Troms: Encyclopedia II - Troms - History

Troms - History

There were settlements along the coast of more southern areas of North Norway in the bronze age, possibly reaching as far north as southern part of Troms (Harstad-area), although there are very little evidens of bronze actually being used; this northern area might have gone straight from stoneage to iron age wrt use of tools.

There are substantially more archeological evidens of a norse iron-based culture in the late roman age (200 - 400 AD), reaching as far north as Karlsøy (near todays Tromsø [1]), but not further northeast. The Norse settled along the coast and in some of the larger fjords, while the Saami lived in many of the same fjord areas (usually the inner parts of the fjords [2]) and in the interior. Thus, it seems as the Saami for a long time was alone in northeastern part of Troms (east of the Lyngen fjord) and in Finnmark. The land of the Saami was known as Finnmark (land of the Finns, the saami were called Finns), which was a considerably larger area than the county Finnmark today.

From the 10th century, Norse settlements starts to appear along the coast further north, reaching into what is today the county of Finnmark.

Southern and mid-Troms was a 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, which according to the sagas speared king Olav Haraldsson at the Battle of Stiklestad and traded and fought in Bjarmaland (Arkhangelsk area today), had his seat at Bjarkøy. The nearby Trondenes (todays Harstad) was also a central viking power centre.

The county was established in 1866.

The Finnic (or Fenno-Ugric) Cwen (a.k.a. Quen or Kven in norwegian) residents of Troms are largely descendants of Finnish immigrants who arrived to the area during the 19th century - or before - from Finland because of war and famine. They settled mainly in Finnmark and the northeastern part of Troms, in the municipalities of Kvænangen (fjord of the kven), Nordreisa, Skjervøy, Kåfjord and Storfjord, and some also reached Balsfjord and Lyngen.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki