Skjerstad (municipality)

Skjerstad kommune
Former municipality
The village of Skjerstad,
viewed from Skjerstad Church

Coat of arms
Nordland within
Norway

Skjerstad within Nordland
Coordinates: 67°07′01″N 15°00′04″E / 67.1170°N 15.0011°E / 67.1170; 15.0011Coordinates: 67°07′01″N 15°00′04″E / 67.1170°N 15.0011°E / 67.1170; 15.0011
Country Norway
County Nordland
District Salten
Established 1 Jan 1838
Disestablished 1 Jan 2005
Administrative centre Misvær
Area
 • Total 465 km2 (180 sq mi)
  *Area at municipal dissolution.
Population (2002)
 • Total 1,080
 • Density 2.3/km2 (6.0/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Skjerstadværing[1]
Time zone UTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code NO-1842
Official language form Bokmål
Created as Formannskapsdistrikt in 1838
Succeeded by Bodø in 2005
Data from Statistics Norway

Skjerstad (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈʂæːr.stɑ]) is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 465-square-kilometre (180 sq mi) municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2005. The municipality generally encompassed the area around the Misværfjorden in what is now Bodø Municipality, although it originally was much larger, also including the entire present-day Fauske Municipality. The administrative centre of Skjerstad municipality was the village of Misvær.[2]

History

The municipality of Skjerstad was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1905, most of Skjerstad Municipality located on the north side of the Skjerstadfjorden (population: 4,646) was separated to form the new Fauske Municipality. In 1949, a small district of Skjerstad (population: 10) was transferred to neighboring Saltdal Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1963, the small area of Skjerstad on the north side of the fjord (population: 224) was transferred to neighboring Bodin Municipality. On 1 January 2005, the municipality of Skjerstad was merged with Bodø Municipality to form a new, larger Bodø Municipality. Just prior to the merger (in 2002), the population of Skjerstad was 1,080.[3]

Name

The municipality was named after the old Skjerstad farm (Old Norse: Skírastaða) since the first Skjerstad Church was built there. The first part of the name possibly comes from the old name for the local river (skírr) which means "pure" or "clear". The last part (-stad) means "homestead" or "farm".[2][4]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is modern and they were granted on 14 July 1991. The green arms show a silver or white millstone or grinding stone, which was used in the municipality.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. 1 2 Thorsnæs, Geir; Smith-Meyer, Trond, eds. (2016-05-31). "Skjerstad". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  3. ↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  4. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian) (16 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 218.
  5. ↑ "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
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