Osterøy

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Osterøy kommune
—  Municipality  —

Coat of arms

Hordaland within
Norway
Osterøy within Hordaland
Coordinates: 60°31′5″N 5°32′29″E / 60.51806°N 5.54139°E / 60.51806; 5.54139Coordinates: 60°31′5″N 5°32′29″E / 60.51806°N 5.54139°E / 60.51806; 5.54139
Country Norway
County Hordaland
District Nordhordland
Administrative centre Lonevåg
Government
 • Mayor (2003) Kari Foseid Aakre (Ap)
Area
 • Total 275 km2 (106 sq mi)
 • Land 270 km2 (100 sq mi)
Area rank 288 in Norway
Population (2008)
 • Total 7,305
 • Rank 140 in Norway
 • Density 27/km2 (70/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 2.8 %
Demonym Ostring[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1253
Official language form Nynorsk
Website www.osteroy.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway
Historical populations
Year Pop. ±%
1951 2,688
1960 2,513 −6.5%
1970 5,660 +125.2%
1980 6,579 +16.2%
1990 7,016 +6.6%
2000 7,006 −0.1%
2010 7,385 +5.4%
2020 7,905 +7.0%
2030 8,495 +7.5%
Source: Statistics Norway.

Osterøy is an island municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The administrative centre is located in Lonevåg in the central part of the island, while the settlement with the largest population is Valestrandfossen with 1,012 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008.[2]

Osterøy municipality covers the majority of the island of the same name, although the mostly uninhabited north-eastern part is part of Vaksdal municipality. Osterøy is located just northeast of Bergen, and is surrounded by the fjords Osterfjorden and Sørfjorden. The 19th century musician and composer Ole Bull had a home on the island at Valestrandfossen. The Havrå farm is located on the island.

Contents

[edit] History

Osterøy municipality was created on 1 January 1964. Part of Haus (population: 2,327), the Bruvikbygda area of Bruvik (population: 409), part of the municipality of Hosanger (population: 1,616), and part of the municipality of Hamre (population: 1,166) were merged to form the new municipality of Osterøy.[3]

[edit] Name

The Old Norse form of the name was "Óstr". The last element "øy" which means "island" was added later. The meaning of the name is unknown. It is possible that it comes from the word "óstr" which means "the arch of the neck"--words for parts of the body are common in Norwegian place names.[citation needed]

[edit] Geography

Høgafjellet is at 868 metres above sea level the highest mountain in Osterøy.

[edit] Settlements

Osterøy contains four urban settlements, as defined by Statistics Norway and as of 1 January 2008:[2]

[edit] Transport

The Osterøy Bridge, finished in 1997, provides Osterøy with a permanent road connection to the mainland in Bergen municipality. The bridge has a main span of 595 metres, the third longest suspension bridge main span in Norway, and a total span of 917 metres.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms was granted on 20 December 1985. It shows three broad axes pointing downwards on a field of white, with two axes at the top and one beneath. Broad axes are used in the construction of timber houses, which has long traditions in the municipality. The designer was Egil Korsnes who based his design on the idea of Magnus Hardeland.[4][5]

[edit] Administration and politics

Since 2007, the mayor of Osterøy has been Kari Foseid Aakre from the Norwegian Labour Party.[6]

[edit] People from Osterøy

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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