Tafjorden is an inner branch of the

Norddalsfjorden Norddalsfjorden is a branch off of the main Storfjorden in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The fjord is located in Fjord Municipality and a small part is also in Stranda Municipality. The fjord is long, when you include the Tafjorden arm tha ...

/ Storfjorden in

Fjord Municipality Fjord is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnmøre. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stordal. Other villages in the municipality include Valldal, Ei ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is t ...

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 t ...

. It is part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

West Norwegian Fjords The West Norwegian Fjords is the common name of two fjords in Norway listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO: the Geirangerfjord and the Nærøyfjord. Geography Location The World Heritage Site consists of two areas 120 km apart ...

. The

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, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

is located southeast of the village of Sylte, the municipal center of Norddal Municipality. The small village of

Tafjord Tafjord is a village in Fjord Municipality in Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county admin ...

is located at the end of the long Tafjorden. The only road leading to the rather isolated village of Tafjord goes through the long

Heggur Tunnel The Heggur Tunnel ( no, Heggurtunnelen) is a road tunnel in Fjord Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which compr ...

plus several other smaller tunnels on the northern shore of the fjord.

History

When

Olaf II of Norway Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title '' Rex Per ...

fled up the Storfjorden to escape the forces of

Canute the Great Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

, he and his men journeyed up the fjord until he passed through the Norddalsfjorden and reached the Tafjorden. From there they passed north up the Valldalen valley and across the mountains to

Lesja Lesja is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is village of Lesja. Other villages in the municipality include Bjorli, Lesjaskog, ...

on his way to exile in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. On 7 April 1934, a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

of about of rock fell off the mountain Langhamaren from a height of about . The rock landed in the Tafjorden which created a local

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

which killed 40 people living on the shore of the fjord. The waves reached a height of near the landslide, about at Sylte, and about at

. It was one of the worst natural disasters in Norway in the 20th century.

References

Fjords of Møre og Romsdal Fjord (municipality) {{MøreRomsdal-geo-stub

History

See also

References