Bjørnskinn is a former municipality in

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The municipality existed from 1924 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality was centered around the

Risøysundet Risøysundet is a strait between the islands of Andøya and Hinnøya in the Vesterålen archipelago in Norway. It is located in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county. The long strait has only one road crossing: the Andøy Bridge as part of the ...

strait. It encompassed the southern part of the island of

Andøya , , or is the northernmost island in the Vesterålen archipelago, situated about inside the Arctic Circle. Andøya is located in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The main population centres on the island include the villages of ...

and the northern part of the island of

Hinnøya Hinnøya ( Norwegian; ) 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 counties. The western ...

in the southern part of what is now

Andøy Municipality Andøy is the northernmost List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Vesterålen archipelago. The main island in the municipality is Andøya. The administrative centre of the ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

was the small village of

Bjørnskinn Bjørnskinn is a village in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village of Bjørnskinn lies along the southern part of the island of Andøya, about northwest of the larger village of Risøyhamn. The village is the site of Bj� ...

where

Bjørnskinn Church Bjørnskinn Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Bjørnskinn on the island of Andøya. It is one of the churches for the Andøy parish which is par ...

is located. The largest village in Bjørnskinn was the village of

Risøyhamn Risøyhamn is a village in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located on the southern part of the island of Andøya. The island of Andøya is connected to the neighboring island of Hinnøya by the Andøy Bridge at Ris ...

. Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 278th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Bjørnskinn Municipality was the 463rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,846. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was and its population had decreased by 6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Andenes was established on 1 January 1924 when Dverberg Municipality was divided into three: Andenes Municipality (population: 2,213) in the north, Bjørnskinn Municipality (population: 1,410) in the south, and Dverberg Municipality (population: 1,477) in the central part of the old municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, Bjørnskinn Municipality (population: 1,835) was merged (back) with the neighboring Dverberg Municipality (population: 1,719) and Andenes Municipality (population: 3,812) to create the new

Name

The municipality is named after the old ''

'' farm () since the first

was built there. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it is possible that the first element comes from 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 ca ...

of the word which means "

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

". The last element is which means "

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...

" or "covering". In the 1400s, the name was spelled ''Bjarnaska'' which could be similar to a meaning such as "bear danger". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Bjørnskind''. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Bjørnskinn''.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

had one parish () within Bjørnskinn Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Dverberg

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

and the

Vesterålen prosti 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 a ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the Bodø (town), town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the sea ...

Geography

The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Skrivartinden. The municipality was located at the south end of the island of

and the northwest end of the island of

. Dverberg Municipality was located to the north and

Sortland Municipality or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Vesterålen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sortland (town ...

was located to the south. The

Gavlfjorden Gavlfjorden is a fjord (more accurately, a sound) in Nordland county, Norway. The long fjord separates the large islands of Langøya and Andøya in the Vesterålen archipelago and it runs along the border of three municipalities: Øksnes, Andø ...

was located to the west, the Forfjorden was located to the south, and the

strait went through the middle of the municipality.

Government

While it existed, Bjørnskinn Municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

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. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

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

economic development In economics, economic development (or 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 object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. 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, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Mayors

The

() of Bjørnskinn was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position: *1924-1934: Trygve Pettersen *1935-1940: Isak Rikard Nikolai Andreassen *1946-1963: Anton P. Medby

Municipal council

The

of Bjørnskinn was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, 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 oft ...

Notable people

Helmer Hanssen Helmer Julius Hanssen (24 September 1870 – 2 August 1956) was a Norwegian sailor, pilot and polar explorer. He participated in three of the polar expeditions led by Roald Amundsen and was one of the first five explorers to reach the South Pol ...

(1870-1956), a polar explorer who was on the expedition of

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...

to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

Johan Kleppe Johan Kleppe (29 September 1928 – 17 May 2022) was a Norwegian veterinarian and politician for the Liberal Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Nordland in 1969, but was not re-elected in 1973. He had previously served in th ...

, a member of

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

from

(1969-1973) and defense minister in

Korvald's Cabinet Korvald's Cabinet governed Norway between 18 October 1972 and 16 October 1973. The centre cabinet was led by Lars Korvald as Prime Minister and consisted of the Christian Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party The Liberal Par ...

(1972-1973) *

Augustinus Johannessøn Sellevold Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

(1803-1893), a fisherman-farmer who was twice elected as member of the

from

(1845-1848)

References

External links

Picture portfolio of Bjørnskinn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjornskinn Municipality Andøy Former municipalities of Norway 1924 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1924 Populated places disestablished in 1964