Alta is the most populated municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alta. Some of the main villages in the municipality include Kåfjord, Komagfjord, Kvenvik, Langfjordbotn, Leirbotn, Rafsbotn, Talvik, and Tverrelvdalen. The town of Alta and most of the municipality is located just below the 70th latitude and is closer to the North Pole than it is to much of Central Europe and the British Isles. The town is the northernmost settlement of urban significance in the European Economic Area, with municipalities north of Alta being sparsely populated. In spite of its high latitude the local climate is seldom severely cold thanks to Gulf Stream moderation in the prevailing wind, and lower altitudes of the municipality are covered with boreal forests. Due to Norway curving above its Nordic neighbours, Alta is located further east than almost all of Sweden and much of southern Finland. Being at a very high latitude, midnight sun and polar night are present for sizeable parts of the year. The 3849 km2 municipality is the 7th largest municipality by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Alta is the 59th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 21,708. The municipality's population density is 5.6 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 9.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The old Alten-Talvig Municipality was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). Not long afterwards, on 1 January 1863, it was divided into two: Talvik Municipality to the north (population: 1,938) and Alta Municipality to the south (population: 2,442). On 1 January 1964, the two neighboring municipalities were merged back together to form a new Alta Municipality. Prior to the merger, Alta had 6,629 residents and Talvik had 3,266 residents. The borders have not changed since that time. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old Finnmark county. On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Finnmark county.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local Altafjorden. The name possibly comes from the Old Norse words or which refer to a swan. It could also be the Norwegianization of the Finnish word (alaattia) which refers to a "lowland". Historically, the name of the municiaplity was spelled Alten. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Alta.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 9 July 1976. The official blazon is "Azure, a spearhead argent". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a spear head. The spear head has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The blue color in the field symbolizes the local river, sea, and mountains. The spear head is derived from the findings of quartzite spear heads dating back to the late Stone Age and found in the area. The quartzite was quarried in the municipality and tools made from it were used all over Northern Norway.

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Alta. It is part of the Alta prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland.

History

The rock carvings at Alta, located near the Jiepmaluokta bay, dating from c. 4200 BC to 500 BC, are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The Komsa culture was named after Komsa Mountain in Alta municipality, where the first archeological remains of this culture were discovered. In the aftermath of the Sami Kautokeino rebellion of 1852, rebel leaders Mons Aslaksen Somby and Aslak Jacobsen Hætta were decapitated at Elvebakken in what is now the town of Alta on 14 October 1854. Their bodies were buried in graves just outside the Kåfjord Church graveyard in the village of Kåfjord in Alta, but their heads were sent on to the Anatomisk Institute at the University of Oslo, where they were kept for more than a century as part of the university's skull collections. The two skulls were only relinquished by the university in 1985, following a controversy and protests by Sami activists, and were in November 1997 buried at the Kåfjord Church in Alta, at the same spot as their bodies were buried over 140 years earlier. During World War II, the German battleship Tirpitz used the Kåfjorden, an arm of Altafjorden, as a harbour, and was damaged here by attacking Allied warplanes. The town Alta was seriously destroyed by fire near the end of the World War II. It was rebuilt in subsequent years. The Altasaken in 1979 made headlines for weeks, as many people (especially Sami people and environmentalists) demonstrated and used civil disobedience to prevent the building of a dam on the river Altaelva in order to produce hydropower. The dam was built, however, and the river still offers good salmon fishing. The King of Norway usually visits the river once in the summer to fish. The urban area made up of Bossekop, Elvebakken, and Bukta, also known collectively now as the town of Alta, became a town on 1 January 2000. The population has been growing steadily for many years. On 31 August 2019, a sightseeing helicopter crashed in the mountains of Skoddevarre south of Alta.

Government

Alta Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestre Finnmark District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Alta is made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayors of Alta:

Geography

Alta Municipality covers 3845 km2, in western Finnmark, mostly situated along the Altafjord, including large tracts of woodlands, as well as parts of the Finnmarksvidda plateau. On its way from the plateau down to the fjord, the river Altaelva has carved out the Sautso canyon, one of the largest canyons in Europe. The large Altafjorden has several notable bays and fjord arms that branch off from it including Langfjorden, Jiepmaluokta, Kåfjorden, and Lille Kufjorden. Alta is based on the mainland of Norway, but it also includes parts of the islands of Stjernøya and Seiland. Seiland is the home of Seiland National Park where the Seilandsjøkelen glacier and the mountain Seilandstuva are located. The highest point in the municipality is the 1149 m tall mountain Store Haldi. Several of the notable lakes in Alta include Iešjávri, Juovvajávri, Kovvatnet, and Stuorajávri. In 2020, a landslide destroyed 8 houses.

Climate

Most people live in the town of Alta, stretching along the inner part of the fjord. Alta has a sheltered boreal climate (Dfc) with long and dark winters, but still much less cold than expected for latitude 70 North. Daytime mid-summer temperatures are often fairly similar to coastal southern Norway, and lowland areas in Alta are mostly sheltered from the winter storms, which can be strong on the coast north of Alta. The mean annual temperature is 2 C and the Alta valley does not have permafrost but is dominated by closed-canopy forest of birch and pine. Precipitation is low, with a yearly average precipitation of only 420 mm. The frequent clear skies are the reason why Alta early was chosen as an excellent location for studying the aurora borealis. The "midnight sun" is above the horizon from 18 May to 27 July, lasting a bit longer than the polar night from 26 November to 16 January. The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below 0 °C) in spring is 14 May and average date for first freeze in autumn is 25 September at Alta Airport (1981–2010 average) giving a frost-free season of 133 days.

Transportation

Alta is a transportation center in Finnmark. Alta Airport served 334,132 passengers in 2009. There are direct flights to Oslo, Tromsø, Vadsø, Kirkenes, Båtsfjord and Mehamn. The town of Alta also has port facilities in the town center, and European route E6 passes through Alta. The distance to southern Scandinavia is considerably shorter over European route E45 and northern Finland.

Economy

Main activities in Alta include trading, small industry, education, and public service. The town is also famous for its slate industry. Finnmark University College is situated in Alta, and there is also a research institution (Norut NIBR Finnmark). The town has the northernmost ice hotel in Europe.

Sports

Alta is home to the football club Alta IF. Cross-country skiing is very popular. Alta also has clubs for handball, track and field, alpine skiing, ice skating, taekwondo, and judo. The bicycle race Finnmark Offroad, with 700- and 300-kilometer long courses, starts and ends in Alta. Alta is the starting point for the Finnmarksløpet, a 500- and 1000- kilometer sled dog race—The longest sled dog race in Europe.

Notable people

Sport

Twin towns – sister cities

Alta is twinned with: