Tjeldsund

Tjeldsund kommune
Dielddanuorri
Municipality

Coat of arms
Nordland within
Norway

Tjeldsund within Nordland
Coordinates: 68°29′4″N 16°17′33″E / 68.48444°N 16.29250°ECoordinates: 68°29′4″N 16°17′33″E / 68.48444°N 16.29250°E
Country Norway
County Nordland
District Ofoten
Administrative centre Hol i Tjeldsund
Government
 • Mayor (2003) Bjørnar Pettersen (H)
Area
 • Total 318.17 km2 (122.85 sq mi)
 • Land 309.34 km2 (119.44 sq mi)
 • Water 8.83 km2 (3.41 sq mi)
Area rank 270 in Norway
Population (2012)
 • Total 1,284
 • Rank 373 in Norway
 • Density 4.2/km2 (11/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) -13.1 %
Demonym Tjeldsunding[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1852
Official language form Bokmål
Website www.tjeldsund.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Tjeldsund (Northern Sami: Dielddanuorri) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Ofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hol i Tjeldsund. Other important villages include Fjelldal, Myklebostad, and Ramsund. Norges Brannskole (Norway's education and training center for firemen) is situated in Fjelldal in the northeastern part of the municipality. Marinejegerkommandoen is based south of Ramsund.

General information

Sætertinden at the Tjeldsund-Harstad municipality border is the highest mountain on Hinnøya.

The municipality of Tjeldsund was established on 1 January 1909 when it was separated from the municipality of Lødingen. Tjeldsund encompassed the eastern part of Lødingen prior to the division. Initially, Tjeldsund had a population of 1,404.

On 1 January 1964, the western part of the island of Tjeldøya (population: 297) was transferred to Tjeldsund. On the same date the unpopulated Ramnes area of Evenes was also transferred to Tjeldsund.[2]

Name

The municipality is named after the Tjeldsundet strait between the islands of Tjeldøya and Hinnøya. The first element is the (uncompounded) Old Norse name of Tjeldøya (Tjöld or Tjalda) and the last element is sund which means "strait" or "sound". The name of the island is probably derived from the word tjald which means "tent" or the similar word tjaldr which means "oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)".[3]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted in 1990. The arms show a blue-colored Anthony's cross on a silver background. The Anthony's cross is a canting of the letter T for Tjeldsund.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Tjeldsund. It is part of the Ofoten deanery in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Churches in Tjeldsund
Parish
(Sokn)		Church NameLocation
of the Church		Year Built
TjeldsundTjeldsund ChurchHol i Tjeldsund1863
Fjelldal ChapelFjelldal1960
Ramsund ChapelRamsund1964

Geography

Aerial view over Tjeldsund and part of Ofotfjord in January. Tjeldsund is partly on the mainland, but also includes Tjeldøya (island).

Tjeldsund is located in Nordland county on the border with Troms county. Tjeldsund is mostly located on the island of Tjeldøya which is surrounded by the Ofotfjorden on the south, the Tjeldsundet strait to the west and north, and the Ramsundet strait to the east. The island is connected to the mainland by the Ramsund Bridge. The rest of the municipality is a small area on the mainland to the east of Tjeldøya and a small area on the island of Hinnøya to the north of Tjeldøya. The municipalities of Evenes (in Nordland) and Skånland (in Troms) lies to the east of Tjeldsund, Harstad and Kvæfjord (in Troms) lie to the north, Lødingen to the west, and Ballangen to the south.

View of the Tjeldsundet

Climate

Climate data for Hol i Tjeldsund
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Daily mean °C (°F) −3.8
(25.2)		 −3.5
(25.7)		 −1.8
(28.8)		 1.5
(34.7)		 6.3
(43.3)		 9.9
(49.8)		 12.3
(54.1)		 11.8
(53.2)		 7.9
(46.2)		 3.9
(39)		 −0.2
(31.6)		 −2.7
(27.1)		 3.5
(38.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 101
(3.98)		 91
(3.58)		 74
(2.91)		 61
(2.4)		 49
(1.93)		 54
(2.13)		 76
(2.99)		 81
(3.19)		 100
(3.94)		 141
(5.55)		 102
(4.02)		 115
(4.53)		 1,045
(41.14)
Source: Norwegian Meteorological Institute[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  3. ↑ Store norske leksikon. "Tjeldsund" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2012-06-11.
  4. ↑ "eKlima Web Portal". Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tjeldsund.