Narvik

Sister cities

• Nowy Sącz
• Kikinda
• Rovaniemi
• Kiruna

History

The history of Narvik as a settlement began in the Bronze Age. Not very much is known about these people, but the Vikings lived in this area. Narvik was developed as an all-year ice free port for the Swedish Kiruna and Gällivare iron mines. The history of modern Narvik begins in the 1870s, when the Swedish government began to understand the potential of the iron ore mines in Kiruna, Sweden. Obtaining iron ore from Kiruna had one significant problem in that there was no suitable Swedish port. The nearest Swedish port, Luleå, had limitations. It was covered with ice all winter, far from Kiruna, and allows only medium-sized bulk freight vessels. Narvik offered a port which is ice-free thanks to the warm Gulf Stream and is naturally large, allowing ships of virtually any size to anchor, up to long and deep. The town of Narvik was established as a kjøpstad on 1 January 1902 when the village of Narvik received status as a proper town and was separated from the large Ankenes Municipality so it could have its own municipal government. Initially, the town-municipality of Narvik had 3,705 residents. On 1 January 1974, Ankenes Municipality was merged with the town-municipality of Narvik, forming a new, larger Narvik Municipality. The port of Narvik proved to be strategically valuable in the early years of World War II and the town became a focal point of the Norwegian Campaign. In 1939, Germany's war industry depended upon iron ore mined in Kiruna and Malmberget in Sweden. During the summer season, this ore could be sent by cargo ship to Germany through the Baltic Sea via the Swedish port of Luleå on the Gulf of Bothnia. However, when the Gulf of Bothnia froze during the winter, more shipments of the ore needed to be transported through Narvik and, from there, down the west…