violet-black peaks there are also flatlands with good grazing for sheep, partially on soil made from seaweed. The Vesterålen islands consist of smaller and bigger islands with a huge variation in landscape. Ofoten, further inland, is a fjord landscape with high mountains, the highest is Storsteinfjellet in Narvik, 1,894 m above sea level, but the most well-known is Stetind, the national mountain of Norway. There are also glaciers, like Frostisen and Blåisen. Troms county has surprising greenery for the latitude, and the inner waterways and fjords are lined with birch forests, and further inland there are extensive pine forests and highlands around the rivers Målselva and Reisaelva. Big islands like Senja, Kvaløya and Ringvassøya have green, forested interiors and a barren, mountainous coastline, with smaller islands offshore. The Lyngen Alps are the highest mountains of the area, rising to , an area of glaciers and waterfalls. The Mollisfossen waterfall in Nordreisa is the highest waterfall in the north, while Målselvfossen is Norway's national waterfall. Finnmark county has fjords and glaciers in the far southwest, and the northwestern coasts are characterized by big islands, like Sørøya and Seiland. The inland is covered by Finnmarksvidda, a relatively barren plateau about high, with many lakes and rivers like Alta-Kautokeino and Tana/Deatnu. Even at this latitude, pine forests grow naturally in lowland areas inland. East of Honningsvåg, there are no islands protecting the barren coasts that rise directly up from the sea. The landscape towards the Russian border is comparatively flat. Knivskjellodden on the island of Magerøya marks the northern end of Europe; tourism is directed to the much more accessible (and dramatic) North Cape, whereas Kinnarodden on the Nordkinn Peninsula is the northernmost point of Europe's mainland. Finnmark is situated north of northernmost Finland, and to the east Norway has a border with Russia. History {{Historical populations |footnote = Source: Statistics Norway . |shading = off |1951|403884 |1960|437182 |1970|456121 |1980|468496 |1990|460274 |2000|464328 |2010|464665 }} The oldest known historical culture in the region is called Komsa, named after a mountain in Alta. The first people possibly arrived 12,000–13,000 years ago, but it is uncertain whether they came from southern Norway or from the Kola Peninsula. Today the rock carvings at Hjemmeluft in Alta or at Leknes in Nordland are among the remainders of the Stone Age cultures, showing reindeer swimming across the fjords. A significant find area is between the river Tana and the