page_title: Finnmark
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Finnmark / Geography
caption_attribution_description: A small mountain pond and fells surrounding Bárrás. August 2006. This photo made #7 on Flickr's Explore! on Jan 7 2008.
context_page_description: Finnmark is a former county in the northern part of Norway. It was dissolved on 1 January 2020 when it was merged with the neighboring county of Troms to form the new Troms og Finnmark county.
  By land, it bordered Troms county to the west, Finland to the south, and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.
  The county was formerly known as Finmarkens amt or Vardøhus amt. Starting in 2002, it had two official names: Finnmark and Finnmárku. It was part of the Sápmi region, which spans four countries, as well as the Barents Region, and is the largest and least populated county of Norway.
  Situated at the northernmost part of continental Europe, where the Norwegian coastline swings eastward, Finnmark is an area "where East meets West," in culture as well as in nature and geography. Vardø, the easternmost municipality in Norway, is located farther east than the cities of St. Petersburg and Istanbul.
context_section_description: Finnmark is the northernmost and easternmost county in Norway (Svalbard is not considered a county).  By area, Finnmark is Norway's largest county, even larger than the neighboring country of Denmark.  However, with a population of about 75,000, it is also the least populated of all Norwegian counties.  Finnmark has a total coastline of 6,844 kilometres (4,253 mi), including 3,155 kilometres (1,960 mi) of coastline on the islands. Nearly 12,300 people or 16.6 percent of the county's population in 2000 was living in the 100-meter belt along the coastline.
  Knivskjellodden in Nordkapp Municipality (on the island of Magerøya) sometimes considered the northernmost point of Europe (on an island); Kinnarodden on Nordkinn Peninsula in Lebesby Municipality is the northernmost point on the European mainland. Honningsvåg in Finnmark claims to be the northernmost city of the world, and Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway and is farther east than Istanbul.
  The coast is indented by large fjords, many of which (in a strict sense) are false fjords, as they are not carved out by glaciers. Some of Norway's largest sea bird colonies can be seen on the northern coast, the largest are Hjelmsøystauran on the island of Hjelmsøya in Måsøy Municipality and Gjesværstappan in Nordkapp Municipality. The highest point is located on the top of the glacier Øksfjordjøkelen, which has an area of 45 square kilometres (17 sq mi), and it is located in Loppa Municipality. Both Øksfjordjøkelen and Seilandsjøkelen (Seiland glacier) are located in the western part of Finnmark.
  The Øksfjord plateau glacier calved directly into the sea (Jøkelfjorden) until 1900, the last glacier in mainland Norway to do so. The central and eastern part of Finnmark is generally less mountainous, and has no glaciers. The land east of Nordkapp is mostly below 300 m (980 ft).
  The nature varies from barren coastal areas facing the Barents Sea, to more sheltered fjord areas and river valleys with gullies and tree vegetation. About half of the county is above the tree line, and large parts of the other half is covered with small Downy birch.
  The most lush areas are the Alta area and the Tana valleys, and in the east is the lowland area in the Pasvik valley in Sør-Varanger, where the pine and Siberian spruce forest is considered part of the Russian taiga vegetation. This valley has the highest density of Brown bears in Norway, and is the only location in the country with a population of musk-rats. Lynx and moose are common in large parts of Finnmark, but rare on the coast.
  The interior parts of the county are part of the great Finnmarksvidda plateau, with an elevation of 300 to 400 m (980 to 1,310 ft), with numerous lakes and river valleys.  The plateau is famous for its tens of thousands of reindeer owned by the Sami, and swarms of mosquitos in mid-summer. Finnmarksvidda makes up 36% of the county's area. Stabbursdalen National Park ensures protection for the world's most northern pine forest.
  The Tana River, which partly defines the border with Finland, gives the largest catch of salmon of all rivers in Europe, and also has the world record for Atlantic salmon, 36 kg (79 lb). In the east, the Pasvikelva defines the border with Russia.
caption: Mountain landscape in Kvalsund, some 35 km (22 mi) south of Hammerfest
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