Sør-Rana 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 1929 until its dissolution in 1964. The areais now part of

Hemnes Municipality Hemnes is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Korgen ...

. (

was also named ''Sør-Rana'' from 1838 until 1844). Sør-Rana encompassed an area on both sides of the middle section of the

Ranfjorden RanfjordenIn English this means ''the Ran fjord''; the ''-en'' in the full name is a suffix meaning 'the' in Norwegian. is a fjord in the Helgeland district of Nordland county, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic ...

around where the Sørfjorden and Elsfjorden branch off the main fjord. Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 118th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Rana Municipality was the 519th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,608. 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 13.1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Finneidfjord stasjon URN NBN no-nb digifoto 20190408 00088 NB MIT KNR 2820 001

Rana Municipality was established on 1 January 1838 under the old

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. Shortly afterwards, in 1839, the municipality was divided into '' Nord-Ranen Municipality'' and ''Sør-Ranen Municipality''. In 1844, ''Sør-Ranen Municipality'' was renamed ''

''. On 1 July 1918, the southern part of Hemnes Municipality (population: 1,369) was separated to become the new Korgen Municipality. On 1 July 1929 the large Hemnes Municipality was divided into three separate municipalities: Elsfjord Municipality (population: 765) in the southwest,

(population: 1,077) which included the small area around the village of Hemnesberget, and Sør-Rana Municipality (population: 1,708) in the north and east. 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, Sør-Rana Municipality was dissolved and its lands were divided up. The district of Sør-Rana that was north of the

, with 697 inhabitants, was merged with the town of Mo i Rana (population: 9,6168), all of Nord-Rana Municipality (population: 11,636), and the eastern part of Nesna Municipality (population: 543) to create the new Rana Municipality. The rest of Sør-Rana Municipality (south of the Ranfjorden), with 934 inhabitants, was merged with

(population: 1,352), all of Korgen Municipality (population: 3,033), and the northern part of Hattfjelldal Municipality (population: 168) to form a new, larger

Name

The municipality was named ''Sør-Rana''. The first element is ''sør'' which directly translates to "southern". The second element is ''Rana'' which comes from the local river Ranelva (). The name of the river is probably derived from the word which means "quick", "fast", or "rapid". Another possibility is that the name comes from the old Sami god

Rana Niejta Rana Niejta and Rana Niejte are variant forms of the Ume Sami name of a goddess in Sami religion, Sami mythology. In Northern Sami she is called Rana Neida and Rana Neide (names in other Sami languages are Rana Nieda, Ruona Neida, Radien-neide and ...

Geography

The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Oksskolten. Sør-Rana encompassed an area on both sides of the middle section of the

around where the Sørfjorden and Elsfjorden branch off the main fjord. Nord-Rana Municipality was located to the northeast; Nesna Municipality was located to the west; Elsfjord Municipality, Korgen Municipality, and Hattfjelldal Municipality were all located to the south; and the nation of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

was to the east.

was an

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

located within the borders of Sør-Rana Municipality.

Government

While it existed, Sør-Rana 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 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 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 by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

of Sør-Rana was made up of 15 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 ...

Mayors

The

() of Sør-Rana was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position: * 1929-1934: Johan L. Fineide * 1935-1937: O. Bjørnåli * 1937-1938: Ole Evensen * 1938-1940: Hans J. Utskarpen * 1945-1945: O. Bjørnåli * 1945-1945: Hans J. Utskarpen * 1946-1955: Ole Evensen * 1956-1961: Kristoffer Almli * 1962-1964: Kåre Rønning ( Sp)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sor-Rana Rana, Norway Hemnes Former municipalities of Norway 1929 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1929 Populated places disestablished in 1964