- This article is about the landscape in Norway. For the article about the island Helgoland in Germany, see Helgoland.
Helgeland is the most southerly district in North Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic circle. The district covers an area of almost 18,000 km², with nearly 79,000 inhabitants. There are four towns in the district; from south to north these are Brønnøysund, Mosjøen, Sandnessjøen and Mo i Rana,
Helgeland is commonly divided into three or four sections:
- Southern (actually southwest) Helgeland, which consists of the municipalities Bindal, Sømna, Brønnøy, Vega and Vevelstad.
- Central Helgeland, which is sometimes further divided into the regions
- Northern Helgeland, which consists of the municipalities Hemnes, Rana, Nesna, Lurøy, Træna and Rødøy.
Helgeland is characterised by pointed mountains and Strandflaten, a shallow lowland area, sometimes just above the sea surface, and sometimes just below the surface. People living on the coast have settled on this lowland (while inland towns, such as Mo and Mosjøen, are situated in valleys). A consequence of the Strandflaten is thousands of islands, and shallow waters going far into the sea. This has provided some shelter from stormy weather, which might occur in winter. Some islands are fairly large, often with unique mountains, such as Torghatten, De syv søstre (The Seven Sisters), Hestmannen, Rødøyløva in Rødøy, Dønnamannen ([1]) and Træna. There are several sea bird colonies, such as Lovund ([2]) with thousands of puffins. The highest mountains, however, are inland, where Oksskolten is the highest mountain in North Norway. There are many valleys inland, such as Dunderlandsdal, Vefsndalen and Hattfjelldal. Røssvatnet is the second largest lake in Norway. There are three large national parks in Helgeland: Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park (partly), Børgefjell National Park (partly) and Lomsdal-Visten National Park (from May 2009).
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