Narvik (town)
Narvik (town)
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Narvik (town)

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Narvik (town)

Narvik (Norwegian) or Áhkánjárga (Northern Sami) 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 6.93-square-kilometre (1,710-acre) town has a population (2023) of 14,051 which gives the town a population density of 2,028 inhabitants per square kilometre (5,250/sq mi).

Narvik Church is the main church for the town. Narvik is a commercial centre for the region. The Narvik campus of the University of Tromsø has approximately 1,200 students in the town. There are some high-tech businesses in Narvik (among them Natech).

The town is named after the old Narvik farm (Old Norse: Knarravík or Njarðarvík) since the town was built there. The two possible Old Norse roots have differing meanings. If it comes from Knarravík, then the meaning of the first element is the genitive plural form of knǫrr or knarr which means "merchant ship". The other option is that the name is derived from Njarðarvík. In that case, the first element comes from the old pagan god name Njǫrðr. Both options share the same last element, vík, which means "inlet". Historically, the name was spelled Narduigh or Narvigen.

The harbour in the town of Narvik was once called Victoriahavn after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, however 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. Narvik offered a port which is ice-free thanks to the warm Gulf Stream and is naturally large, allowing ships of virtually any size to anchor, up to 208 metres (682 ft) long and 27 metres (89 ft) deep. The Swedish company (Gällivare Aktiebolag) built the Iron Ore Line (Malmbanan) to Riksgränsen on the Norway–Sweden border. The Norwegian Ofotbanen railway line connects Narvik to the Swedish border.

Swedish mining corporation LKAB still ships the majority of its ore from Narvik (a total 25 million tons a year). The corporation is still important in the area, both as an employer and landowner, although its influence is not as prominent now as it has been in previous years.

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