Austvågøya is the northeasternmost and largest of the larger islands in the
Lofoten
Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...
archipelago in
Nordland
Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...
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 ...
. It is located between the
Vestfjorden and the
Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian Sea (; ; ) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separate ...
. The island of
Vestvågøya lies to the southwest and the large island of
Hinnøya to the northeast. In 2017, the island had about 9,000 residents.
Most of the island is part of
Vågan Municipality
Vågan () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the List of to ...
, while the northeastern part belongs to
Hadsel Municipality. The main town on the island is
Svolvær
(Norwegian language, Norwegian, ), , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality in Nordland County, Norway. It is located on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, alon ...
. Austvågøya is popular among
mountain climber
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...
s. The famous
Trollfjord is located in the eastern part of the island. Austvågøya is connected by the
European route E10
European route E10 is the second shortest Class A road which is part of the International E-road network. It begins in Å, Norway, and ends in Luleå, Sweden. The road is about in length. The Norwegian part of the road is also named Kong Ol ...
highway to the neighboring island of
Hinnøya to the east using the
Raftsund Bridge and to the island of
Gimsøya to the west using the
Gimsøystraumen Bridge.
Geography
The island is long in the east to west direction and wide from the north to south. The islands surrounding Austvågøya include
Gimsøya and
Vestvågøya to the west,
Skrova,
Litlmolla, and
Stormolla to the south,
Hinnøya to the east, and
Hadseløya to the north.
Austvågøya is largely a mountain
massif
A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...
, with lowland almost exclusively at the coastal beaches, the brim of lowland around the coast. The highest mountain on the island (and in all of Lofoten) is the tall
Higravstinden, located on the eastern part of the island. ''Svartsundtindan'' (), ''Trolltindan'' (), and ''Olsanestind'' () are also in the eastern part, while the famous
Vågakallen () looms over the village of
Henningsvær in the southwestern part.
Name
The island is named ''Austvågøya'' which comes from the
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
form of the name: . The prefix (which means "east") was added more recently to differentiate it from the neighboring island of
Vestvågøya. The old name of the island comes from the local farm area where the historic
Vågan Church
Vågan Church (; nickname: ''Lofoten Cathedral'') is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Vågan Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kabelvåg on the island of Austvågøya. It is the church for the Vå ...
is located. The first element of the name comes from the Old Norse word which means "inlet" or "bay". The last element is which means "island".
Media gallery
File:Kabelvaag2016.jpg, Kabelvåg on Austvågøy
File:Trollfjorden 002.jpg, Trollfjord
File:Themistokles_von_Eckenbrecher_Raftsund_1906.jpeg, Raftsundet (strait) between Austvågøy and Hinnøya, painting by Eckenbrecher
File:Vagakallen wiki.jpg, Vågakallen, at 942 metres in height
See also
*
List of islands of Norway by area
References
External links
DNT - Trollfjordhytta-
DNT lodge near Trollfjord
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austvaagoy
Islands of Nordland
Lofoten
Vågan
Hadsel