Suldal
| Suldal kommune | |||
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| — Municipality — | |||
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| Coordinates: 59°28′6″N 6°29′59″E / 59.46833°N 6.49972°ECoordinates: 59°28′6″N 6°29′59″E / 59.46833°N 6.49972°E | |||
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Rogaland | ||
| District | Ryfylke | ||
| Administrative centre | Sand | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor (2007) | Torkel Myklebust (Sp) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 1,736 km2 (670 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 1,588 km2 (613 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 39 in Norway | ||
| Population (2004) | |||
| • Total | 3,895 | ||
| • Rank | 235 in Norway | ||
| • Density | 2/km2 (5/sq mi) | ||
| • Change (10 years) | -4.9 % | ||
| Demonym | Suldøl[1] | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | NO-1134 | ||
| Official language form | Nynorsk | ||
| Website | www.suldal.kommune.no | ||
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Suldal is a municipality in the northeast of Rogaland county, Norway located in the Ryfylke historically traditional district. Sand i Ryfylke is a the administrative center of Suldal.
The parish of Suledal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Søvde was separated from Suldal in 1842. The municipalities of Erfjord and Sand, most of Jelsa, and some parts of Imsland and Vikedal, were merged with Suldal on 1 January 1965.
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[edit] General information
[edit] Name
The Old Norse form of the name was Súladalr. The first element is probably the plural genitive case of súla which means "pillar" or "column" (and then referring to the mountain pass Suldalsporten) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". Before 1891, the name was written "Suledal".
[edit] Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 11 March 1976. The arms show three yellow lines on a red background. The lines represent the Suldalslågen, the local river that runs through the municipality.[2]
[edit] History
Suldal municipality has a long history of trade connections to the Setesdal valley to the east. The main mountain plateau trade route led east from Suldal municipality in Rogaland to Bykle municipality in Aust-Agder county.
[edit] Geography
The municipality is with its 1736 km² the biggest in Rogaland.
In the north, the municipality is bordered by Sauda and Odda, in the east by Vinje and Bykle, in the south by Hjelmeland, and in the west by Vindafjord. Across the Jelsafjord and Vindafjord lie Finnøy and Tysvær municipalities.
The Sandsfjord and Hylsfjord lie within Suldal, as does lake Suldalsvatnet. The Saudafjord lies partially within the boundary of Suldal. The Erfjord and the lakes Blåsjø, Holmavatnet, and Holmevatnet also lie on the boundary of Suldal.
[edit] Economy
The Ulla-Førre project of building huge hydroelectric dams in the mountains was initiated in the 1960s. At times the project employed over a thousand people. The finished hydroelectric complex has a total effect of 2100 MW and produces about 4,8 TWh yearly.
[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/s/suldal.htm. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
[edit] External links
Media related to Suldal at Wikimedia Commons
The Wiktionary entry for Suldal- Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
- Rogaland travel guide from Wikitravel
- Map hiking
- http://www.ryfylke.com
Municipalitiesof Rogaland 
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