird watching, the river outlet, known locally as Altaosen is well worth a visit. This tidal area is used as a stopover for many wetland species.
[edit] Transportation
Alta is a transportation center in Finnmark. Alta Airport served 334,132 passengers in 2009. There are direct flights to Oslo. Alta also has port facilities in the town center, and European route E6 passes through Alta. The distance to southern Scandinavia is considerably shorter over road 93 and northern Finland.
[edit] Economy
Main activities in Alta include trading, small industry, education, and public service. The town is also famous for its slate industry. Finnmark University College (Norwegian: Høgskolen i Finnmark) is situated in Alta, and there is also a research institution (Norut NIBR Finnmark). The town has the most northern Ice hotel in Europe.
[edit] Sports
Alta is home to the football club Alta IF
[edit] Notable residents
- Klaus Pettersen, Norwegian football player
- Egil Rasmussen, author (1903–1964)
- Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- Finn Hågen Krogh, Norwegian cross-country skiier
- Tommy Wirkola, Norwegian filmmaker
[edit] International relations
[edit] Twin towns — sister cities
Alta is twinned with:
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/nb-no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskrivning_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn/.
- ^ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/a/alta.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Alta climate statistics
- ^ "Alta (last 10 years)". Storm Weather Center. http://www.storm.no/vaer/Alta/klima. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
- ^ "Twin towns". www.ouka.fi. http://www.ouka.fi/kansainvalisyys/english/ystavyyskaupungit.html. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alta |
- Alta, Norway travel guide from Wikitravel
- Unesco information
- Høgskolen i Finnmark (Finnmark University College)
- Alta kommune (Norwegian)
- Alta Igloo Hotel
- Finnmarksløpet-the northernmost sled dog race in the world!
- Avinor:Alta Airport
- Pictures from Alta
- Øytun folk high school, Alta. Outdoor life
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