Narvik (town)

Narvik is a town and the administrative centre of Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The town is located along the Ofotfjorden in the Ofoten region. The town lies on a peninsula located between the Rombaken fjord and the Beisfjorden. The European route E06 highway runs through the Beisfjord Bridge and Hålogaland Bridge crossing the two small fjords surrounding the town. The town has a population (2018) of 14,141 which gives the town a population density of . Narvik Church is the main church for the town. Narvik is a commercial centre for the region. Narvik University College has approximately 1,200 students. There are some high-tech businesses in Narvik (among them Natech). Narvik is named after the old Narvik farm ("Narduigh" – 1567), since the town is built on its ground. The Old Norse form of the port was probably *Knarravík. The first element is the genitive pluralis of knarr which means 'merchant ship' and the last element is vík meaning 'inlet'. The name Knarravík (modern forms Knarvik or Narvik) is found in several places along the Norwegian coast (and three places in the old Norwegian province of Bohuslän) and it tends to refer to good and natural ports. The port was once called Victoriahavn after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, though Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria was also honoured. The history of Narvik as a settlement began in the Bronze Age. Not very much is known about these people, but the Vikings lived in this area. Narvik was developed as an all-year ice free port for the Swedish Kiruna and Gällivare iron mines. The history of modern Narvik begins in the 1870s, when the Swedish government began to understand the potential of the iron ore mines in Kiruna, Sweden. Obtaining iron ore from Kiruna had one significant problem in that there was no suitable Swedish port. The nearest Swedish port, Luleå, had limitations. It was covered with ice all winter, far from Kiruna, and allows only medium-sized bulk freight vessels.

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Related concepts (5)

Ofotfjord

Ofotfjord ( or ) is a fjord in Nordland county, Norway. It is an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, located about north of the Arctic Circle. The long Ofotfjord is Norway's 12th longest fjord and it is also the 18th deepest, with a maximum depth of . In the English language and in many historical documents, this fjord is often referred to as the Narvik Fjord because the town of Narvik is located on the inner shores of the fjord, but this is not an official name of the fjord.

Narvik

(Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ballangen, Beisfjord, Bjerkvik, Bjørnfjell, Elvegård, Kjøpsvik, Skjomen, Håkvik, Hergot, Straumsnes, and Vidrek. The Elvegårdsmoen army camp is located near Bjerkvik. Narvik is located on the shores of the Ofotfjorden. The municipality is part of the traditional district of Ofoten of Northern Norway, inside the Arctic Circle.

Battles of Narvik

The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in the Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. The two naval battles in the Ofotfjord on 10 April and 13 April were fought between the British Royal Navy and Nazi Germany Kriegsmarine, while the two-month land campaign was fought between Norwegian, French, British, and Polish troops against German mountain troops, shipwrecked Kriegsmarine sailors and German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) from the 7th Air Division.