Jøa is an island in the Namsos municipality in Trøndelag, known for its rich history and natural beauty. About 450 people live here. You can reach us by your own boat, speedboat, or by the ferry, which takes only 5 minutes and 48 seconds on a good day.
The island of Jøa has been inhabited for several thousand years, with traces of settlement dating back to the Stone Age. Today, you can experience some of the historical aura that envelops the island, through rich and generous experiences that bring peace and tranquility. Here is a brief overview of the island's history.
Early History
The sea was highway no. 1 in ancient times. Living by the sea ensured food and survival. Jøa has archaeological findings that show human activity as early as the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Many large house foundations from the Iron Age have been found. Tranås Iron Age farm shows how people built and lived at that time.
Over 100 burial mounds and other ancient monuments testify to early settlement and agriculture on the island. More than 40 of these burial mounds are found near Hovssjøen. In the same area, Norway's first seated graves were found, indicating cultural influence from the east. Boat grave findings at Fosnes from around year 900, with a 14-meter boat, indicate that the farm and the island were a power center at that time.
The Middle Ages
One of the first churches in Namdalen was built on Jøa around the year 1250. Fosnes parish covered a large area in the region. The Middle Ages were an important time for the development of fishing and farming on the island. In 1596, the Jøa farmer Nils Olsson Stein, on behalf of the farmers in Namdalen, went to the king in Copenhagen to complain about the king's tax collectors who were cheating with the weights. He is described in the book "Norwegian Farmer Rebellion" as one of the first major peasant rebels in Norway.
Author Olav Duun also writes about the fisherman farmer on Jøa and the Namdal coast from the 1600s to the 1900s in the six-volume "Juvikfolket".
Around 1770, Namdalen's first hospital was built at Tranås on Jøa. A strategic location for people who traveled a lot by sea.
In the late 1600s and throughout the 1700s, Seierstad farm developed into one of the most important trade and sloop centers in Namdalen. One of the sloops brought the Prince of Orleans to Seierstad in the late 1700s, fleeing from the gallows after the French Revolution. Louis Philippe later became the last king of France from 1830 to 1848.
The 19th Century
Seierstad as a trading center was severely weakened after the establishment of the trading town of Namsos in the mid-1800s. The Parish Act of 1837 was the starting gun for modern municipalities in Norway. Fosnes parish then became Fosnes municipality, with Jøa as the municipal center. The transition from a natural economy to a monetary economy (the great shift around 1840) and emigration to America (1850-1914) led to many ownership changes in agriculture on Jøa.
Arctic cod fishing at Gjæslingan and fjord fishing greatly increased with new boat types and fishing gear. The same goes for passenger boat traffic. Both Seierstad, Fosnes, and Faksdal had boat calls in the late 1800s.
Poet Olav Duun was born in 1876. The school children got their own building in 1883. Youth clubs and shooting clubs were established in the 1890s. Dun dairy started in 1897. After two church fires at Fosnes church, Dun became the new church site in 1899.
The 20th Century
From 1907 to 1938, the poet Olav Duun published about 30 novels and collections of short stories, establishing himself as one of Norway's greatest authors. Having finished the six books about the Juvik people in 1926, he was the frontrunner for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The prize went to his challenger George Bernard Shaw. In his writer's home in Holmestrand, Duun used Jøa, Otterøya, and the Namdal coast as a backdrop in his portrayals of being human. Olav Duun's childhood home at Øver-Dûn has been restored and is open in the summer.
The industrial revolution also reached Jøa in the early 20th century. The energy crisis during World War I led to the startup of Namdal Peat Factory (1917) and Jøa Peat (1918). Peat from the Jøa bogs (4000 da) became an important energy source for the industry in Trøndelag. A railway was built from the Jøa bogs to the shipping area in Skjærvika. But better access to coal and oil after World War I, and two rainy summers in 1921 and 1922, led to bankruptcies of the peat factories. A similar peat project during World War II went the same way.
Reduced fish stocks over the 20th century forced the fisherman farmer more on land. The technological development in agriculture changed farming practices. Horses were replaced by tractors after World War II. Electricity arrived at Jøa in 1951. Parts of the bogs on Jøa became additional farmland, and livestock increased. The agricultural community on Jøa strengthened throughout the 20th century. Net fishing for salmon, which lasted from about 1870 to 1970, was an important additional income for some farmers on Jøa. Other small farmers continued with some traditional fishing, while others took additional work in the winter at shoe factory owner Albert Collett along Salvatnet. In 1996, Torgeir Strøm became the leader of the Norwegian Farmer and Smallholder Association.
Towards the end of the 20th century, the salmon farming industry emerged in the Norwegian fjords. It started with local owners in the fjords around Jøa too, but fish diseases and the need for a lot of capital quickly changed the ownership structure. In a relatively short period around 1990, there was a salmon slaughterhouse on Jøa. Most of those who worked at the salmon slaughterhouse were women.
Around 1980, there was a development of the municipal sector. For Jøa, as the municipal center in Fosnes municipality, there were many new administrative jobs. Jøa Road and Bridge Association was started in 1975. Road construction beyond Elvalandet led to progressively shorter ferry trips, but the Jøa bridge is still waiting.
Present Day
Agriculture remains strong on Jøa. There are significantly fewer active farms, but the production is as high as before. The soil is mostly in good condition. Jøa is among the largest producers of milk per capita in Norway. Forestry increasingly provides some additional income on some farms.
Although the salmon farming industry is centralized and automated, it provides important jobs on the island. Many people from Jøa commute 45 minutes to Namsos for work.
The villages in Norway, like the rest of the world, are experiencing strong centralization forces. Throughout the 20th century, the number of children born was large, and the population was about double what it is today, between 800 and 900. Industrialization after World War II drew many people to the cities. The income escalation plan in agriculture in 1975, and the development of the municipal sector at the same time, slowed down the population decline on Jøa significantly. From 1990 to 2015, the number of children in school dropped from 135 to 45. Fortunately, some residents from densely populated areas in Europe settled on Jøa during this period, stabilizing the number of children in kindergarten and school.
We now see that a good number of young adults with roots from Jøa are returning and settling on the island. Hopefully, we are now seeing a green counter-movement that tempers the migration to the cities. The decline in population was probably the main reason why the people of Fosnes chose to merge with Namdalseid and Namsos in 2020. Jøa is now part of the new Namsos municipality.
Jøa remains a vibrant village where culture and sports flourish. Volunteerism contributes with community service for the island's well-being. A growing tourism and experience industry provides new social meeting places for the island's residents and warmly welcomes visitors to Jøa - the land in the fairy tale!