Alta, Norway

Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALT : Alta, Norway

Alta kommune

County

Finnmark

District

Municipality

[[ISO 3166-2:NO>NO-2012]]

Administrative centre

Alta

Mayor (2003)

Geir Ove Bakken (Ap)

Official language form

Bokmål

Area
- Total
- Land
- Percentage

3,849 Square kilometre>km²
3,651 km²
1.19 %

Population
- Total (as of 2004>2004)
- Percentage
- Change (10 years)
- Density

Ranked 56
17,440
0.38 %
8.4 %
5/km²

Coordinates

[www.alta.no]
[Data from Statistics Norway]

Coordinates: Alta (Áltá in Northern Sami) is a municipality and town in the county of Finnmark, Norway.

Contents

1 Geography
2 History
3 Communications and Economy
4 External links
5 Born in Alta
6 See also

Geography

The municipality covers 3845 km², 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 summer temperatures are often comparable to southern parts of Norway, and lowland areas in Alta are mostly sheltered from the winter storms. Precipitation is low, with a yearly average precipitation of only 400 mm. The clear skies are the reason why Alta early was chosen as an excellent location for studying the aurora borealis.

History

Rock carvings of Alta

The Rock carvings at Alta, dating from circa 4200 BC to 500 BC, are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. In addition, the Komsa culture was named after the Komsa mountain in Alta municipality, where the first archeological remains were discovered.

In World War II, the German battleship Tirpitz used Altafjord as a harbor, and was damaged here by attacking allied warplanes.

Altasaken in 1979 made headlines for weeks, as many people (especially Sami pople 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.

Alta became a city (town) in 1999. The population has been growing steadily for many years.

Communications and Economy

Alta is a communication center in Finnmark. Alta Airport served 308,000 passengers in 2004. There are direct flights to Oslo. Alta also has port facilites in the town center, and the E6 passes through Alta.

Main activities in Alta include trading, small industry, education and public service. The town is also famous for its slate industry. Finnmark University College (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.

External links

Born in Alta

Egil Rasmussen, author (1903-1964)
Klaus Pettersen, Norwegian football player
Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper