Settlement Type: | Village |
Pushpin Map: | Troms#Norway |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Label: | Burfjord |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Norway |
Subdivision Name1: | Northern Norway |
Subdivision Name2: | Troms |
Subdivision Type3: | District |
Subdivision Name3: | Nord-Troms |
Subdivision Type4: | Municipality |
Subdivision Name4: | Kvænangen Municipality |
Utc Offset1: | +01:00 |
Utc Offset1 Dst: | +02:00 |
Area Total Km2: | 0.59 |
Population As Of: | 2023 |
Population Total: | 390 |
Population Density Km2: | 661 |
Postal Code Type: | Post Code |
Postal Code: | 9161 Burfjord |
Elevation M: | 12 |
Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
Coordinates: | 69.9378°N 22.0519°W |
,, or [2] is a village in Kvænangen Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The village is the administrative centre of the municipality, thus it is where the municipal offices are located and where the municipal council meets. The 0.59km2 village has a population (2023) of 390 and a population density of .[3]
The services of Burfjord include a bank, a post office, a gas station, a medical office, a nursing home, a dentist, a primary school, grocery shops, and Burfjord Church. Burfjord's residents are composed of a mix of indigenous Sami people, Kven people, and ethnic Norwegians. Sami tourist shops selling handicrafts are located all around the village.
Burfjord lies on the northern border of Troms County, along the busy European route E6 highway that winds its way through this part of Northern Norway. The village is located at the end of the Burfjorden, an arm of the Kvænangen fjord. It is about 50km (30miles) straight west of the town of Alta and the Alta Airport.
Burfjord's growth as a town is relatively recent. Prior to 1500, the Kvænangen region was almost entirely inhabited by indigenous Sami peoples, who at some point left the traditional nomadic life of reindeer herding atop the mountain plateau and settled to fish and farm as sjøsame (sea-Sami). The first scouts northward from Trondheim found no southern Norwegians living in or around the area. During the early 18th century, Burfjord and the larger Kvænangen region became inhabited by Norwegians from the south who plied their trade fishing and farming, as well by the Kven people and Finns who emigrated from the east. Despite the Kvæns remaining a minority, population-wise, they nevertheless gave Kvænangen its namesake. Kvænangen was originally part of the Skjærvøy parish in northern Troms county. Kvænangen became a separate sub-parish in 1861. It was in the 19th century that Burfjord grew in size and became a more urban village area. Due to its geographically central location, it was chosen as the administrative centre of Kvæanangen Municipality.[4]