Hadsel ( sme, Válafierda) is a municipality in

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Vesterålen. 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 town of Stokmarknes. Other villages in Hadsel include Fiskebøl, Gjerstad, Grønning,

Grytting Grytting is a village in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the island of Langøya on the northern shore of the Hadselfjorden. It is located approximately half-way between the towns of Stokmarknes and ...

, Hanøyvika, Hennes, Kaljord, Melbu, Sanden, and Sandnes. Hadseløya - Taen

The municipality is the southernmost municipality in the Vesterålen region. It is spread over several main islands:

Hadseløya Hadseløya or Hadseløy is an island in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Vesterålen region on the north side of the Hadselfjorden. The town of Stokmarknes is situated on the northern shore of the island and t ...

Børøya Børøya is a small island in Hadsel Municipality in Nordlandcounty, Norway. The island is located in the Langøysundet strait between the island of Langøya and the town of Stokmarknes on the island of Hadseløya. Børøya has an area of and ...

Hinnøya Hinnøya is the fourth-largest island in Norway, and the largest outside the Svalbard archipelago. The lies just off the western coast of Northern Norway. The island sits on the border of Nordland and Troms og Finnmark counties. The western pa ...

, Langøya, and Austvågøya. About 70% of the population live on Hadseløya island. Hadseløya island is connected to Langøya by the Hadsel Bridge and Børøy Bridge. Also, the Stokmarknes Airport, Skagen, is located nearby. It is the busiest small aircraft airport in Norway, serving 100,000 passengers annually (1997). The municipality is the 192nd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Hadsel is the 130th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,107. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 2.1% over the previous 10-year period. The municipality is surrounded by several other municipalities: Sortland lies to the north, Bø to the west, Vågan to the south, and Lødingen to the east. Part of the municipality is called '' Innlandet''

he inland He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

consisting of the villages Kaljord, Hennes, Kvitnes, Kvantoelv and Fiskfjord.

History

Hadsel was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

law). The northern district of Hadsel was separated in 1841 to form the new

Sortland Municipality or is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vesterålen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sortland. Other population centres in Sortland include Bø, Holand, Holmstad, ...

. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1963, the Indre Eidsfjord district of Hadsel (population: 1,360) was transferred to Sortland municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old ''Hadsel'' farm ( Old Norse: ''Hǫfðasegl''), since the first

Hadsel Church Hadsel Church ( no, Hadsel kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hadsel, just east of the town of Stokmarknes on the island of Hadseløya. It is one ...

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 ''hǫfði'' which means "high and steep cliff" and the last element is ''segl'' which means "

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

". (A cliff near the farm has been compared in form to a sail.)

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 11 March 1976. The arms show four golden rings on a blue background. This design represents the four main islands of that make up Hadsel:

, Austvågøya,

, and Langøya.

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 three parishes () within the municipality of Hadsel. It is part of the Vesterålen prosti (

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 Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography

The municipality is located upon four main islands in the Vesterålen archipelago:

, Langøya,

, and Austvågøya, plus the small islands of

and

Brottøya Brottøya or Brottøy is an island in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island lies in the Hadselfjorden, on the west side of the northern entrance to the Raftsundet strait. Brottøya has an area of approximately and the highes ...

. The mountain Higravstinden on the border with Vågan is one of the tallest mountains in the region.

Climate

Hadsel has a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc). The warmest temperature recorded is in July 2014. The coldest temperature recorded is in March 2019. Stokmarknes Airport, Skagen in Hadsel has recorded temperature since June 1972. Data for extremes available since 2004, there might be warmer or colder temperatures recorded before 2004.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Hadsel, 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

Vesterålen District Court Vesterålen District Court ( no, Vesterålen tingrett) was a district court in Nordland county, Norway. The court was based in the town of Sortland. The court existed until 2021. It served the Vesterålen district in the northern part of the co ...

and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Hadsel is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Hadsel (incomplete list): *2019–present: Kurt Eirik Jenssen ( Sp) *2015-2019: Siv Dagny Aasvik ( Ap) *2007-2015:

Kjell-Børge Freiberg Kjell-Børge Freiberg (born 27 April 1971) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party, formerly for the Progress Party who served as Minister of Petroleum and Energy from 2018 to 2019. He was also an MP for Nordland from 2017 to 2021 an ...

( FrP) *2003-2007: Reidar Johnsen (Sp) *1999-2003: Ørjan Robertsen (Ap) Kjell-Børge Freiberg (cropped)

Notable people

Øyvinn Øi Øyvinn Øi (19 June 1901 in Hadsel, Vesterålen – 9 April 1940) was a Norway, Norwegian military officer during the outbreak of the World War II, Second World War. Personal life Øyvinn Øi was born in Hadsel, the son of lector Gunnar Øi ...

(1901 in Hadsel – 1940) a Norwegian military officer killed at the outbreak of WWII * Asbjørn Herteig (1919 in Hadsel – 2006) an archeologist, first curator at the

Bryggen Museum Bryggens Museum is a museum located in Bergen, Norway. During 1955, parts of the historic district of Bryggen were ravaged by a fire. During subsequent archaeological excavations a number of objects were uncovered, providing an insight into com ...

* Maren-Sofie Røstvig (1920 in Melbu – 2014) a Norwegian literary historian. *

Henry Valen Henry Halfdan Valen (20 May 1924 – 27 January 2007) was a Norwegian political scientist. He was born in Hadsel. He was appointed Professor at the University of Oslo from 1970. His main research interest has been electorate behavior. He cha ...

(1924 in Hadsel – 2007) a Norwegian political scientist and academic *

Lars Andreas Larssen Lars Andreas Larssen (27 March 1935 – 29 January 2014) was a Norwegian stage, film and television actor. IMDb Database
retrieved 16 January 2021 * Oddbjørn Knutsen (1953 in Hadsel – 2019) a Norwegian political scientist and academic *

(born 1971 In Hadsel) a Norwegian politician, Govt. Minister and Mayor of Hadsel 2007 to 2015

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 ...

*
Pictures from Hadsel
{{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Municipalities of Nordland Populated places of Arctic Norway 1838 establishments in Norway