Hålogaland

Thorstein Vikingson's Saga, 1, describes it as a compound of Hial, "Hel" or "spirit," and "loge", "fire" – although this is largely discredited.

[citation needed] The Gothic historian Jordanes in his work De origine actibusque Getarum (also known as Getica), written in Constantinople c. AD 551, mentions a people "Adogit" living in the far North.

In the medieval Orkneyinga saga and the account of Hversu Noregr byggðist ('How Norway was inhabited'), Fornjót is described as king of "Gotland, Kænland and Finnland".

Another interpretation of the name is presented by Halvdan Koht and Alfred Jacobsen (in Håløyminne 1, 1920): 'Háleygr' is derived from Proto-Scandinavian *HaÞulaikaR, with the elements *haÞu 'battle' and *laik- 'pledge', i.e., a wartime alliance of the many settlements in times of conflict.

The Hversu account then gives details of the descendants of Nór and of his brother Gór in the following section known as the Ættartölur ("Genealogies", or Fundinn Noregr, "Founding of Norway").

In 873 AD, according to the Egil's saga (written c. 1240) the Kvens and Norse cooperate in battling against the invading Karelians.

The chapter XVII of Egil's saga describes how Thorolf Kveldulfsson (King of Norway's tax chief starting 872 AD) from Namdalen, located in the southernmost tip of the historic Hålogaland, goes to Kvenland again: That same winter Thorolf went up on the fell with a hundred men; he passed on at once eastwards to Kvenland and met King Faravid.Based on medieval documents, the above meeting took place during the winter of 873–874.

Hålogaland's rather close vicinity to Kvenland is also demonstrated c. 1157 in the geographical chronicle Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan by the Icelandic Abbot Níkulás Bergsson (Nikolaos), who provides descriptions of lands around Norway: Closest to Denmark is little Svíþjóð (Sweden), there is Eyland (Öland); then is Gotland (Gotland); then Helsingaland (Hälsingland); then Vermaland (Värmland); then two Kvenlönd (Kvenlands), and they extend to north of Bjarmaland (Bjarmia).As recorded in Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, King Hákon Hákonarson settled some of the people of Bjarmaland in the area surrounding the Malangen fjord near modern Tromsø in the 1230s or 1240s.

The first earl of Lade, Håkon Grjotgardsson, ruler of Trøndelag, came from Hålogaland, and sought to extend his kingdom southwards.

It was a refuge for Viking ships as well as a way station for voyagers to the White Sea, which offered access to Russia.