Finland–Norway border

The border between Norway and Finland is 736 kilometers (457 mi) long.[1] It is a land and river border between two tripoints. The western tripoint is marked by Treriksröset, a concrete cairn where both countries border Sweden. The eastern tripoint is marked by Treriksrøysa, a stone cairn where both countries border Russia.[2]

Norway's national borders
  Norway-Sweden border
  Norway-Finland border
  Norway-Russia border
Land border highlighted in red, river border in blue.

The border was defined in a treaty from 1751, but was then a part of the border between the Kingdom of Sweden, ruling Finland, and the Crown of Denmark, ruling Norway. In the period 1738-1751 there were field investigations and negotiations on the border, although the Finnish part needed less negotiation. Cairns were erected after that with the last one at Nesseby in 1766. After Finland became the Grand Duchy of Finland, a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, and the independent Kingdom of Norway was evoked into but in personal union with Sweden under the Swedish King, a treaty was again negotiated in 1816 with Russia. Defining the easternmost part of the borderzone. Between 1920-1944, the Petsamo area belonged to Finland, so the Finland–Norway border extended along the present Norway–Russia border to the ocean. The 1751 treaty also granted the Sami people the right to cross the border freely, including their reindeer, as they always had done. In 1852, the border of Norway–Finland/Russia was closed, causing trouble for the Sami, who needed the Finnish forests for reindeer winter grazing.

The Finland–Norway border is open as both countries are part of the Schengen Area. It is legal to cross the border anywhere if no customs declaration or passport check is needed. A treaty gives the customs officers of one country the right to carry out clearance and checks for both countries. There is an 8-meter (26 ft) wide clear-cut zone along the land border in forest areas. Almost half of the border follows the rivers Anarjohka and Tana. A fairly large share of the western part of the border goes over treeless mountains. There are 57 original cairns north of Treriksröset from until 1766, numbered 293-342 west of Anarjohka river and 343-349 east of Tana river. Later further cairns numbered 343-353 against Finland were erected east of Nesseby, and cairns in between the originals with a letter after the number.

The extreme eastern end of Norway (containing the town of Kirkenes) actually reaches east of Finland, located between Finland and Russia. However, as all of Norway still uses Central European Time whereas Finland uses Eastern European Time, this is one of the rare spots in the entire world where crossing the border actually changes the time zone in the opposite direction.

List of road border crossings

From east to west:[3]

  • Neiden (road 92), N
  • Polmak (road 970/895), N
  • Utsjoki (road E75), F
  • Karigasniemi (road 92), F
  • Kivilompolo (road E45), F
  • Helligskogen (road E8), N
N = customs station on the Norwegian side
F = customs station on the Finnish side

All road crossings on this border have customs stations.

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See also

References
  1. "Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 11th October 2012". President of Finland. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  2. Svein Askheim. "Treriksrøysa – Sør-Varanger". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  3. "Alphabetical list of customs offices". Archived from the original on 2014-07-24. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
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