Heritage with Related Tags
Vegaøyan – The Vega Archipelago
Vega is located south of the Arctic Circle and is surrounded by dozens of islands that form a 107,294-hectare cultural landscape, of which 6,881 hectares are land. The islands bear witness to a uniquely frugal lifestyle based on fishing and harvesting duck down, but in a very harsh environment. There are fishing villages, docks, warehouses, duck down houses (built for duck down nesting), agricultural landscapes, lighthouses and navigation marks. There is evidence of human settlement from the Stone Age onwards. By the 9th century, the islands had become an important centre for the supply of duck down, which appears to have accounted for around a third of the islanders’ income. The Vega Islands reflect how fishermen/farmers have maintained a sustainable lifestyle over the past 1,500 years, as well as the contribution of women to the duck down harvest.
Saloum Delta
Fishing and shellfish gathering provide livelihoods for people across 5,000 square kilometres of land formed by three rivers. The site includes brackish waterways, more than 200 islands and islets, mangroves, Atlantic marine environments and dry forests.
Red Bay Basque Whaling Station
Founded by Basque sailors in the 16th century on the shores of the Strait of Belle Isle at the northeastern tip of Canada, Red Bay is an archaeological site that provides the earliest, most complete and best-preserved testimony to Europe’s whaling tradition. Called Gran Baya by its founders in the 1530s, the station was the site of coastal hunting, butchering, extracting blubber for oil production and storing blubber. It became the main source of whale oil, which was shipped to Europe for lighting. The site was used during the summer months and includes remains of oil refineries, barrel making plants, docks, temporary shelters and cemeteries, as well as underwater shipwrecks and whale bone deposits. The station was in use for about 70 years before the local whale population was depleted.