Steigen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steigen kommune

— Municipality —

Coat of arms

Nordland within
Norway

Steigen within Nordland

Coordinates: 67°47′54″N 15°10′19″E / 67.79833, 15.17194

Country

Municipality ID

Administrative centre

Leinesfjord

Government

- Mayor (2007)

Asle Schrøder (SP)

Area (Nr. 105 in Norway)

- Total

1,007 km² (388.8 sq mi)

- Land

962 km² (371.4 sq mi)

Population (2004)

- Total

2,863

- Density

3/km² (7.8/sq mi)

- Change (10 years)

-10.3 %

- Rank in Norway

282

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

- Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Official language form

Bokmål

Data from Statistics Norway

Website: www.steigen.kommune.no

Steigen is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway.

Nordskott village in Steigen

Steigen was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Leiranger was separated from Steigen September 1, 1900 - but it was again merged with Steigen January 1, 1964. Nordfold was merged with Steigen the same date.

The municipality is located at the coast, about 100 km north of Bodø, well inside the Arctic Circle. Steigen borders Hamarøy municipality in the north and Sørfold municipality to the south. Vestfjord and Lofoten is located west of Steigen. The world's most northern naturally occurring Hazel forest is located in Steigen municipality, in Prestegårdsskogen nature reserve. The road to Steigen departs from the E6 and makes use of the 8 km long Steigentunnelen (see World's longest tunnels).

Steigen

Steigen has fertile lowlands in between the mountains and the sea. There are several archeological sites showing settlements from the Bronze age, Iron age and Viking age.

[edit] The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Steigen (Norse Steig), since the first church was built there. The name is derived from the verb stíga 'mount, rise' - and it is referring to the high and steep mountain Steigtinden (tinden = 'the peak') behind the farm.