Sogndal is a former municipality and small seaport ('' ladested'') in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

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 is located on the coast in the traditional district of

Dalane Dalane is a traditional district in the southwestern part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities of Lund, Sokndal, Eigersund, and Bjerkreim. Dalane is one of the 15 districts in Western Norway. It sits to the southeast of the very flat ...

. The municipality existed from 1845 until its dissolution in 1944 when it was merged into the municipality of

Sokndal Sokndal is the southernmost List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Dalane. The administrative centre of the municipality is the vil ...

. It comprised the two harbor villages: the Sogndalsstranda and the Rægefjord. The river ''Sogndalselva'' reaches the ocean at Songdalsstranda.

History

The seaport village of Sogndalsstranda was built up around the Kjelland farm (historically spelled ''Kielland''). The farm (named after a spring (''kilde'') situated there) was owned by the Kielland family, from which

Alexander Kielland Alexander Lange Kielland (; 18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906) was a Norwegian realistic writer of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called " The Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson an ...

descended. This family left Sogndal in 1751 and established a successful firm in

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

. The Kielland farm can still be found there. As is typical of older records, this farm is listed in historical records under a number of phonetically similar names: Kollandt in 1563, Kieldeland in 1567, Kuelandt in 1567, Tielland in 1610, Kielland in 1616, Kiedland in 1668 and finally fixing on Kielland since 1723. The villages of Sogndalsstranda and Rægestad are located near each other and together they were granted '' ladested'' rights in 1798. Together, this ladested was called ''Sogndal'' (historically spelled ''"Soggendahl"''). This status gave them a monopoly on import and export of goods and materials in the port and in the surrounding district. On 1 January 1838, all of Norway was divided up into municipalities according to the

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law. The ladested of Sogndal was put into the municipality of

. In 1845, the ladested of Sogndal was separated from Sokndal and became a municipality of its own. Initially, Sogndal ladested had a population of 348 while the rural Sokndal municipality that surrounded it had a population of 2,819. In 1875, the population of Sogndal had grown to 526, but decreased to 473 in 1885. On 1 July 1944, Sogndal was merged back together with Sokndal municipality, losing its small seaport status. Prior to the merger, Sogndal had a population of 311.

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 after the Soknedalen valley () since the first

Sokndal Church Sokndal Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sokndal Municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hauge. It is the main church for the Sokndal parish which is part of the Dalane prosti (deanery) in ...

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 ca ...

of the river name ''Sókn'' (now Sokno). That river name is derived from the verb which means "to seek" or "to strive for". The last element is which means "

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

" or "dale". Thus, the meaning is ''"the valley with the river which seeks (finds/forces) its way"''. Before 1918, the name was written "Sogndal" or "Soggendahl". This municipality was a ladested called ''Sogndal ladested'', but it was surrounded by a rural municipality with the same name called Sogndal herred.

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.

Municipal council

The

of Sogndal was made up of 12 representatives that were elected to three-year terms. The

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 ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

References

{{use dmy dates, date=July 2020 Sokndal Former cities in Norway Former municipalities of Norway 1845 establishments in Norway 1944 disestablishments in Norway

History

Name

Government

Municipal council

See also

References