Borkenes is the

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

Kvæfjord Municipality Kvæfjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the v ...

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The farming village is located on the island of

Hinnøya Hinnøya ( Norwegian; ) is the fourth-largest island in Norway, and the largest outside the Svalbard archipelago. The lies just off the western coast of Northern Norway. The island sits on the border of Nordland and Troms counties. The western ...

, about west of the city of Harstad. It is located along the Kvæfjorden (an arm of the

Gullesfjorden or is a fjord that cuts into the island of Hinnøya in Troms county, Norway. It is located mostly within Kvæfjord Municipality, although a small part in the northwestern part of the fjord lies in Sortland Municipality in Nordland county. The i ...

), looking across the fjord at the island of Kvæøya.

Kvæfjord Church Kvæfjord Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Kvæfjord Municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is located in the village of Borkenes on the island of Hinnøya. It is the main church for the Kvæfjord parish which is part of ...

is located in the village centre near the local school. The village is built along the small river Råelva. The village has a population (2023) of 1,513 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of .

Economy

Earlier, Borkenes was an industrial center with the production of

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

oil as the main industry. Later the center for people with

mental retardation Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

at Trastad, in the northwestern part of Borkenes became a principal industry for the village. In the 1990s, the government decided to close all institutions of this scale. People who had been living there for many years could choose to move home or continue living in new housing at Borkenes. Many stayed on, and working with mentally disabled people continues to be a viable employment opportunity in the community. Today, the village is home to a

horticultural Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

school which is part of the '' Rå videregående skole'' (

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

). There is some

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

in the area, where strawberries and potatoes are grown by local farmers.

Wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

are available in the mountains and lakes close to residential areas, and boats are available for sea excursions.

References

{{authority control Villages in Troms Populated places of Arctic Norway Kvæfjord