Hisøya or Hisøy (historically: ''Hisøen'') is an

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 ...

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 A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 island has been part of 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 ...

since 1992. The main village areas on the island are

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 ...

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, ...

, Slåbervig, and Sandviga. The village of

is located across the

harbor A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

from the town of Arendal. There are two bridges that connect Hisøya to the mainland: the Strøm Bridge on the northwest side of the island and the Vippa Bridge on the southwest side of the island. In 2015, the island was home to about 4,450 people giving it a

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 ...

of about . The island lies along the

Skaggerak The Skagerrak (; , , ) is a strait running between the North Jutlandic Island of Denmark, the east coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea. The Skagerrak contains some of the busiest shipping ...

coast of southeastern Norway. Hisøya is separated from the mainland to the northwest by the river Nidelv. The island of Tromøya lies to the northeast, separated from Hisøya by the Galtesundet

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

. The small islands of Ærøya, Havsøya, and Merdø lie just to the southeast of Hisøya. The highest point on Hisøya is the tall hill on the edge of Kolbjørnsvik.

Name

The island (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 ''Hisøen'') after the old ''

'' farm (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ''Hís'') since this is where the

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 ...

is located. The first element, ''His'', means "the cut" (probably 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) and the last element is ''øy'' or ''øen'' which means "island".

History

The island was historically part of the large

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 ...

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 ...

. The boat "Kolbjørn" provided transportation across the harbor for over 100 years. In 1881, Hisøya and several surrounding islands were separated to form the new municipality of Hisøy. This municipality existed from 1881 until 1992 when it was merged into the municipality of

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hisoya Arendal Islands of Agder