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2003
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Finnmark
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Vadsø
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Hauk Johnsen ( Ap )
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2003
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77
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1,258
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1,234
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039
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2004
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162
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6,186
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014
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5
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-32
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Bokmål
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70 lat_min=9 lat_sec=27 lon_deg=23 lon_min=49 lon_sec=14
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34W utm_northing=7785928 utm_easting=0606821 geo_cat=adm2nd
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wwwvadsokommuneno
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(''Vesisaari'' in
Finnish , ''Čáhcesuolu'' in
Sami Language ) is a city and municipality in the
County of
Finnmark ,
Norway . The
Municipality of Vadsø includes the former municipality of Nord-Varanger. It 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).
In the
1500s 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 , which suffered from famine. Finnish was rapidly becoming the language of the majority, and this continued through decades. Even today Finnish is still spoken in some households. During World War II, Vadsø suffered several air raids from the Soviet Union. However there is, unlike most places in
Finnmark , a number of 19c. 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 .
Vadsø is the administrative centre of the county of
Finnmark . It has
An Airport and is also a port of call for the
Hurtigruten .
The
Finnic (a.k.a. ''Quen'' or ''Cwen'') residents of ''Vadsø'' are largely descendants of
Finnish immigrants who arrived to the area during the
19th Century (or any time before) from areas that are now parts of
Sweden ,
Finland and
Russia .
The last sizeble migration of
Finns to the general area of ''Vadsø'' took place in the latter part of the
19th Century . However - according to a widely accepted view - the Finnish population of the
Northern Norwegian province of
Finnmark (''mark'' means land) is indigenous to the area, similarly to the
Finno-Ugric Sami population.
In the
Viking Age Norse writings, Swedish chronicles and the so-called rimu writings, Finnish folklore - like the epic
Kalevala - and other historical texts, the area near and around ''Vadsø'', as well as all of northeastern Scandinavia, was referred to as , a land where the ''Kvens'' (Cwens) lived.
The first known written use of the term ''Cwen'' can be found in the
Account Of The Viking Othere . The information given is based to the voyage of a Northern Norwegian (i.e.
Norse ) leader
Ottar to Northern
Scandinavia and the
Arctic Ocean in the end of the
9th Century .
Egil 's saga centers around
Nór , founder of
Norway , and his ancestors, who lived in ''Cwenland''. In
1154 AD the Arab historian and scientist
Al Idrisi wrote that the ''King of Finland'' had possessions in
Norway . Idrisi is widely perceived to refer to the northernmost territories of ''Cwenland''.
In 2005 the was granted legal status as an official minority language in
Norway . ''Cwen'' is now perceived by most linguistists as a language of its own, rather than merely a dialect of
Finnish .
Meänkieli - spoken by the historic Cwen population of Northern Sweden, the
Tornedalians - also received a similar legal status of an official minority language, granted by the government of Sweden in 1999.
Both of these historic
Finno-Ugric Languages of Northern
Scandinavia are relatively close to the standard spoken
Finnish of today's Finland. Many of the words used in these languages, however, were dropped from the modern Finnish language centuries ago. Other words have developed over time that do not exist in standard Finnish.
