People have lived in this area for at least 10,000 years (since the early
Stone Age), and there are prehistoric
rock carvings at several locations (for instance
Ibestad,
Balsfjord,
Komsa,
Pit-Comb Ware culture and
Rock carvings at Alta). These people made their living from hunting, fishing, and gathering. The destiny of these early cultures is unknown. Three ethnic groups have a long history in the area: the
Sami people, the
Norwegian people, and the
Kven people. Of these, the Sami probably were the first people to explore what is now Troms og Finnmark.
Ohthere of Hålogaland was an adventurous Norwegian (Norseman) from
Hålogaland, the area roughly corresponding to today's
Nordland county. Around 890 AD, he claimed, according to historical sources (see
Ohthere of Hålogaland) that he lived "north-most of all the Northmen", and that "no one [lived] to the north of him." Later, Norwegians in the 14th century, and Kvens in the 16th century, settled along the coast. See the articles on
Kven people and
Vardøhus Fortress for more details. Southern and mid-Troms was a Norwegian
petty kingdom in the
Viking Age, and considered part of
Hålogaland.
Ottar from Hålogaland met King
Alfred the Great around 890. The Viking leader
Tore Hund had his seat at
Bjarkøya. According to the
sagas, Tore Hund
speared King
Olav Haraldsson at the
Battle of Stiklestad. He also traded and fought in
Bjarmaland, today the area of
Arkhangelsk in northern
Russia .
Trondenes (today's Harstad) was also a central Viking power centre.
Sami The Sami are the indigenous people of the area, but Norwegians have lived for hundreds of years on the islands' outer parts, where they made up the majority. The
Sami people still constitute the majority in Finnmark's interior parts, while the fjord areas have been ethnically mixed for a long time. This essentially holds true today. The Sami were for many years victims of the
Norwegianization policy, which in essence was an attempt by the government to make them "true" Norwegians and forget about their Sami way of life and religion, which was seen as inferior. As a result, the Sami living at the coast and in the fjords gradually lost much of their culture and often felt ashamed by their Sami inheritance. The Sami in the interior managed to preserve more of their culture. In the 1970s, instruction of the
Sami language started in schools, and a new sense of consciousness started to grow among the Sami; today most are proud of their background and culture. In the midst of this awakening (1979), Norway's government decided to build a
dam in Alta to produce
hydropower, provoking many Sami and
environmentalists to demonstrations and civil disobedience (
Altasaken). In the end, the dam was built on a much smaller scale than originally intended and the Sami culture was on the government's agenda. The
Sami parliament (
Sámediggi) was opened in Karasjok in 1989.
Norwegian Gjesvær in Nordkapp is mentioned in the
Sagas (
Heimskringla) as a northern harbor in the
Viking Age, especially used by Vikings on the way to
Bjarmaland (see
Ottar from Hålogaland), and probably also for gathering food in the nearby seabird colony. Coastal areas of Finnmark were colonized by Norwegians beginning in the 10th century, and there are stories describing clashes with the
Karelians. Border skirmishes between the Norwegians and
Novgorodians continued until 1326, when the
Treaty of Novgorod settled the issue. The first known
fortification in Finnmark is
Vardøhus festning, first erected in 1306 by King
Haakon V Magnusson. This is
the world's most northern fortress. In the 17th century, Finnmark was home to a large number of
witch trials; between 1610 and 1692, 88 people were executed as witches, an extremely high number when considered in the context of the low population; there were only 277 (documented) executions in Norway as a whole. The majority were young women, though there were also a small number of men, who were mostly from Sami backgrounds.
Ergotism from contaminated flour has been suggested as a likely cause for the frequent trials, as most grain in Finnmark was imported and may have been of low quality. Finnmark first became subject to increased colonization in the 18th and 19th centuries. Norway, Sweden, and Russia all claimed control over this area. Finland was part of Russia at that time and had no independent representative. Finnmark was given the status of an
Amt (county) in the 19th century. For a time, there was a vibrant trade with Russia (
Pomor trade), and many Norwegians settled on the
Kola Peninsula (see
Kola Norwegians).
Kven The
Finnic Kven residents of Finnmark are largely descendants of
Finnish speaking immigrants who arrived in the area in the 18th century from
Meänmaa, and later in the 19th century from
Finland, suffering from
famine and war.
Governance In 1576, the King of Norway established
Vardøhus len as a new administrative unit for the kingdom. In 1660, it became
Vardøhus amt, a subordinate to the large
Trondhjems stiftamt, based in
Trondheim. In 1787, the
island of Senja and the
Troms area were transferred from
Nordlandenes amt to Vardøhus amt (an area similar to today's Troms og Finnmark county). In 1866, the island of Senja and the Troms area were separated from Vardøhus to form the new
Tromsø amt. In 1919, the names were again changed to Finnmark
fylke and Troms fylke.
World War II Per Fugelli has said that World War II resulted in many persons acquiring psychiatric disorders (
psykiske senskadene) which could be from experiencing "bombing, accidents involving
mines, burning down of homes, forcible evacuation, illness and starvation during the war and liberation. But it was maybe in particular the treatment of Russian prisoners that left marks on the local population." Towards the end of
World War II, with
Operation Nordlicht, the Germans used the
scorched earth tactic in Finnmark and northern
Troms to halt the
Red Army. As a consequence of this, few houses survived the war, and a large part of the population was forcefully evacuated further south (
Tromsø was crowded), but many people avoided evacuation by hiding in caves and mountain huts and waiting until the Germans were gone, then inspected their burned homes. There were 11,000 houses, 4,700 cow sheds, 106 schools, 27 churches, and 21 hospitals burned. There were 22,000 communications lines destroyed, roads were blown up, boats destroyed, animals killed, and 1,000 children separated from their parents. However, after taking the town of
Kirkenes on 25 October 1944 (as the first town in Norway), the Red Army did not attempt further offensives in Norway.
Free Norwegian forces arrived from Britain and
liberated the rest of the county. When the war was over, more than 70,000 people were left homeless in Finnmark. The government imposed a temporary ban on residents returning to Finnmark because of the danger of
landmines. The ban lasted until the summer of 1945 when evacuees were told that they could finally return home.
Cold War (1947–1991) The
Cold War was a period with sometimes high tension in eastern Finnmark, at the long border with the
Soviet Union. To keep tensions from getting too high, Norway declared that no
NATO exercises would take place in Finnmark. There was, however, a lot of military intelligence activity, and Norwegian
P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft were often the first to get pictures of newly built Soviet submarines and aircraft. A purpose-built
ELINT vessel,
Marjata, was always stationed near the border, and the current
Marjata (7500 t) is still operating out of the ports in eastern Finnmark.
Merging of Troms County and Finnmark County The merger was not popular, especially in the old Finnmark county. A county-wide non-binding referendum was held in which it was opposed by about 87% of Finnmark residents who voted, but the
Storting did not reverse its decision to merge the county. Some political parties campaigned to reverse the merger in the parliamentary term that starts in September 2021. On 28 October 2021,
Minister of Local Government Bjørn Arild Gram sent a letter to the county confirming that it will be demerged. On 28 October 2021, the Norwegian government confirmed that Troms and Finnmark would become two separate counties again. ==Government==