Sortland (help·info) is a town and municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Vesterålen traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sortland. In 1997, the municipality decided to declare township for Sortland. With some houses painted blue, Sortland is sometimes referred to as "the blue city".
Sortland was separated from the municipality of Hadsel in 1841. The area of Godfjorden was transferred from Kvæfjord (and Troms county) to Sortland (and Nordland county) on January 1, 2000.
Sortland is located on Langøya island and is the largest town and commercial centre in Vesterålen. Sortland is located close to the Sortland Bridge, connecting Langøya to Hinnøya by road. The Norwegian Coast Guard has its northern base in this town (Kystvaktskvadron Nord).
[edit] General information
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sortland farm (Old Norse: Svortuland[2]), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of a river name Svorta and the last element is land which means "land" or "farm". The river name is derived from svartr which meands "black" and so the meaning is "the black/dark one".
[edit] Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 15 March 1985. The arms show a gate, symbolizing Sortland as the gateway to the Vesterålen region with its many lakes. The arms were based on the seal used by the municipality since the 1960s, which also showed a (natural) gate in a landscape. The blue colour symbolises the blue sea.[3]
[edit] Notable residents
[edit] Gallery
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View from Sortland looking south
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Fjord landscape in Vesterålen seen from a mountain summit. The village closest is Sigerfjord, and across the sound in the background is Sortland town.
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[edit] References
[edit] External links
Sortland (help·info) is a town and municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Vesterålen traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sortland. In 1997, the municipality decided to declare township for Sortland. With some houses painted blue, Sortland is sometimes referred to as "the blue city".
