Hisøy (historically: ''Hisø'') is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in

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 1881 until 1992 when it was merged into the municipality of

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

in what is now

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

county. At the time of its dissolution, it was the smallest municipality in the whole county. The municipality encompassed the islands of

Hisøya Hisøya or Hisøy (historically: ''Hisøen'') is an island in Agder county, Norway. The island has been part of the municipality of Arendal since 1992. The main village areas on the island are Kolbjørnsvik, His, Slåbervig, and Sandviga. The ...

, Gjervoldsøy, Havsøya, Ærøya, Store Torungen, Lille Torungen, and several other small, unpopulated islands. 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 village of

Kolbjørnsvik Kolbjørnsvik is a village in Arendal municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the northern part of the island of Hisøya, across the harbour from the town of Arendal. The village of His His or HIS may refer to: Comput ...

on Hisøya island.

Hisøy Church Hisøy Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Arendal Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of His on the island of Hisøya. It is one of the churches for the Hisøy parish which is part of the Arend ...

was the main church for the municipality, located in the village of

His His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...

in the central part of Hisøya.

History

The municipality of ''Hisø'' was created on 1 January 1881 when the municipality of

Øyestad Øyestad is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1992, when it was merged into the present-day municipality of Arenda ...

was split into

(population: 4,474) and Hisø (population: 2,652). On 1 January 1992, there was a major municipal merger involving Hisøy. The municipalities of Hisøy (population: 4,026), Tromøy (population: 4,711),

(population: 8,679), Moland (population: 8,148), and the town of Arendal (population: 12,478) all merged, forming a new, much larger municipality of

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named ''Hisøy'' (or historically ''Hisø'') after the old ''

'' farm () since the first

was built there. The meaning of the first element of the name is uncertain. It could come from the word which means "the cut" (possibly referring to how the river

Nidelva Nidelva is a river in Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. The name of the long river translates to "the River Nid" since the suffix ''elva'' is the Norwegian language, Norwegian word for "the river". Location The Nidelva starts at the Hytt ...

turns near the island). Another The last element is which means "

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Hisø''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''His''. On 19 July 1930, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Hisøy''.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

for Hisøy municipality was granted on 12 December 1986 and it was in use until 31 December 1991 when the municipality ceased to exist. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

, two lighthouses

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

issuant from the base"'' (). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is two twin

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

s. The lighthouses have a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means they are commonly colored white, but if the arms are made out of metal, then silver is used. The lighthouses were chosen to represent the two local lighthouses: Store Torungen Lighthouse and Lille Torungen Lighthouse which mark the waters around the island of

and the entrance to the harbour for the town of Arendal. The arms were designed by Thorleif Bredesen.

Government

While it existed, this 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,

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

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. During its existence, this municipality was 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 ...

was

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.

Mayors

The

mayors 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 ...

() of Hisøy: *1881-1886: Søren P. Nielsen *1887-1891: Ommund Christensen *1892-1893: S. Røer *1894-1895: M.B. Nielsen *1896-1897: Niels Bakke *1897-1898: Isaac Kløcker *1899-1901: Harald Kallevig *1902-1904: J. Sverdrup *1905-1913: G. Moland *1914-1917: O. Aarstøl *1917-1919: Anton Gundersen *1920-1940: Jørgen P. Jensen *1945-1945: Jørgen P. Jensen *1945-1945: Alf Dannevig *1946-1946: K. Seljås *1946-1947: I. Olsen *1948-1960: Alf Dannevig *1960-1963: Helge Bjørnholm *1964-1967: Gunnar Dannevig *1968-1975: Arthur J. Knutsen *1975-1975: Johan Guldal *1976-1983: Frithjof Holst-Pedersen ( H) *1984-1987: Bjørn Altenborg ( H) *1988-1989: Kåre Thorsen ( V) *1990-1991: Liv Marit Moland Olsen ( Ap)

Municipal council

The

of Hisøy was made up of 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 ...

Media gallery

Hisøy 2.jpg, View of Hisøya from Arendal city centre Hisøy.jpg, Alternate view of Hisøya Arendal Kolbjørnsvik c.jpg, Kolbjørnsvik, the municipal centre Arendal Hisøy kirke.JPG, View of

Torungene 2.JPG, Two local Torungene lighthouses that inspired the coat of arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hisoy Arendal Former municipalities of Norway 1881 establishments in Norway 1992 disestablishments in Norway