Iveland is a

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

Agder Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south ...

County,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. It is located in the traditional district of

Setesdal Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the ...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of

Birketveit Birketveit is the administrative centre of Iveland municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about north of the villages of Skaiå and Bakken and about to the west of the village of Vatnestrøm. The Iveland Church Ivel ...

. Other villages in the municipality include Bakken,

Skaiå Skaiå is a village in Iveland municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about northeast of the river Otra The Otra is the largest river in the Sørlandet region of Norway. It begins in Setesdalsheiene mountains at the lak ...

, and

Vatnestrøm Vatnestrøm is a village in Iveland municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is along Norwegian County Road 405, on the western shore of the lake Ogge. The municipal centre of Birketveit Birketveit is the administrative centre of Iveland muni ...

. 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 Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

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 Hornnes og Iveland is a former municipality in the old Nedenæs county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1886. It included all of the present-day municipality of Iveland and the western half of the present- ...

was split into two municipalities: Iveland (population 1103) and

Hornnes Hornnes is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. Hornnes was located in what is now the present-day municipality of Evje og Hornnes in the traditional district of Setesdal in Agder county. The municipality of Hornnes e ...

(population 1113). The municipal boundaries have not changed since that time.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

) is named after the old ''Iveland'' farm ( non, Ífuland), which is now part of

, since the first

Iveland Church Iveland Church ( no, Iveland kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Iveland Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Birketveit. It is the church for the Iveland parish which is part of the Otredal pr ...

was built there. The first element is the genitive case 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 ''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family Taxaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe (including Britain and Ireland), northwest Africa, northern Iran, and southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain ...

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

was granted on 9 October 1987. The arms are green with a white/silver stonemason's hammer in the centre. This design symbolizes the importance of

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

in the area (such as

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

and

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

), and the green background represents

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

Churches

The Church of Norway 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 the c ...

( deanery) in the

Diocese of Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth larges ...

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 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 was a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

steam railway built in 1896, which went across Iveland on its route between

Vennesla Vennesla 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 Vennesla. Other villages in Vennesla include Grovane, Hægeland, Hom ...

and

Byglandsfjord Byglandsfjord is a village in Bygland municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located in the Setesdal valley along the Norwegian National Road 9 and the river Otra in the far southern part of the municipality, just north of the border ...

Bygland Bygland is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Setesdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bygland. Other villages in the municipality include Åraksbø, Austad, ...

. 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 Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

industry. Large quantities of planks, poles, and timbers were brought by horse to the Iveland station and forwarded by railroad to

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...

. This resulted in better prices, since it provided competition with the floated timber.

Geography

Iveland is the smallest municipality in

. The

Otra The Otra is the largest river in the Sørlandet region of Norway. It begins in Setesdalsheiene mountains at the lake Breidvatnet in Bykle municipality in Agder county, just south of the border with Vinje municipality in Vestfold og Telemark cou ...

river, which flows through Iveland, is the largest river in the Sørlandet district. Towards the east it borders on lake

Ogge Ogge is a lake in the municipalities of Birkenes and Iveland in Agder county, Norway. It is located about north of the city of Kristiansand, just east of the villages of Vatnestrøm (in Iveland) and Oggevatn (in Birkenes). The lake includes ...

vatn. The municipality is bordered in the northwest by

Evje og Hornnes Evje og Hornnes is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Setesdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Evje. Other villages in the municipality include Åneland, Dåsnes ...

, in the northeast and east by Birkenes, and in the south and west by

. The municipality has three population centers:

, and

. The Iveland area includes several hundred old mines. These pegmatite mines and quarries yield more than 100 different minerals, including minerals containing

rare-earth element The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides ( yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silv ...

beryllium Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form m ...

scandium Scandium is a chemical element with the symbol Sc and atomic number 21. It is a silvery-white metallic d-block element. Historically, it has been classified as a rare-earth element, together with yttrium and the Lanthanides. It was discovered in ...

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

, and

thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Iveland, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior-citizen services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

and other social services,

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

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, 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 ...

, and municipal

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s. 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, rural counc ...

of elected representatives, which in turn elect a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

. The municipality falls under the

Agder District Court Agder District Court ( no, Agder tingrett) is a district court located in Agder county, Norway. This court is based at three different courthouses which are located in Farsund, Kristiansand, and Arendal. The court serves most of Agder county and ...

and the

Agder Court of Appeal The Agder Court of Appeal ( no, Agder lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the town of Skien. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Vestfold og Telemark and Agder (except for Si ...

Municipal council

The

() of Iveland is made up of 17 representatives, which are elected every 4 years. Currently, the

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a 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 often featur ...

breakdown is as follows:

Notable people

* Einar Iveland (1892 in Iveland – 1975) a Norwegian politician, various positions on Iveland council 1933-1950 * Anne Gerd Eieland (born 1982 in Iveland) Norway's third best female high jumper

References

External links

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