Vegaøyan

Vegaøyan  or the Vega Archipelago  is a group of islands in the Norwegian Sea corresponding roughly to the municipality of Vega. Since 2004, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This cluster of around 6,500 small islands in Nordland county, just south of the Arctic circle, surrounds the main island of Vega and has been inhabited since the Stone Age. Other islands in the group include Igerøya, Ylvingen, and Søla.

The islands bear testimony to a distinctive frugal way of life based on fishing and the harvesting of the down of eider ducks, in an inhospitable environment. There are fishing villages, quays, eider houses , farmland, and lighthouses. There is evidence of human settlement from the Stone Age onwards. By the 9th century, the islands had become an important centre for the supply of down, which appears to have accounted for around a third of the islanders' income.

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