or is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in Ibestad Municipality in

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The island lies about east of the town of Harstad. The island is located entirely within the present-day municipality of

Ibestad Ibestad ( sme, Ivvárstádik) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hamnvik. Some of the other larger ...

, although the island itself was a separate municipality (

Andørja Andørja is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northeastern half of the present-day Ibestad Municipality. It encompassed the entire island ...

) from 1926 until 1964. The largest population area on Andørja island is the Å - Ånstad - Laupstad area on the west coast with 205 residents (2001). Andørja Church is located in

Engenes Engenes is a small fishing village in Ibestad Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the northwestern tip of the island of Andørja Andørja is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality e ...

on the northwestern tip of the island.

Geography

The Vågsfjorden lies to the north and west of the island and the

Astafjorden Astafjorden is a fjord (more accurately, a strait) in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It flows through the municipalities of Salangen, Gratangen, Ibestad, and Tjeldsund. The long fjord flows from the Salangen fjord in the east to the Våg ...

flows along the southeastern coast. The ''Bygda'' strait sits between Andørja and the neighboring island of Rolla to the west and the ''Mjøsundet'' strait sits between Andørja and the Norwegian mainland to the east. The Mjøsund Bridge connects Andørja to the mainland (across the Mjøsundet strait) and the Ibestad Tunnel is an undersea road tunnel that connects Andørja to Rolla. The highest point on the island is the tall mountain

Langlitinden Langlitinden is the highest mountain on the island of Andørja and is also the highest mountain on any Norwegian island (except Beerenberg, Jan Mayen). It is located on the northeastern part of the island in the municipality of Ibestad in Troms ...

. In mainland Norway, this is the highest mountain situated on an island. The long Straumbotn

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

cuts into the middle of the island from the north side.

Name

The meaning of the name of the island (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

: ''Andyrja'') is not certain, but one theory is that the first element ''and'' comes from the word for "against" and the second element ''yrja'' means " gravel" or "rocks", possibly referring to the waves from the sea hitting against the rocky shores.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andorja (island) Ibestad Islands of Troms og Finnmark

Geography

Name

See also

References