Sunnmøre

Sunnmøre is a coastal district of western Norway, where islands and long fjords meet steep mountains. Fishing grounds and sheltered waterways gave its communities access to the sea, while farms occupied the valleys and gentler shores. In the Middle Ages the trading place of Borgund grew beside its fjord. Ships carried dried fish out and brought grain and textiles in, and the powerful Giske family held influence in the district. Borgund declined in the later Middle Ages, but the coast remained a landscape of farms, fishing and maritime travel.