Sørøysund is a former municipality in

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

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 municipality existed from 1852 until its dissolution in 1992. The area is now part of

Hammerfest Municipality Hammerfest (; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality being the Hammerfest (town), town of Hammerfest which is considered the List of no ...

. 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 ...

of Sørøysund was the town of Hammerfest, even though the town was not part of Sørøysund Municipality. Notable villages in the municipality included Akkarfjord,

Forsøl Forsøl is a fishing village in Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the northeastern coast of the island of Kvaløya, Finnmark, Kvaløya, about northeast of the Hammerfest (town), town of Hammerfest. The Kvalfjor ...

Kårhamn Kårhamn is a small fishing village in Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located on an isolated peninsula on the northwestern tip of the large island of Seiland. The village has roads in it, but none of them are c ...

, and

Rypefjord Rypefjord is a village in Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located just south of the town of Hammerfest on the western side of the large island of Kvaløya. Rypefjord was the main population centre of the for ...

. Prior to its dissolution in 1992, the municipality was the 131st largest by area out of the 448 municipalities in Norway. Sørøysund Municipality was the 342nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 2,341. 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 increased by 5.1% over the previous 10-year period.

History

The municipality of ''Hammerfest landdistrikt'' () was established on 1 January 1852 when it was separated from the town of

Hammerfest Hammerfest or Hámmárfeasta is a town/cityIn the Norwegian language, the word ''by'' can be translated as "town" or "city". that is also the administrative centre of Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the nor ...

. The initial population of Sørøysund was 1,256. On 1 July 1869, the southern district of the municipality (population: 514) was separated from ''Hammerfest landdistrikt'' to form the new Kvalsund Municipality. This left ''Hammerfest landdistrikt'' with 932 inhabitants. On 1 January 1875, a small part of ''Hammerfest landdistrikt'' (population: 20) was transferred to the neighboring town-municipality of Hammerfest. On 1 January 1919, the name of the municipality was changed from ''Hammerfest landdistrikt'' to ''Sørøysund''. On 1 January 1963, another small area of Sørøysund (population: 33) was transferred to the town of Hammerfest. On 1 January 1992, Sørøysund was merged into the neighbouring town-municipality of Hammerfest to form a much larger

. Prior to the merger, Sørøysund had 2,341 inhabitants.

Name

The municipality was originally named ''Hammerfest landdistrikt'' since it was the rural district surrounding the town of Hammerfest (the town was established in 1789). The town was named after an old

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

age for boats. The first element comes from the

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 which means "stone" or "steep cliff", referring to a number of large rocks, good for

mooring A mooring is any permanent structure to which a seaborne vessel (such as a boat, ship, or amphibious aircraft) may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to ...

boats. (These rocky areas were covered up in land reclaiming during the early

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

years.) The last element comes from the Old Norse word which means "rope" or "fastening" (for boats). The second word in the name is which simply means "rural district". On 1 January 1919, the name of the municipality was changed from ''Hammerfest landdistrikt'' to ''Sørøysund''. The new name comes from the

Sørøysundet Sørøysundet is a strait in Hasvik Municipality and Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The strait is between wide. The strait separates the large island of Sørøya from the islands of Stjernøya, Seiland, and Kvaløya. To t ...

strait which flows through the municipality. The first part of Sørøysund comes from the name of the local island

Sørøya or is Norway's fourth largest island in terms of area and the largest in Finnmark county. The island is divided between Hasvik Municipality and Hammerfest Municipality. It is often claimed to be "one of the most beautiful" of the islands in ...

(). The first element of the island's name comes from the

word which means "south". The last element of the island's name 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 ...

". The second part of Sørøysund is which means "

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 ...

" or "

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

". The Sørøysundet passes between the islands of

Seiland or is a substantial island off Norway's northern coast, covering about . It is the eighth largest island in Norway proper, located in Finnmark county. It sits within the Caledonian orogenic zone, a mountain‑building belt formed during t ...

Stjernøya or is an island in western Finnmark county, Norway. The island sits at the mouth of the Altafjorden on the south side of the Sørøysundet strait. It is divided among the municipalities of Loppa, Hasvik, and Alta. The highest point on th ...

, and Kvaløya.

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 ...

was granted on 8 June 1979. 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 ''" Azure, three boats

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 ...

two and one"'' (). This means the arms have a blue

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(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 three boats; two smaller ones over one larger one. The boats 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 it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The boats were chosen to show the importance of fishing in Sørøysund. The number three also refers to the three islands in the municipality:

, Kvaløya, and

. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

did not have any churches in Sørøysund Municipality due to its low, scattered population. It was part of the

Hammerfest Church Hammerfest Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located in the town of Hammerfest. It is the church for the Hammerfest parish which is the seat of the Hammerfest prosti ...

parish, which meant residents had to travel to the town of

to attend church there.

Geography

The former municipality encompassed the eastern part of the island of

, the northern part of the island of

, and the northern part of Kvaløya (with the exception of the town of

). The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Seilandstuva on the island of

. The mountain peak was on the municipal border between Sørøysund and neighboring

Alta Municipality Alta (; ; ; ) is the most populated List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Alta (town), town of Alta. Some of the main villages in the ...

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. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Municipal council

The

of Sørøysund was made up of 17 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

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 Sørøysund: * 1875-1903: Nils Myhre Olsen * 1904-1909: J.E. Jacobsen * 1909-1916: Johan Normann Pedersen * 1916-1922: Haldor Antonsen * 1923-1925: Øyvind Jacobsen * 1926-1928: Johan Normann Pedersen * 1929-1938: Kristian Berg * 1938-1941: Oscar Hansen * 1945-1951: Peder Johansen * 1952-1959: Oscar Kaarby * 1960-1963: Rolf Zachariassen * 1964-1973: Ragnar Zachariassen * 1974-1977: Harder Johansen * 1978-1979: Odd Svendsen * 1980-1985: Alf Birger Olsen * 1986-1987: Frank Holm * 1988-1992: Mimmi Bæivi ( Ap)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soroysund Hammerfest Former municipalities of Norway 1852 establishments in Norway 1992 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1852 Populated places disestablished in 1992