Bø is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is part of the

Vesterålen Vesterålen ( , ; ) is a district and archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just north of Lofoten and west of Harstad. It is the northernmost part of Nordland county. Sortland is the largest town, situated near the center of the a ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality is the village of Straume which is where municipal administration, a grocery store, and a gasoline station are located. In addition to this, the urban area of Bø (including Steine and Vinje), which is the largest urban area in the municipality and it has a grocery, liquor store, swimming pool, movie theater, Bø Church, and additional service infrastructure. Other smaller villages include Gimstad, Fjærvoll, Straumsjøen, Skårvågen, Søberg,

Malnes Malnes is a small village in Bø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located along the mouth of Malnesfjorden in the northwest part the island of Langøya. Malnes is now considered the southwestern part of the village of H ...

, Eidet,

Guvåg Guvåg is a village in Bø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the shore of Eidsfjord between the mouth of Jørnfjorden to the east and Hellfjorden to the west. Many skerries lie in the sea near Guvåg. Ørntuva ...

, Hovden,

Klakksjorda Klakksjorda (or ''Klakkjorda'' or ''Klaksjord'')) is a village in Bø Municipality (Nordland), Bø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located along the Jørnfjorden in the southeastern part of the island of Langøya. Histori ...

Nykvåg Nykvåg is a fishing village in Bø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is one of the largest fishing villages on the west coast of the large island of Langøya in the Vesterålen archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called a ...

Utskor Utskor or Utskår is a village in Bø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the eastern side of Malnesfjorden on the western part of the island of Langøya in the Vesterålen archipelago. The village of Eidet lies ...

, Ringstad, and Vågen. The municipality is the 289th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Bø is the 249th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,634. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is and its population has decreased by 0.3% over the previous 10-year period. The Litløy Lighthouse is located on the tiny island of Litløya off the coast of Bø.

General information

The municipality of Bø was established on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 1 January 1866, a small area of the neighboring

Øksnes Municipality Øksnes is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northwestern part of the large island of Langøya, which is a part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of ...

(population: 40) was transferred to Bø Municipality. On 1 January 1964, the Kråkberget village and the peninsula north of the village (population: 271) was transferred from the neighboring

to Bø Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the old ''Bø'' farm () since the first Bø Church was built there. The name is identical to the word which means "

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

" or "farmstead". It is a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

with the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

word which means "

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 7 August 1987. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaz ...

, a demi-boat

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

with a mast and a square sail"'' (). This means the arms have a black

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a half-boat with a mast and a square sail. The boat has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This was chosen to represent the importance of

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

in Bø, but also reminiscent of some old legends/fairy tales in the region that include a "half boat". (The sea ghost

draugr The draugr or draug (; ; ; , ''drauv''; , ''dröger'') is a corporeal undead creature from the sagas and folktales of the Nordic countries, with varying ambiguous traits. In modern times, they are often portrayed as Norse mythology, Norse super ...

travelled in a half boat.) The arms were designed by Rolf Tidemann.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has one parish () within Bø Municipality. It is part of the

Vesterålen prosti Vesterålen ( , ; ) is a district and archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just north of Lofoten and west of Harstad. It is the northernmost part of Nordland county. Sortland is the largest town, situated near the center of the a ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the Bodø (town), town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the sea ...

Population

The municipality has sustained a steady decline in population since the 1950s when 6,122 people lived in Bø. The 2001 census showed that the population had declined to 3,156, while the fourth quarter population estimate for 2007 showed the population at 2,866. The bureau of statistics projects a continued population decline. The municipality has 73 numbered farms (''gårdsnummer'') in the

cadastre A cadastre or cadaster ( ) is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in ...

