Sandøy is a former municipality in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...

county, Norway. It was part of the Romsdal region. 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 the village of

Steinshamn Steinshamn is a village in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located at the northern end of the island of Harøya. There is a causeway that connects Steinshamn to the neighboring island of Finnøya to the no ...

. Other villages included

Ona Ona or ONA may refer to: Anthropology * Ona people, an indigenous people of southern Argentina and Chile ** Ona language, a language once spoken in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego * Ona, a pre-Aksumite culture in Sembel, Eritrea Geography * On ...

and Myklebost. The municipality was spread out over many islands in the mouth of the vast

Romsdal Fjord Romsdalsfjord or Romsdal Fjord ( no, Romsdalsfjorden) is the ninth-longest fjord in Norway. It is long and located in the Romsdal district of Møre og Romsdal county. It flows through the municipalities of Molde, Ålesund, Vestnes, and Rauma. T ...

. The Flatflesa Lighthouse and

Ona Lighthouse Ona Lighthouse ( no, Ona fyr) is located on the small island of Ona in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The lighthouse is built on ''Onakalven'', the highest cliff on the island overlooking the harbor and the few, clustered ...

protect the boats traveling around the municipality. The Nordøy Fixed Link project was constructed from 2018 until 2023 and it includes three undersea tunnels and several bridges that will connect the main islands of Sandøy Municipality and the islands of Haram Municipality to the mainland. At the time if its dissolution in 2020, the municipality is the 416th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Sandøy is the 371st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,263. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 1.4% over the last decade.

General information

The municipality of ''Sandø i Romsdal'' was established on 1 January 1867 when it was separated from Akerø Municipality. The initial population was 601. The spelling of the name was later changed to Sandøy. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the Myklebost area on

Harøya Harøya is a swampy island in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. At , it is the largest island in the municipality. The island is located between the islands of Finnøya (to the northeast) and Fjørtofta (to the southwest ...

island and some smaller islands to the west (population: 287) were transferred from Haram Municipality to Sandøy Municipality. On 1 January 2020, the municipality of Sandøy was dissolved. The islands of

Orta Orta may refer to: Places *Orta, Møre og Romsdal, an island in Aukra, Norway *Orta, Çankırı, a district of Çankırı Province, Turkey *Orta, a town near Rome which, in medieval contexts, may also be called Orte *Lake Orta, in north Italy *Orta ...

and Lyngværet (and the small surrounding islands) were merged into

Aukra Municipality Aukra is municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the region of Romsdalen. The administrative centre is the village of Falkhytta, which is part of the Aukrasanden urban area. The municipality is made up of the island o ...

. The remainder of the old Sandøy Municipality was merged with Haram Municipality,

Ørskog Municipality Ørskog is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre was the village of Sjøholt. The other main village was Vaksvika, about south of Sjøholt. The European Route E ...

, Skodje Municipality, and Ålesund Municipality to form one large municipality of Ålesund.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the farm and the small island, Sandøya ( non, Sandøy), since the first

Sandøy Church Sandøy Church ( no, Sandøy kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the small island of Sandøya. It is one of the two churches for the Sandøy parish whi ...

was built there. The first element is ''sandr'' which means " sand" and the last element is ''øy'' which means " island". The name was historically spelled ''Sandø'' or ''Sandøen''.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 12 December 1986. The arms show the light beams from the

, since

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

s play an important role in the safety in the municipality, which consists of 871 islands and

skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland * Skerries, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh * Skerry, County Antrim, a ...

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 ...

had one parish () within the municipality of Sandøy. It is part of the

Molde domprosti Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of t ...

(arch-

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 Møre The Diocese of Møre ( no, Møre bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway which geographically consists of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Its bishop is seated at the Molde Cathedral which is located in the county administrative center ...

Geography

Sandøy is an island municipality. Sandøy consists of 871 islands, but only five are regularly inhabited. The main inhabited islands are

, Sandøya, Finnøya,

, and

. Ona is the most famous of the islands and is a popular tourist destination due to its history and the

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Sandøy, 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

Romsdal District Court Romsdal District Court ( no, Romsdal tingrett) was a district court in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The court was based in the town of Molde. The court existed until 2021. It had jurisdiction over the central part of the county which inclu ...

and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Sandøy is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown for the final municipal council was as follows:

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandoy Ålesund Aukra Former municipalities of Norway 1867 establishments in Norway 2020 disestablishments in Norway Populated places disestablished in 2020