Vadsø

Vadsø kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Finnmark within Norway
Vadsø within Finnmark
Coordinates: 70°04′35″N 29°44′54″E
Country	Norway
County	Finnmark
Administrative centre	Vadsø
Government
• Mayor (2008)	Svein Dragnes (Ap)
Area
• Total	1,258 km2 (485.7 sq mi)
• Land	1,234 km2 (476.5 sq mi)
Area rank	77 in Norway
Population (2004)
• Total	6,187
• Rank	162 in Norway
• Density	5/km2 (12.9/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-3.2 %
Demonym	Vadsøværing
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-2003
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.vadso.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

 Vadsø (Čáhcesuolu in Northern Sami or Vesisaari in Kven/Finnish) is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark.

Vadsø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The law required that all cities should be separated from their rural districts, but because of a low population and very few voters, this was impossible to carry out for the municipality of Vadsø in 1838. (See also Hammerfest and Vardø.)

The rural districts of Vadsø were separated from the city in three stages: Nesseby (in 1846), Sør-Varanger (in 1858), and Nord-Varanger (in 1894). The last one was, however, merged back into the city on 1 January 1964.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Vatnsøy. The first element is the genitive case of vatn which means "water" and the last element is øy which means "island". Therefore the meaning of the name is "the island with drinking water".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 20 February 1976. The arms show the head of a reindeer stag in silver on a red background. The reindeer is the main domestic animal in the municipality and thus of great economic importance.

See also: coats-of-arms of Eidfjord, Porsanger, Rendalen, Tromsø, and Vågå

History

Vadsø church

Map of Vadsø municipality

In the 16th century, the settlement consisted of a fishing village and a church, located on the island of Vadsøya. The settlement later moved to the mainland. Township privilege was granted in 1833, and soon settlers came from Finland and the northern part of Sweden, which suffered from famine. Finnish was rapidly becoming the language of the majority, and this continued for decades. Even today Finnish is still spoken in some households. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Vadsø suffered several air raids from the Soviet Union, which bombed Nazi troops. However, there are, unlike most places in Finnmark, a number of 19th century wooden houses preserved close to the city centre, notably the house of Esbensen, built by a Norwegian, and the house of Tuomainen, built by a Finn. On the island of Vadsøya is the airship mast used by Umberto Nobile and Roald Amundsen for their expedition over the North Pole with the airship Norge in 1926, and used again on Nobile's flight with the airship Italia in 1928.

Transportation

Vadsø has an airport (Vadsø Airport) and is also a port of call for the Hurtigruten boats. Vadsø is located at the road E75.

Geography

The municipality of Vadsø forms the southern coast of the Varanger Peninsula, which is largely covered by birch forests on this more sheltered side (as opposed to the northern side).

Birdlife

Situated on the shores of the Varangerfjord the municipality of Vadsø is known for its interesting birdlife. Many of its coastal localities like Store Ekkerøy are internationally known for its rich and interesting birdlife. The harbor at Vadsø can produce all three species of Eider, including the small and stunning Steller's Eider.

Notable residents

Norwegian footballers Morten Gamst Pedersen and Sigurd Rushfeldt both grew up in Vadsø. Lars Bohinen (Rushfeldt's cousin), who is also a former footballer, was born in the town, but his family moved south when he was a child.

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Norway

Twin towns — Sister cities

Vadsø is twinned with the following cities:

• - Holstebro, Denmark
• - Karkkila, Finland
• - Kemijärvi, Finland
• - Murmansk, Russia
• - Oxelösund, Sweden

External links

• Varanger.com: tourist information about Varanger area
• List of town twinnings in Scandinavia (Norwegian)