This is a illustrated lecture about the costal area’s past and culture and focuses on the unique geology and archaeology. The lecture emphasises new research about human occupation which show that North Troms has played an important roll in North Calotte’s history. Geographically, this is because this fiord basin cuts deep inwards towards Kjølen and, as a result, provides the shortest passages over to the vast Saami areas and the level country round Bottenvika. In the same way, a host of transport arteries run from the interiors of the Saami areas of Finland and Sweden towards North Troms, which was centrally placed for new cultural impulses from the east. This also occurred to a high degree, both with shorter visits by groups from the east and also through a large-scale migration by several population groups, of which the Saami and Kven people were the two best known. It is, therefore, not an exaggeration to say that North Troms’ cultural origins to a significant degree have origins in North Calotte’s culture.

The coastal culture of North Troms fokus on the importance of fishing in culture and dayly life in Troms. Hanseatic trading with stockfisk was very important for the Norwegian fishermen, especially in the Middle Ages. Being a fisherman was a very hard life, as many men died from drowning out in the big sea. The former king of Norway in 1880s upt to 1905 therefore built many rescue harbours in the islands around Skjervøy and Arnøy.

Helge Guttormsen wrote the history from the Ice Age ut to the Laestadianism (1850 AD) for the Lyngen aera (2005). It is a story of the old Saami cultures and the Kven cultures, with their strong contacts from the laplands in the east. The fishing culture in the fjords Lyngen and Ullsfjord played an imortant role before 1900, with many pioneers in developing fishing technics.

For a short period a new industry was developed by a mining company producing copper, owned by English investors. By the end of the first World Ware I the copperprices fell, and the mining company stopped. The lecture ”People along two fjords” are illustrated by using the many digital photos and figures from the two books Lyngen Regionhistorie vol. I (20 000 BC -1850 AD) and II.(1850-1930 AD)

The culture in North Troms is often called ”the meeting of the three tribes”; the Norwegians, the Sa amis and the Kvens. The lecture focuses on the meeting between the Saami and Kven cultures in North Troms from former times until the present day.

The Saami are nature and indigenous people with old ways of life and religion that differs from others older cultures further south in Europe. Distinguishing features include the Saami hunting traditions and the heathen religion’s relationship with the reindeer herding culture in North Calotte. In North Troms, the coastal Saami had different living places depending on the season. In the autumn and winter, the lived deep in the fiords, while in spring and summer they lived out on islands. The Kautokeinorevolt in 1851 therefore startet in the summer bySaami reindeer herders visiting the Skjervøy church during their stay in the summerland for the reindeers. The Saami culture in North Troms has strong roots back to North Calotte history and throughout history it has gained many impulses from the east. Significant emphasis will also be placed on describing the coastal Saami culture as something distinctive not only for the coastal and fiord areas in North Troms but along the entire Northern Norwegian coastline.

The Kven history does not date back as far in North Troms, where the Kven culture is different to that of the Saami and characterised by strong east-bound impulses from the Saami areas of Finland. In terms of language, dress, architectural style and not least economically, the Kvens contributed new impulses to North Troms. Best known is the Kvens contribution to Arctic agriculture of grain cultivation, which is evidenced in Lyngen, Storfjord and Nordreisa.