. The largest and densest population center is the Vinje, Skagen, and Steine area in the southwestern part of the municipality, which is designated as the village of "Bø" by

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

Government

Bø Municipality is responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the

Midtre Hålogaland District Court Midtre Hålogaland District Court () is a district court located in Troms and Nordland, Norway. This court is based at three different courthouses which are located in Harstad, Narvik, and Sortland. The court is subordinate to the Hålogaland Cou ...

and the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Taxation

In 2020, the municipality announced a reduction in its wealth tax, creating a

tax shelter Tax shelters are any method of reducing taxable income resulting in a reduction of the payments to tax collecting entities, including state and federal governments. The methodology can vary depending on local and international tax laws. Types of ...

unique in Norway, in order to encourage population growth. The state charges a 0.85% wealth tax on an individual's global assets above . Of this, 0.15% goes to the state, and the remaining 0.7% goes to the individual's municipality of residence. Bø Municipality announced that after January 2021, it would reduce its stake to just from 0.7% to 0.2%, and thus reducing the tax collected from 0.85% to 0.35%.

Municipal council

The

() of Bø is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Mayors

The

() of Bø is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position (incomplete list): *1863-1864: John Røst Olsen *1871-1881: M. Rüsing *1881-1888: John Røst Olsen *1889-1910: William Martinussen ( V) *1911-1916: A. Røkenes *1917-1934: William Martinussen ( V) *1935-1940: Rolv Straume ( Ap) *1940-1941: Sverre Sannes *1941-1944: Jack Lihaug *1945-1945:

Jens Olai Steffensen Jens Olai Steffensen (23 March 1891 – 17 October 1961) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Nordland in 1934, and was re-elected on four occasions. Steffensen was born in Bø Mun ...

( Ap) *1945-1947: Martin Jensen *1947-1948: Arnulf Pedersen *1948-1951: Klaus Myrland *1951-1965: Konrad Johnsen ( Ap) *1965-1971: Reidar Hansen ( Ap) *1971-1975: Ludvik Martinussen ( Ap) *1975-1979: Ovald Lockert ( LL) *1979-1984: Kåre Johnsen ( H) *1984-1985: Torbjørn Oluf Andersen ( Ap) *1987-1995: Arne Fredrik Andersen ( H) *1995-2007: Viggo Kristoffer Johnsen ( Sp) *2007–present: Sture Pedersen ( H)

Geography

The municipality of Bø lies on the island of

Langøya Langøya is the third largest island of Norway (outside of Svalbard), with an area of . The island is a part of the Vesterålen archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. The island includes Bø Municipality and Øksnes Municipality as well as pa ...

and many small surrounding islets including Litløya and Gaukværøy. The

Norwegian County Road 820 County Road 820 () is a road in Bø Municipality, Øksnes Municipality, and Sortland Municipality in Nordland County, Norway. It starts in the village of Straumsnes in Bø Municipality where it continues south from County Road 901, circles a ...

is the only road that connects Bø to the rest of Norway via the long Ryggedal Tunnel, connecting Bø to the neighboring

and

Sortland Municipality or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Vesterålen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sortland (town ...

. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Burnestinden.

Climate

Bø has a

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Cfc''), and is close to a temperate oceanic climate. Bø is the northernmost location in the world with all monthly means above . The current weather station is on the south coast of the island. An earlier weather station was located more inland on the island in a flat marshy area, and had recorded up to in July and down to in February.

Attractions

Man from the Sea

Looking out to sea from a rise above Vinje in the village of Bø stands the 'Man from the Sea', a high figure of a man made from cast iron. The man is holding a crystal in his hands like a sacrifice to the sea. In the winter light, the crystal turns blue. The man stands with his back to the village of Bø, and looks out over the craggy archipelago towards the distinctive silhouette of Gaukværøya island.

Notable people

* Regine Normann (1867 in Bø – 1939), a teacher, novelist, and story writer * Ketil Vea (1932 in Bø – 2015), a composer and pedagogue * Grethe Gynnild Johnsen (born 1959 in Bø), a journalist and director of all regional offices for

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

Bjørn Dæhlie Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie (born 19 June 1967) is a Norwegian businessman and retired cross-country skier. From 1992 to 1999, Dæhlie won the Nordic World Cup six times, finishing second in 1994 and 1998. Dæhlie won a total of 29 medals in the Oly ...

(born 1967), a champion skier who intends to move to Bø for tax reasons

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bo, Nordland Municipalities of Nordland Populated places of Arctic Norway Vesterålen 1838 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Tax avoidance