Kvam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kvam kommune | |||
| — Municipality — | |||
|
|||
 |
|||
| Coordinates: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Hordaland | ||
| District | Hardanger | ||
| Municipality ID | NO-1238 | ||
| Administrative centre | Norheimsund | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor (2007) | Astrid Kristin Selsvold (Ap) | ||
| Area (Nr. 180 in Norway) | |||
| - Total | 616 km² (237.8 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 580 km² (223.9 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2004) | |||
| - Total | 8,389 | ||
| - Density | 14/km² (36.3/sq mi) | ||
| - Change (10 years) | -2.6 % | ||
| - Rank in Norway | 122 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Official language form | Nynorsk | ||
| Demonym | Kvemming[1] | ||
|
|
|||
| Website: www.kvam.kommune.no | |||
Kvam is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway.
Kvam (until 1912 named Vikør) was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Strandebarm was merged with Kvam January 1, 1965.
The municipality borders Voss to the north, Vaksdal, Samnanger and Fusa to the west, Granvin to the east and Hardangerfjorden to the south.
It was created in 1837 as Vikør formannskapsdistrikt, named after the parish today known as Vikøy. According to the 1835 census the municipality had a population of 2,321. [2] The name was changed from Vikør to Kvam in 1912. [3]
On 1 January 1965 the district Åsgrenda with 61 inhabitants was moved to Ullensvang municipality. At the same time the size of Kvam was significantly enlarged when parts of the municipalities Strandebarm, Varaldsøy and Jondal were incorporated into Kvam. After the merger Kvam had a population of 9,119. [4]
Important settlements in the municipality include Norheimsund, Øystese, Ålvik, Tørvikbygd, Strandebarm and Mundheim. Norheimsund and Øystese are the largest settlements with 2,087 and 1,626 inhabitants respectively. [5] The largest lakes are Bjølsegrøvvatnet and Holmavatnet. In addition a portion of Hamlagrøvatnet is located in Kvam.
In 2007 Kvam participated in a trial where the mayor was directly elected. The sitting mayor, Astrid Selsvold, won the election with 26,7% of the votes.
[edit] The name
The Norse form of the name was Hvammr, identical with the word hvammr m '(small) valley'.
[edit] Notable people from Kvam
- Jon Fosse
- Geirr Tveitt
- Per Øyvind Heradstveit
- Valgerd Svarstad Haugland
- Kaptein Kvam, local vigilante
[edit] References
- ^ Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg (Norwegian)
- ^ Registreringssentral for historiske data. Hjemmehørende folkemengde Hordaland 1801-1960 (Norwegian). University of Tromsø.
- ^ Kvam municipality. Arkivkatalogar (Norwegian).
- ^ Dag Jukvam / Statistics Norway (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen". (Norwegian)
- ^ Statistics Norway (2006). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality. 1 January 2006".
|
|||||
