HAMMERFEST, the most northerly town in Europe. Pop. (1930), 3,646. It is situated on an island (Kvalo) off the north west coast of Norway, in Finmarken amt (county), in 70° 40' I I" N., the latitude being that of the extreme north of Alaska. In spite of this, its average January temperature is little below freezing point, owing to the influence of the warm westerly winds and N. Atlantic drift, and the harbour is ice-free. The district around is barren and naturally treeless, but a "forest" of birches has been successfully planted. Hammerf est is 674 m. by sea N.E. of Trondhjem, and 78 S.W. from the North Cape. The narrow strait Strommen separates Kvalo from the larger Seiland, whose snow-covered hills with several glaciers rise above 3,500 ft., while an insular rampart of mountains, Soro, protects the strait and harbour from the open sea. The town is timber-built and modern; much of it having been rebuilt after fire in 189o. The sun does not set at Hammerf est from May 13 to July 29. This is the busy season of the townsfolk. Vessels set out to the fisheries, as far as Spitsbergen and the Kara Sea; and trade is brisk, not only Norwe gian and Danish but British, German and particularly Russian vessels engaging in it.
Cod-liver oil, train oil and salted fish are exported with some reindeer-skins, fox-skins and eiderdown ; and coal and salt for curing are imported. In the spring the great herds of tame reindeer are driven out to swim Strommen and graze in the summer pastures of Seiland ; towards winter they are called home again. From Nov. 18 to Jan. 23 the sun is not seen, and the enforced quiet of winter prevails. Electric light was introduced in the town in 1891, and it is the wireless station for Spitsbergen.