Andørja is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northeastern half of the present-day

Ibestad Municipality Ibestad ( sme, Ivvárstádik) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hamnvik. Some of the other larger v ...

. It encompassed the entire island of

Andørja Andørja is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northeastern half of the present-day Ibestad Municipality. It encompassed the entire island ...

plus a number of other small islands and skerries surrounding it. 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 ...

was located at

Engenes Engenes is a small fishing village in Ibestad Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the northwestern tip of the island of Andørja Andørja is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality e ...

where the

Andørja Church Andørja Church ( no, Andørja kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ibestad Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Engenes on the northwestern tip of the island of Andørja. It is the chu ...

was also located.

History

The municipality of Andørja was established on 1 July 1926 when the large

was separated into four municipalities: Ibestad (population: 1,768), Andørja (population: 1,420),

Astafjord Astafjord is a former municipality in the old Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the eastern part of the present-day municipality of Tjeldsund in Troms og Finnmark county. ...

(population: 1,018), and Gratangen (population: 1,967). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Andørja (population: 1,330) and Ibestad (population: 1,821) were merged with the part of neighboring

Skånland Municipality Skånland ( sme, Skánit) is a former municipality that was located in the old Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Tjeldsund Municipality. It was part of the Central Hål ...

that was located on the island of Rolla (population: 134) to form the new, larger

Name

The name of the municipality and the island of Andørja both come from the Old Norse: ''Andyrja''. The meaning of the name is not certain, but one theory is that the first element ''and'' comes from the word for "against" and the second element ''yrja'' means "

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

" or "rocks", possibly referring to the waves from the sea hitting against the rocky shores.

Government

Municipal council

The municipal council of Andørja was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council was as follows:

References

External links