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LOFOTEN AND VESTERAALEN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 863 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOFOTEN AND VESTERAALEN  , a large and picturesque

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group of islands lying N.E. and S.W. off the N.W. coast of Norway, between 67° 30' and 69° 20' N., and between 12° and 16° 35' E. forming
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part of the amt (county) of Nordland . The extreme length of the group from Andenaes, at the north of Ando, to Rost, is about 150 m.; the aggregate
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area about 156o sq. m . It is separated from the mainland by the Vestfjord, Tjaeldsund and Vaagsfjord, and is divided into two sections by the Raftsund between Hindo and Ost-Vaago . To the W. and S. of the Raftsund lie the Lofoten Islands proper, of which the most important are Ost-Vaago, Gimso, Vest-Vaago, Flakstado, Moskenaeso, Mosken, Varo and Rost; E. and N. of the Raftsund are the islands of Vesteraalen, the chief being HindO, Ulvo, Lango, Skogso and Ando . The islands, which are all of granite or metamorphic
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gneiss, are precipitous and lofty . The highest points and finest scenery are found on Ost-Vaago, in the neighbourhood of the narrow, cliff-bound Raftsund and Troldfjord . The
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principal peaks are Higrafstind (3811 ft.), Gjeitgaljartind (3555), Rulten (3483), the Noldtinder (3467), Svartsundtind (3506) . The long
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line of jagged and fantastic peaks seen from the Vestfjord forms one of the most striking prospects on the
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Norwegian coast, but still finer is the panorama from the Digermuler (115o ft.), embracing the islands, the Vest-fjord, and the mountains of the mainland . The channels which
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separate the islands are narrow and tortuous, and generally of
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great
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depth; they are remarkable for the strength of their tidal currents, particularly the Raftsund and the famous Maelstrom or Moskenstrom between Moskenaes and Mosken . The violent tempests which sweep over the Vestfjord, which is exposed to the S.V., are graphically described in Jonas Lie's Den Fremsynte (187o) and in H . Schultze's Udvalgte Shriller (1883), as the Maelstrom is imaginatively by Edgar Allan Poe . Though situated wholly within the Arctic circle, the
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climate of the Lofoten and Vesteraalen group is not rigorous when compared with that of the rest of Norway .

The isothermal line which marks a mean

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January temperature of 32° F. runs south from the Lofotens, passing a little to the east of
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Bergen onward to Gothenburg and Copenhagen . The prevailing winds are from the S. and W., the mean temperature for the
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year is 38.5° F., and the
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annual rainfall is 43.34 in . In summer the hills have only patches of snow, the snow limit being about 3000 ft . The natural pasture produced in favourable localities permits the rearing of cattle to some extent; but the growth of cereals (chiefly barley, which here matures in ninety days) is insignificant . The islands yield no wood . The characteristic industry, and an important source of the
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national
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wealth, is the
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cod fishery carried on along the east coast of the Lofotens in the Vestfjord in spring . This employs about 40,000 men during the season from all parts of Norway, the population being then about doubled, and the surplus accommodated in temporary huts . The
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average yield is valued at about £35,000 . The fish are taken in nets let down during the
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night, or on lines upwards of a mile in length, or on ordinary hand-lines . The fishermen are paid in
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cash, and large sums of
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money are sent to the islands by the Norwegian banks each
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February . Great loss of
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life is frequent during the sudden
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local storms . The fish, which is dried during early summer, is exported to Spain (where it is known as bacalao), Holland, Great Britain, Belgium, &c .

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Industries arising out of the fishery are the manufacture of cod-liver oil and of artificial manure . The summer cod
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fisheries and the lobster fishery are also valuable . The herring is taken in large quantities off thewest coasts of Vesteraalen, but is a somewhat capricious visitant . The islands contain no towns properly so called, but Kabelvaag on Ost-Vaago and Svolvaer on a few rocky islets off that island are considerable centres of trade and (in the fishing season) of population; Lodingen also, at the head of the Vestfjord on Hindo, is much frequented as a
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port of call . A church existed at Vaagen (Kabelvaag) in the 12th century, and here Hans Egede, the missionary of Greenland, was pastor . There are factories for fish guano at Henningvaer (Ost-Vaago), Kabelvaag, Svolvaer, Lodingen, and at Bretesnas on Store Molla .
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Regular means of communication are afforded by the steamers which trade between
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Hamburg or Christiania and
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Hammerfest, and also by local vessels; less accessible spots can be visited by small boats, in the management of which the natives are adepts . There are some roads on Hindo, LangO, and Ando . The largest island in the group, and indeed in Norway, is Hindo; with an area of 86o sq. m . The south-eastern portion of it belongs to the amt of
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Tromso . In the island of Ando there is a bed of
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coal at the mouth of Ramsaa .

End of Article: LOFOTEN AND VESTERAALEN
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