Øksnes
| Øksnes kommune | |||
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| — Municipality — | |||
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| Coordinates: 68°53′18″N 15°11′0″E / 68.88833°N 15.183333°ECoordinates: 68°53′18″N 15°11′0″E / 68.88833°N 15.183333°E | |||
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Nordland | ||
| District | Vesterålen | ||
| Administrative centre | Myre | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor (2003) | John H. Danielsen (Ap) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 319 km2 (123 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 310 km2 (120 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 266 in Norway | ||
| Population (2004) | |||
| • Total | 4,633 | ||
| • Rank | 208 in Norway | ||
| • Density | 15/km2 (40/sq mi) | ||
| • Change (10 years) | -2.7 % | ||
| Demonym | Øksnesværing[1] | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | NO-1868 | ||
| Official language form | Neutral | ||
| Website | www.oksnes.kommune.no | ||
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Øksnes is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the island of Langøya, part of the Vesterålen traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Myre.
Øksnes was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The new municipality of Langenes was separated from Øksnes on 1 July 1919, but it was merged back into the municipality of Øksnes on 1 January 1964.
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[edit] General information
[edit] Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Øksnes farm (Old Norse: Yxnes), since the first church was built there. The first element is probably an old name of Skogsøya island (Old Norse: Yxn) and the last element is nes which means "headland". The old name of the island is identical with the word yxn (plural form of uxi which means "ox"). The mountains of the island have maybe been compared with a group of oxen.
[edit] Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 22 August 1986. The arms show two black fishing hooks on a gold background, appropriate symbols for a municipality which is dependent on fishing and sailing.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/nb-no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskrivning_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn/.
- ^ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/o/oksnes.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
[edit] External links
Media related to Øksnes at Wikimedia Commons
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