Hadsel ( sme, Válafierda) 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 ...

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, ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

. It is part of the traditional district of

Vesterålen Vesterålen is a district and archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just north of Lofoten and west of Harstad. It is the northernmost part of Nordland county. Sortland is the largest town, situated near the center of the arch ...

. 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 Gjerstad is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional region of Sørlandet, in the southeastern part of the county, along the border with Telemark county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the vill ...

, Grønning, Grytting, Hanøyvika, Hennes, Kaljord, Melbu, Sanden, and

Sandnes Sandnes () is a city and municipality in Rogaland, Norway. It lies immediately south of Stavanger, the 4th largest city in Norway and together, the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the third-largest urban area in Norway. The urban city of Sandnes lies ...

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 t ...

, Hinnøya, Langøya, and Austvågøya. About 70% of the population live on Hadseløya island. Hadseløya island is connected to Langøya by the

Hadsel Bridge The Hadsel Bridge ( no, Hadselbrua) is a cantilever road bridge in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The bridge carries Norwegian County Road 82 and it crosses the Langøysundet strait between the islands of Langøya and Børøya. ...

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 Population density (in agriculture: 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 term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

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 Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). ...

'' he inland 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 Janu ...

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, Holmst ...

. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee ( no, Schei-komitéen) was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post- World War II. It convened in 1946, and its formal name was (The 1946 Committee on Munici ...

. On 1 January 1963, the Indre Eidsfjord district of Hadsel (population: 1,360) was transferred to Sortland municipality.

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 or ...

) is named after the old ''Hadsel'' farm (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

: ''Hǫfðasegl''), since the first Hadsel 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 a ...

of ''hǫfði'' which means "high and steep

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

" 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 ma ...

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

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 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, Hinnøya, 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 ...

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 reside ...

) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography

The municipality is located upon four main islands in the Vesterålen

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

: Hinnøya, Langøya,

, and Austvågøya, plus the small islands of

and Brottøya. 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 ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

, 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 refe ...

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 adminis ...

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 o ...

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

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 cou ...

and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

() of Hadsel is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to four year terms. 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 featu ...

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

Notable people

* Øyvinn 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 * Kjell-Børge Freiberg (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 ye ...

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