Nordkapp

Nordkapp is a municipality in the county of Finnmark, Norway.

The municipality encompasses mainly the island of Magerøya, but also parts of the mainland east and west of the fjord of Porsangen.

Most of the inhabitants live in the fishing village of Honningsvåg, but Nordvågen, Kamøyvær, Skarsvåg and Gjesvær are also important places.

The municipality's most famous point, after which it is named, is Nordkapp (North Cape). This 307 m high cliff is usually referred to as the northernmost point of Europe. Some 200,000 tourists visit annually, during the two to three months of summer. The neighbouring point of Knivskjellodden is, however, some 1,500 m further north.

The North Cape first became famous when the English explorer Richard Chancellor rounded it in 1553 while attempting to find a sea route through the Northeast Passage.

The name: Nordkapp is a Norwegianized form of the English name North Cape from 1553 (the old Norse name of the cape was Knyskanes). The original name of the municipality was Kjelvik, after a fishing village with the same name. But the village was totally destroyed by the Germans in 1944 - and it never recovered. As a consequence of this the municipality changed the name to Nordkapp in 1950.