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| Norway - Norge - Noreg |
| Nordland
county - Lofoten region |
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Lofoten is an archipelago
and a traditional district in the county of Nordland. Though
lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one
of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to
its high latitude. Lofoten was originally the old name of the
island Vestvågøya. The first element is ló (i.e.,
"lynx") and the last element is derived from Norse
fótr (i.e., "foot"), as the shape of the island must
have been compared with a foot of a lynx. The old name of the
neighbouring island Flakstadøya was Vargfót, "the foot of
a wolf", from vargr "wolf". There is evidence of
human settlement extending back at least 11000 years in Lofoten,
and the earliest archaeological sites are only about 5500 years
old, at the transition from the early to late Stone Age. Iron Age
agriculture, livestock, and significant human habitation can be
traced back to ~250 BC.
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