Storebø is 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 ...

and largest village in

Austevoll Austevoll is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality and an archipelago in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Midthordland in Western Norway. The administrative centre ...

municipality in

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

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 village is located on the northern part of the island of

Huftarøy Huftarøy is the largest island in the municipality of Austevoll in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies in the Austevoll archipelago, just west of the Bjørnafjorden, south of the Korsfjorden, east of the Mokstrafjorden, and north of the Se ...

, just south of the village of Birkeland and northwest of the village of Haukanes. The village has a population (2019) of 1,588 and 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 .

History

The Austevoll Church, the main parish church in Austevoll municipality, was historically located in the village of

on the island of Hundvåko until 1891 when it was moved and rebuilt at Storebø. Storebø was made the

of the municipality in 1964. Prior to that, the meetings of the municipal council were held on the small island of ''Bakholmen'', located a short distance west of Storebø.

Toponymy

The name ''Storebø'' has been in use since the mid-17th century, prior to that the village was called ''Bø'' or ''Bøe''. It is thought that the prefix ''store-'', literally meaning ''large'', was added to separate it from ''Bø'' on the nearby island of

Stord Stord is a municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since i ...

, since both farms were part of the Saint Mary's Abbey, Lyse. The ''Bø'' at Stord was renamed Litlabø, with the prefix ''litla-'' meaning ''small''. The last element, ''bø'', comes from

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 ...

word that translates as ''farm''.

Economy

Traditionally,

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

have long been the principal industries at Storebø. Farming has been largely replaced by other industries, however the fishing industry grew increasingly important during the second half of the 20th century. During the late 1970s and early 1980s,

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

and oil-related industries were developed in the area. Today some of the largest companies in the world within these two industries are based at Storebø, including DOF and Austevoll Seafood, both companies listed on the

Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange () (OSE: OSLO) is a stock exchange within the Nordic countries and offers Norway's only regulated markets for securities trading today. The stock exchange offers a full product range including equities, derivatives and fixed ...

. The newspaper '' Marsteinen'' is published in Storebø.''Store norske leksikon'': Marsteinen.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Storebo Villages in Vestland Austevoll Millennium sites