Hattfjelldal

Hattfjelldal kommune
Municipality

Hattfjell ("hat mountain")

Coat of arms

Nordland within
Norway

Hattfjelldal within Nordland
Coordinates: 65°32′51″N 14°8′4″E / 65.54750°N 14.13444°E / 65.54750; 14.13444Coordinates: 65°32′51″N 14°8′4″E / 65.54750°N 14.13444°E / 65.54750; 14.13444
Country Norway
County Nordland
District Helgeland
Administrative centre Hattfjelldal
Government
  Mayor (2000) Asgeir Almås (Ap)
Area
  Total 2,684.32 km2 (1,036.42 sq mi)
  Land 2,414.88 km2 (932.39 sq mi)
  Water 269.44 km2 (104.03 sq mi)
Area rank 17 in Norway
Population (2011)
  Total 1,463
  Rank 363 in Norway
  Density 0.6/km2 (2/sq mi)
  Change (10 years) -10.4 %
Demonym(s) Hattfjelldaling[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1826
Official language form Neutral
Website www.hattfjelldal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Hattfjelldal (Southern Sami: Aarborte and Northern Sami: Árbordi) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hattfjelldal. Other villages include Grubben, Svenskvollen, and Varntresk. Hattfjelldal Airfield is located in the village of Hattfjelldal.

Hattfjelldal is one of the last strongholds for the seriously endangered Southern Sami language.

Hattfjelldal was one of the municipalities in Norway involved in the Terra Securities scandal.

General information

Hattfjelldal map

The municipality of Hattfjelldal was established in 1862 when it was separated from the large municipality of Vefsn. The initial population of Hattfjelldal was 961. On 1 January 1964, the part of Hattfjelldal on the north side of the lake Røssvatnet (population: 168) was transferred to Hemnes.[2]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hattfjelldalen farm (named "Hatfieldalen" in 1723), since the first church was built there. The first element is the name of the mountain Hattfjellet and the last element is dal which means "valley" or "dale". The meaning of the name Hattfjellet is "the hat mountain" (because its shaped like a hat).[3]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 24 October 1986. The arms show the Hattfjellet mountain, with its typical shape. The mountain is a canting element since the name of the municipality means "hat mountain valley".[4]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Hattfjelldal. It is part of the Indre Helgeland deanery in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Churches in Hattfjelldal
Parish
(Sokn)
Church NameLocation
of the Church
Year Built
HattfjelldalHattfjelldal ChurchHattfjelldal1868
Susendal ChurchSvenskvollen2001
Varntresk ChurchVarntresk1986

Geography

View of the lake Krutvatnet

Hattfjelldal lies along the Swedish border in the southeastern part of Nordland county. The lake Røssvatnet (Southern Sami: Reevhtse) lies on the border between Hattfjelldal and Hemnes, and it serves as a reservoir. It has been the site of human occupation since the Stone Age. Its area of 219 square kilometres (85 sq mi) makes it the second largest lake in Norway by surface area.

Other lakes in the region include Daningen, Elsvatnet, Famnvatnet, Jengelvatnet, Kjerringvatnet, Krutvatnet, Ranseren, Simskardvatnet, and Unkervatnet. The large river Vefsna runs through the municipality.

Børgefjell National Park is partly located in the southern part of Hattfjelldal, as is Jetnamsklumpen, a prominent mountain. There is several nature reserves, such as Varnvassdalen with a varied topography and old growth forest of pine, birch and some spruce.[5]

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Hattfjelldal, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Hattfjelldal is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to every four years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:[6]

Hattfjelldal Kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party NameName in NorwegianNumber of
representatives
 Labour PartyArbeiderpartiet7
 Centre PartySenterpartiet6
 Socialist Left PartySosialistisk Venstreparti1
 Local ListsLokale lister3
Total number of members:17

References

  1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  3. Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian) (16 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 86.
  4. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  5. "Varnvassdalen naturreservat" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  6. "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hattfjelldal.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.