By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea (Atlantic Ocean) to the northwest, and the Barents Sea (Arctic Ocean) to the north and northeast.

Situated at the northernmost part of continental Europe, where the Norwegian coastline swings eastward, Finnmark is an area "where East meets West" in culture as well as in nature and geography.

Honningsvåg in Finnmark claims to be world's northernmost city, and Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway and farther east than Istanbul.

The highest point is atop the glacier Øksfjordjøkelen, which has an area of 45 square kilometres (17 sq mi), and is in Loppa Municipality.

This valley has the highest density of Brown bears in Norway, and is the only place in the country with a population of muskrats, stemming from their introduction from their native North America into Europe in the early 20th century, which included their release in 293 localities all over Finland from 1919 onward, and then of about 1,000 muskrats on the Kola Peninsula during 1931–36.

The plateau is famous for its tens of thousands of reindeer owned by the Sámi, and swarms of mosquitoes in midsummer.

Stabbursdalen National Park ensures protection for the world's northernmost Scots pine forest.

Finnmarksvidda has annual mean temperatures down to −3 °C (27 °F) (Sihcajavri in Kautokeino Municipality), the coldest in mainland Norway (except for higher mountain areas) and even colder than Jan Mayen and Bear Island.

Due to the proximity to the ice-free ocean, winters are much milder in coastal areas (and more windy); Loppa Municipality has average January and July temperatures of −2 °C (28 °F) and 11.6 °C (52.9 °F) respectively, with an annual mean of 3.6 °C (38.5 °F),[12] despite being further north.

The climate in sheltered parts of fjord areas (particularly the Altafjorden) is usually considered the most hospitable: winters are not as cold as in the interior, and summer warmth is comparable.

Situated north of the Arctic Circle, Finnmark has midnight sun from the middle of May until late July.

At midwinter, there is only a bluish twilight for a couple of hours around noon, which can almost reach full daylight if there are clear skies to the south.

Finnmark is in the Aurora Borealis zone, and because of the dry climate with frequent clear skies, Alta Municipality was early chosen as a location for study of the phenomenon.

The red king crab, originally from the northern Pacific Ocean but brought to the Barents sea by the Russians, have invaded from the east and are now being exploited commercially (especially in the Varangerfjord).

[20] Some snow molds are prevalent and well adapted here, including Sclerotinia borealis and Typhula ishikariensis (especially T. i. group III).

In addition, Lakselv-Banak Airport in Porsanger Municipality is used for training by the Royal Norwegian Air Force and other NATO allies, in conjunction with the nearby Halkavarre shooting range, which allows for practice with precision-guided munitions.

The national government runs the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority which in turn owns and operates two hospitals in Finnmark, located in Kirkenes and Hammerfest.

People have lived in Finnmark for at least 10,000 years (see Komsa, Pit-Comb Ware culture and Rock carvings at Alta).

The Sami are the indigenous people of Finnmark, but Norwegians have lived for hundreds of years on the islands' outer parts, where they made up the majority.

The Sami people still constitute the majority in Finnmark's interior parts, while the fjord areas have been ethnically mixed for a long time.

In the midst of this awakening (1979), Norway's government decided to build a dam in Alta to produce hydropower, provoking many Sami and environmentalists to demonstrations and civil disobedience—Alta Conflict.

In the end, the dam was built on a much smaller scale than originally intended and the Sami culture was on the government's agenda.

Coastal areas of Finnmark were colonized by Norwegians beginning in the 10th century, and there are stories describing clashes with the Karelians.

In the 17th century, 88 young women were burned as witches in Vardø, an extremely high number compared to the total population in this area at the time.

[26] In 1576, the King of Norway established Vardøhus len as a new administrative unit for most northern part of the kingdom.

Per Fugelli has said that World War II resulted in many persons acquiring psychiatric disorders (psykiske senskadene) which could be from experiencing "bombing, accidents involving mines, burning down of homes, forcible evacuation, illness and starvation during the war and liberation.

"[27] Towards the end of World War II, with Operation Nordlicht, the Germans used the scorched earth tactic in Finnmark and northern Troms to halt the Red Army.

[citation needed] The Cold War was a period with sometimes high tension in eastern Finnmark, at the 196-kilometre (122 mi) long border with the Soviet Union.

[29] The old Stone Age Komsa culture is very difficult to relate to the people living in Finnmark today.

From the 10th century, the coastal areas have been populated and visited by ethnic Norwegians, and Finnmark became part of the kingdom.