Iveland is a municipality in Agder County, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Setesdal. The

administrative centre An administrative center 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 administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality is the village of Birketveit. Other villages in the municipality include Bakken, Skaiå, and Vatnestrøm. The municipality is the 279th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Iveland is the 308th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,323. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 1.9% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality was established on 1 January 1886, when the old municipality of Hornnes og Iveland was split into two municipalities: Iveland (population 1103) and Hornnes (population 1113). The municipal boundaries have not changed since that time.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old ''Iveland'' farm ( non, Ífuland), which is now part of Birketveit, since the first Iveland Church was built there. The first element is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of the river name ''Ífa'' (now called the Frøysåna), and the last element is ''land'', which means "land" or "farm". The old river name is probably derived from the Norse word ''ýr'', which means "yew" ( Taxus baccata).

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 9 October 1987. The arms are green with a white/silver

stonemason's hammer A Stonemason's hammer, also known as a brick hammer, has one flat traditional face and a short or long chisel-shaped blade. It can thus be used to chip off edges or small pieces of stone, cut brick or a concrete masonry unit, without using a se ...

in the centre. This design symbolizes the importance of mining in the area (such as quartz and nickel), and the green background represents forestry and agriculture.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

has one parish () within the municipality of Iveland. It is part of the

Otredal prosti This list of churches in Agder og Telemark is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark in Agder and Vestfold og Telemark counties in southern Norway. The diocese is based at the Kristiansand Cathedral in th ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman 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 residenc ...

) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

History

Although nothing is found in written sources about Iveland before the 15th century, there is evidence of occupation for thousands of years prior to that.

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

implements have been found, which are 4000–5000 years old. A King's road ( no, Kongevegen), which allowed horse travel, went in an east–west direction through the area and was in use as early as the 9th century, and perhaps before. But the first written record of farms created by clearing the land goes back about 600 years. The

Setesdalsbanen , logo = , logo_width = , logo_alt = , image = , image_name = , image_width = , image_alt = , caption = Veteran train on the Setesdal Line, 23 July ...

was a narrow-gauge steam railway built in 1896, which went across Iveland on its route between Vennesla and Byglandsfjord in Bygland. The Setesdal Line's operation was terminated in 1962, and the track was removed between Byglandsfjord and Beihølen. When it was constructed, it revived the lumber industry. Large quantities of planks, poles, and timbers were brought by horse to the Iveland station and forwarded by railroad to Kristiansand. This resulted in better prices, since it provided competition with the floated timber.

Geography

Iveland is the smallest municipality in Setesdal. The Otra river, which flows through Iveland, is the largest river in the

Sørlandet Southern Norway ( no, Sørlandet; lit. "The Southland") is the geographical List of regions of Norway, region (''landsdel'') along the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway. The region is an informal description since it does not have any govern ...

district. Towards the east it borders on lake Oggevatn. The municipality is bordered in the northwest by Evje og Hornnes, in the northeast and east by

Birkenes Birkenes is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Birkeland, where about half the municipal population lives. Other villa ...

, and in the south and west by Vennesla. The municipality has three population centers: Birketveit, Vatnestrøm, and Skaiå. The Iveland area includes several hundred old mines. These

pegmatite A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic com ...

mines and quarries yield more than 100 different minerals, including minerals containing rare-earth elements, beryllium, scandium, uranium, and thorium.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Iveland, are responsible for

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

(through 10th grade), outpatient

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

, senior-citizen services, unemployment 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. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the Agder District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Iveland is made up of 17 representatives, which are elected every 4 years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:

Notable people

Einar Iveland Einar Iveland (9 May 1892 – 15 May 1975) was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. He was born in Iveland. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Aust-Agder in 1950, but was not re-elected in 1954. He had previously served ...

(1892 in Iveland – 1975) a Norwegian politician, various positions on Iveland council 1933-1950 *

Anne Gerd Eieland Anne Gerd Eieland (born 28 December 1982) from Iveland, Aust-Agder is Norway's third best female high jumper of all time, behind Hanne Haugland and Tonje Angelsen. Eieland was undefeated in Norwegian competition from 2001 to 2005. She was brought ...

(born 1982 in Iveland) Norway's third best female high jumper

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, 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 yea ...

*
Welcome to Iveland - Tourist informationMunicipal website
{{use dmy dates, date=December 2020 Municipalities of Agder 1886 establishments in Norway Setesdal Kristiansand region