Nordland

Nordland is a county in Norway, bordering Troms and Nord-Tr?ndelag. The county administration is in Bod?. The island of Jan Mayen is also administrated from Nordland.

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Nordland extends about 500 km from Nord-Tr?ndelag to Troms. It has a rugged coastline. It includes the Lofoten islands as well as the Vester?len islands. The distance by road from Bindal in the far south of the county to Andenes on the northern tip is roughly 800 km.

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The key industries are fisheries and offshore petroleum exploration. Nordland is well known for the fishing of codfish and salmon hydroponics farming. Subarctic farming is another regional economy, primarily relying on heavy government subisidies for needed support, and comprise mainly of livestock such as cattle, sheep and goats. Some mining, in particular limestone, construction material, wolfram to mention a few and extensive dams for hydroelectric power are other prime sources of profitable revenues. The port of Narvik has a direct rail connection to the well known and profitable Kiruna-G?llivare iron-ore fields in Sweden. The chief pyrite deposits are near Mo i Rana and Sulitjelma, while iron ore is mined in Dunderlands Valley.

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Nordland has also a diverse economy, with fledgling research and development in aerospace and space exploration at the And?ya facility, which primarily is known for its satellite launches. This vast province, Norways second largest, has undoubtedly a key strategic importance for NATO, and the NATO airbase in Bod? is one of NATO's key bases in Northern Europe. The decommissioning of closing military bases has lead to a regional shift towards a new knowledge based economy.

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Nordland is also known for an advanced hydroponics industry, primarily revolving around salmon.

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Main export markets are Germany, Scandinavia, Britain, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Russia and Japan, and Nordland is now experiencing a relative growth after some decades or relative depopulation. Furthermore, Nordland could be compared to several American states in area size, as well as being close to Denmark in landmass.

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County: Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called "earls" in post-Celtic Great Britain and Ireland - the term is from Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the Vikings - but there is no correlation between "county" and "earldom." Rather, t...

Norway: The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norway'...

Troms: Troms is a county in northern Norway, bordering Finnmark and Nordland....