Sørfold
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sørfold is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The administrative centre is Straumen.
[edit] The name
The municipality is named after the fjord Folda (Norse *Fold). The inner part of the fjord is divided into two arms Nordfolda ('the northern Folda') and Sørfolda ('the southern Folda'). The meaning of the fjordname is unknown (maybe 'the broad one').
[edit] Geography
The district's total land area is 1661.6 km² - of which 141.0 km² is covered with permanent ice and snow, and only 265.8 km² lies below the 150-m contour. The total length of coastline is 249 km. In 1987 only 3.2 km² was being farmed. Rago National Park, with its wild nature dominated by bare rock, streams and pine forest, is located in Sørfold.
The small village of Mørsvikbotten is located in the north of the district. Mørsvikbotten has a school, a grocery shop, a small church, an aquaculture co-op and a few camping sites. Five kilometers north of Mørsvikbotten lies Lake Mørsvikvatnet. In this area, Mørsry, the German army had a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II housing mostly Russian POWs. They were building a railway, which was intended to be a link between Fauske and Narvik. Some ruins of the camp, the foundations of the railway line, a tunnel and roads can still be observed. A small, now empty, cemetery for fallen Russian soldiers is located close to the camp, 50 m on the left-hand side just before the single concrete bridge. Other lakes are Andkjelvatnet and Sildhopvatnet.
| Municipalities of Nordland |  |
|---|---|
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Alstahaug | Andøy | Ballangen | Beiarn | Bindal | Bodø | Brønnøy | Bø | Dønna | Evenes | Fauske | Flakstad | Gildeskål | Grane | Hadsel | Hamarøy | Hattfjelldal | Hemnes | Herøy | Leirfjord | Lurøy | Lødingen | Meløy | Moskenes | Narvik | Nesna | Rana | Rødøy | Røst | Saltdal | Sortland | Steigen | Sømna | Sørfold | Tjeldsund | Træna | Tysfjord | Vefsn | Vega | Vestvågøy | Vevelstad | Vågan | Værøy | Øksnes |
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