Editing Finnmark (section)

== History ==
{{Historical populations
|footnote = '''''Source''': [http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/02/folkendrhist_en/tables/tab/20.html Statistics Norway].''<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 May 2012 |title=Statistikkbanken |url=http://statbank.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/Default_FR.asp?PXSid=0&nvl=true&PLanguage=0&tilside=selecttable%2FhovedtabellHjem.asp&KortnavnWeb=folkfram |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023110552/http://statbank.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/Default_FR.asp?PXSid=0&nvl=true&PLanguage=0&tilside=selecttable%2FhovedtabellHjem.asp&KortnavnWeb=folkfram |archive-date=23 October 2013 |access-date=28 April 2018 |website=ssb.no}}</ref>
|shading = off
|1951|64511
|1961|72104
|1971|76311
|1981|78331
|1991|74590
|2001|74087
|2011|73417
|2016|75758
}}
{{bar box
|title=Religion in Finnmark<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 July 2012 |title=Statistikkbanken |url=http://statbank.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/Default_FR.asp?PXSid=0&nvl=true&PLanguage=0&tilside=selecttable%2FhovedtabellHjem.asp&KortnavnWeb=kirke_kostra |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716151336/http://statbank.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/Default_FR.asp?PXSid=0&nvl=true&PLanguage=0&tilside=selecttable%2FhovedtabellHjem.asp&KortnavnWeb=kirke_kostra |archive-date=16 July 2012 |access-date=28 April 2018 |website=ssb.no}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/07/02/10/trosamf_en/tab-2010-12-13-02-en.html Statistics Norway – Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance. County. 2006–2010] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102060754/http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/07/02/10/trosamf_en/tab-2010-12-13-02-en.html |date=November 2, 2011 }}</ref>
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1=religion
|right1=percent
|float=right
|bars=
{{bar percent|[[Christianity]]|Purple|89.2}}
{{bar percent|[[Islam]]|Green|0.32}}
{{bar percent|[[Buddhism]]|Red|0.11}}
{{bar percent|Other|Blue|10.37}}
}}
People have lived in Finnmark for at least 10,000 years (see [[Komsa]], [[Pit-Comb Ware culture]] and [[Rock carvings at Alta]]). The destiny of these early cultures is unknown. Three ethnic groups have a long history in Finnmark: the [[Sami people]], the [[Norwegian people]], and the [[Kven people]]. Of these, the Sami probably were the first people to explore 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.

=== Sami ===
{{Main|Sami history}}

The Sami are the indigenous people of Finnmark, 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 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 multiple Sami and [[environmentalist]]s to demonstrations and civil disobedience—[[Alta conflict|Alta Conflict]]. 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 [[Sámi Parliament of Norway|Sami parliament]] (''Sámediggi'') was opened in Karasjok in 1989.

=== Norwegian ===
[[File:Kola Peninsula map from 1660.jpg|thumb|A Dutch map of Finnmark (1660), showing the border between Norway, Sweden and Russia.]]

[[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 [[Republic of Novgorod|Novgorodians]] continued until 1326, when the [[Treaty of Novgorod (1326)|Treaty of Novgorod]] settled the issue.

The first known [[fortification]] in Finnmark is [[Vardøhus Fortress|Vardøhus festning]], first erected in 1306 by King [[Haakon V Magnusson]]. This is [[the world's most northern]] fortress. In the 17th century, 88 young women were burned as witches in Vardø, an extremely high number compared to the total population in this area at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1970-01-01 |title=BioOne article |url=http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-document&issn=0013-0001&volume=057&issue=03&page=0403 |access-date=2009-02-12 |publisher=Bioone.org}}</ref> The first person burned as witch in Vardø in the 17th century was a man. [Vardø archives]

Finnmark first became subject to increased colonization in the 18th and 19th century. 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 (subnational entity)|Amt]]'' (county) in the 19th century. For a time, there was a vibrant trade with Russia ([[Pomor trade]]), and a number of Norwegians settled on the [[Kola Peninsula]] (see [[Kola Norwegians]]).

=== Kven ===
{{Main|Kven people}}

The [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] ''[[Kven people|Kven]]'' residents of Finnmark are largely descendants of [[Finland|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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=politidepartementet |first=Justis- og |date=1 August 1996 |title=NOU 1994: 21 |url=https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/nou-1994-21/id374516/sec3#DEL2-KAP4-7 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107024634/https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/nou-1994-21/id374516/sec3#DEL2-KAP4-7 |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=28 April 2018 |website=Regjeringen.no}}</ref>

=== Brief summary ===
In 1576, the [[Frederick II of Denmark|King of Norway]] established ''Vardøhus [[Len (Norway)|len]]'' as a new administrative unit for most northern part of the kingdom. In 1660, it became ''Vardøhus [[Amt (country subdivision)|amt]]'', a subordinate to the large ''Trondhjems stiftamt'', based in [[Trondheim]]. In 1787, the [[Senja (island)|island of Senja]] and the [[Troms]] area were transferred from [[Nordland]]enes amt to Vardøhus amt. In 1866, the island of Senja and the Troms area were separated from Vardøhus to form the new [[Troms]]ø amt. In 1919, the name was again changed to Finnmark [[fylke]]. In 2002, the [[Sami language]] name, ''Finnmárku'', was added as a co-official name for the county.

[[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 [[Land mine|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."<ref name="Scars">{{Cite web |last=NRK |date=13 September 2013 |title=Den glemte krigen |url=http://www.nrk.no/fordypning/den-glemte-krigen-1.11238509 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150616075558/http://www.nrk.no/fordypning/den-glemte-krigen-1.11238509 |archive-date=16 June 2015 |access-date=20 May 2016 |website=NRK}}</ref>

=== World War II ===
Towards the end of [[World War II]], with [[Operation Nordlicht (1944–1945)|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 (city)|Tromsø]] was crowded), but some people avoided evacuation by hiding in caves and mountain huts and waited 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.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Zimmerman |first=Susan |date=November–December 2010 |title=Finnmark |magazine=World War II Magazine |page=31 |volume=25 |number=4}}</ref>

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 [[Liberation of Finnmark|liberated the rest]] of the county. When 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 [[landmine]]s.  The ban lasted until the summer of 1945 when evacuees were told that they could finally return home.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
[[File:Peder Balke-Fra Hammerfest.jpg|thumb|right|''Fra Hammerfest'' by Peder Balke (1851)]]
[[File:Neiden panorama.jpg|thumb|right|Neiden in Sør-Varanger]]

=== Cold War ===
The [[Cold War]] was a period with sometimes high tension in eastern Finnmark, at the {{convert|196|km|adj=on}} long border with the [[Soviet Union]]. To keep tensions from getting too high, Norway declared that no [[NATO]] exercises would take place in Finnmark.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=German |first=Robert K. |date=1982 |title=Norway and the Bear: Soviet Coercive Diplomacy and Norwegian Security Policy |journal=International Security |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=70 |doi=10.2307/2538433 |jstor=2538433 |s2cid=154321588}}</ref>