Vega, Norway

Vega is a municipality in the county of Nordland, Norway which comprises 6,500 islands of the Vega Archipelago. Its coat of arms of 1987 symbolizes one of the seaman's most important tools, the bailor.

Early settlements on the main island date back 10,000 years, making it one of the oldest places of inhabitance in northern Norway. Agriculture and fishing are at present as they were in the past, key fields of labour. Today's inhabitants are concentrated in Holand, Valla, Igerøy and Gladstad, the latter being the location of the municipal council and most of the island's commerce.

In 2004, the archipelago's cultural landscape was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List as representative of "the way generations of fishermen/farmers have, over the past 1,500 years, maintained a sustainable living in an inhospitable seascape near the Arctic Circle, based on the now unique practice of eider down harvesting." The oceanic climate and limestone bedrock has allowed 10 different species of orchids to grow in Vega, and 210 species of birds have been recorded at the archipelago.

There is one hotel on Vega - the Vega Havhotell.

Vega islands, photo:Ann Elin Bratseth

[edit] Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1987). It shows a baler for boat. An earlier suggestion for a Vega coat-of-arms picturing the black silhouette of a sailing boat on a yellow background is now used as the coat-of-arms of Nordland county.