Magerøya

Magerøya
Native name: <span class="nickname" ">Máhkarávju

View of the island

Location in Finnmark
Geography
Location Finnmark, Norway
Coordinates 71°02′01″N 25°49′35″E / 71.0335°N 25.8265°E / 71.0335; 25.8265Coordinates: 71°02′01″N 25°49′35″E / 71.0335°N 25.8265°E / 71.0335; 25.8265
Area 436.4 km2 (168.5 sq mi)
Length 30 km (19 mi)
Width 35 km (21.7 mi)
Highest elevation 417 m (1,368 ft)
Highest point Gråkallfjellet
Country
Norway
County Finnmark
Municipality Nordkapp
Demographics
Population 4000 (as of 2004)

Magerøya (Northern Sami: Máhkarávju) is a large island in Finnmark county, in the extreme northern part of Norway. The island lies along the Barents Sea in Nordkapp Municipality, just north of the Porsanger Peninsula. The mouth of Porsangerfjorden lies off the east coast of the island.

Magerøya has an area of 436.6 square kilometres (168.6 sq mi) and the highest elevation on the island is 417 metres (1,368 ft) above sea level. The most northern point on the island is also the northernmost point in Norway: Knivskjellodden. The island features a bleak, barren, tundra-covered landscape devoid of any trees (except for a few small pockets of mountain birch), with steep cliffs along the coast, and dramatic mountainscapes in the interior. On southern Magerøya, archaeologists have found evidence of settlements dating back 10,000 years.[1]

Places on Magerøya

The main population centre on the island is the town of Honningsvåg. Other smaller places include the fishing villages of Gjesvær, Skarsvåg, Nordvågen, and Kamøyvær. North Cape is a very popular tourist attraction on the northern shore of the island.

Transportation

Magerøya's main claim to fame is the North Cape, a steep cliff cape on the northern coast that is a major tourist attraction. To accommodate the large amounts of tourists that visit the island, a subsea tunnel was built from 1993 to 1999. The North Cape Tunnel is part of the European route E69 highway and it is 6.87 kilometres (4.27 mi) long and reaches a depth of 212 metres (696 ft) below sea level. For a time, it was one of the longest and deepest subsea tunnels in the world. Fog or ice may occur inside the tunnel, even in summer.

Norway's Hurtigruten ferry service stops at the town of Honningsvåg on Magerøya since the waters around the island remain ice-free all year round due to the warm North Atlantic drift. Honningsvåg Airport is located on the eastern part of the island.

Media gallery

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Magerøya.

References

  1. ↑ Store norske leksikon. "Magerøya" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2013-02-11.
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