Nivavaara Hill

Nivavaara Hill is located in Korpikylä, about 30 kilometres north of the town of Tornio. This is where the degree-measuring expedition started its measurements. However, the Nivavaara measurement point was not used in the final triangulation.

Nivavaara was an easy destination for the expedition, as it was located near the Torne and the houses of Korpikylä. Even today, Nivavaara is easily accessible by stairs built on the top. The view of the Torne opens up from the top.

Although the location of Nivavaara was convenient for the expedition, the conditions were not. Mosquitoes were a constant source of trouble for the expedition members. Because of the mosquitoes, the tent had to be kept so tightly closed that the heat inside became unbearable. Réginald Outhier preferred to sleep in a hut made of branches of spruce, with his shoes on his feet and a gauze covering his face.

Part of the expedition went to set up a marker at nearby Kaakamavaara to get the measurements started.

At Nivavaara, Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis designed a method of construction for the marker, which was later used on all hills. The pruned and peeled tree trunks were laid out in the shape of a pyramid. They were then tied together at the top. Peeled down to the pale shade of the wood, the trees were very visible to distant hills. The angular instrument, quadrant, was placed inside the mark in its centre.

The activities of the expedition were of great interest to the people living around Nivavaara, and curious people came in large numbers to follow the work of the expedition.

63 years after the French expedition of 1799, Italian explorer Giuseppe Acerbi (1773–1846) and Swedish Colonel Anders Fredrik Skjöldebrand (1757–1834) were on their way up the Torne all the way to Nordkapp.

Skjöldebrand was a skilled draughtsman and published Voyage pittoresque au Cap Nord (1805). One landscape depicts the Church of Karunki and Nivavaara across the river, on top of which rises a marker erected by the degree-measuring expedition.

The photo proves that the Nivavaara marker was up at least more than 60 years after the Maupertuis expedition.

Skjöldebrand’s drawing of the Church of Karungi and Nivavaara Hill from 1799. Source: Finnish Heritage Agency.
Sources:

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. “Maan muoto”. Maan muoto ynnä muita kirjoituksia Lapista. Ed. Osmo Pekonen. Väyläkirjat, 2019 (orig. 1738).

Outhier, Réginald. Matka Pohjan perille. Maupertuis Foundation and Väyläkirjat, 2011 (orig. 1744).

Tobé, Erik. Fransysk visit i Tornedalen 1736–1737. Om en gradmätniingsexpedition och dess nyckelpersoner. Tornedalica, Luleå, 1986.


A map

Guidelines for using the map
  • Red = Measurement point of the triangulation chain.
  • Green = Walking route.
  • Blue = Arrival from the main road (highway 21).
  • Markers: Tap or click to get more information about the destinations.
  • Zoom out: Shows the location in the triangulation chain.
  • Drop icon: Locates the user’s location on the map.
  • Measure tool: Measure distances between locations.

Open the map in a new browser window.


On the old map

Nivavaara Hill on the map drawn by Réginald Outhier (Carte du fleuve de Torneå, 1736).

Want a map for yourself? The map is currently sold as a poster (225 mm x 707 mm) in the shop of the Museum of Torne Valley (address Torikatu 4, Tornio).


Information

WGS84N 66°7’6.6″ E 23°57’42.5″
WGS84N 66.1185, E 23.9618
ETRS-TM35FINN 7336451, E 362793
UTM (WGS84)34W 633761.834 7336280.718
(Estimated location of the measurement point.)

124 m

One way 700 m

Nivavaara is located in Korpikylä, about 33 kilometres north of Tornio on Highway 21. At Jokivarrentie 3320, turn east, cross the railway line and immediately turn left.

A sign “Nivavaaran näköalapolku” will guide you to the parking lot.

Parking is about 900 metres away.

The trail is marked. The ascent to Nivavaara is about 700 metres long, part of which is stairs. At the top of the hill is a shelter with a view of the Torne. The lean-to is located in a nature reserve.

The marker for the chain of survey triangulations was probably located just under 100 metres north of the lean-to, on top of the hill.

Kaakamavaara11 km
Huitaperi16 km
The Church of Tornio31 km
(Distance as the crow flies.)

From the 6th to 14th of July 1736.

The 8th of July 1736. “Sunday, the eighth, we had a great deal of company; the Fin inhabitants of the neighbourhood came in flocks to see us. Our party, on reaching the mountain, found two Lapland women feeding their reind-deer; their hut was at the foot of the mountain, towards the north-east.

We suffered greatly from the gnats on Nieva, and multitudes of other different flies. To preserve us from them, we covered our faces with a kind of gauze: if this veil happened to touch the face, or to have any vacancy, in an instant the gnats covered us with blood. While eating, when it was necessary to uncover our faces, we kept in as thick a smoke as we were able, which we found to be the best remedy against the gnats and flies.”

Réginald Outhier. Journal of a Voyage to the North (Journal d’un voyage au Nord), 1744.

The 6th of July 1736. “After a Voyage of twelve hours, we landed about Nine in the Evening at Korpikyla, a Hamlet by the River-side, inhabited by Finlanders. And having travelled across the Forest on foot for some time, we arrived at the Bottom of a steep Mountain called Niwa, whose Summit, a bare Rock, we chose for our first Station.

Upon the River we had been tormented by great Flies with green Heads, that fetch blood where-ever they fix. But on top of Niwa we had to deal with several other kinds still more intolerable. By good luck we found two Lapland Girls tending a small Herd of Rain-Deer, but almost quite hid in the Smoke of a great Fire they had kindled: And upon enquiry being told it was in this manner they defended themselves from the Flies, we immediately had recourse to the same Method.”

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. The Figure of the Earth (La Figure de la Terre), 1738.

Pictures from the Nivavaara Hill

The pictures open in large size in the gallery by clicking on the picture.


The expedition on the map

Réginald Outhier has written a detailed description of the expedition’s journey from Paris to Tornio and back. The journey took two months each way and was made by boat and wagon. On the way back, the expedition was in a shipwreck in the Bay of Bothnia.


Measurement points and other destinations