V�gan (Norse V�gar) is the first known town formation in northern Norway. It existed in the early Viking Age, maybe earlier, and was located on the southern coast on eastern Lofoten, near today's village Kabelv�g in V�gan municipality. However, the Lofotr Viking Museum with the reconstructed 83 m long longhouse (the largest known) is located near Borg on Vestv�g�y, which have many archeological finds from the Iron Age and Viking Age.
The islands have for more than 1,000 years been the centre of great cod fisheries, especially in winter, when the cod migrates south from the Barents Sea and gathers in Lofoten to spawn. Bergen in southwestern Norway was for a long time the hub for further export south to large parts of Europe, particularly so when trade was controlled by the Hanseatic League. In the lowland areas, particularly Vestv�g�y, agriculture plays a significant role, as it has done since the Bronze Age.
Lofotr was originally the name of the island of Vestv�g�y only. Later it became the name of the chain of islands. The chain of islands with its pointed peaks looks like a lynx foot from the mainland. In Norwegian, it is always a singular. Another name one might come across, is "Lofotveggen" or the Lofoten wall. The archipelago looks like a closed wall when seen from elevated points around Bod� or when arriving from the sea, some 100 km long, and 800-1,000 m. high.
During 1941, the islands were raided by British Commandos during Operation Claymore in March and a subsequent diversionary attack to support the Vaagso raid in December
