Sund, Norway

Sund kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms Hordaland within Norway
Sund within Hordaland
Coordinates: 60°13′56″N 05°06′17″E / 60.23222°N 5.10472°E / 60.23222; 5.10472Coordinates: 60°13′56″N 05°06′17″E / 60.23222°N 5.10472°E / 60.23222; 5.10472
Country	Norway
County	Hordaland
District	Midhordland
Administrative centre	Skogsvåg
Government
• Mayor (2013)	Kari-Anne Landro (H)
Area
• Total	99.54 km2 (38.43 sq mi)
• Land	94.68 km2 (36.56 sq mi)
• Water	4.86 km2 (1.88 sq mi)
Area rank	384 in Norway
Population (2014)
• Total	6,635
• Rank	156 in Norway
• Density	70.1/km2 (182/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	22.1 %
Demonym(s)	Sundsokning[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1245
Official language form	Nynorsk
Website	www.sund.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Sund is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality is located in the traditional district of Midhordland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skogsvåg. Other larger villages in Sund include Klokkarvik, Tælavåg, Kausland, and Hammarsland.

Sund covers the southern third of the island of Store Sotra, west of the city of Bergen. It also includes many smaller, surrounding islands. The history of the municipality dates back to 1838, when Sund was first established as a formannskapsdistrikt, the precursor of the modern municipalities. Sund is a predominantly rural municipality, with no major settlements, the largest being Hammarsland with approximately 900 inhabitants (in 2013). Due to the proximity to the city of Bergen, a large proportion of the population commutes to the city to work.

General information

View of Forlandsvåg

Historic businesses in Glesvær harbor

The parish of Sund was established as a formannskapsdistrikt (municipality) on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1886, the southern island district of Sund (population: 2,396) was separated to form the new municipality of Austevoll. The municipal borders have not changed since that time.^[2]

Name

The municipality was named after the old Sund farm, where the first Sund Church was built. The name is identical with the Norwegian word "sund", which translates into English as "strait".^[3]

Coat-of-Arms

The present municipal coat-of-arms was granted on 23 March 1988. They show a blue lighthouse on a white or silver background.^[4][5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Sund. It is part of the Vesthordland deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Transport

The Sotra Bridge, opened in 1971, drastically improved travel to and from Sund and it spurred rapid population growth after ages of stagnancy. Due to the rapidly increasing traffic across the bridge and on the highways of Sotra, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration developed plans in the 2000s for a new bridge and highway between Bergen and Sotra. The plans include a new dual carriageway bridge to replace the Sotra Bridge, and new highways that lead northwards to Øygarden and southwards to Sund.^[6]

History

Population development, 1951-2008
Source: Statistics Norway

On 26 April 1942, after having discovered that two men from the Linge company were being hidden in Telavåg, the Gestapo arrived to arrest the Norwegian officers. Shots were exchanged, and two prominent German Gestapo officers, Johannes Behrens and Henry Bertram, and the Norwegian Arne Værum, were shot dead. Reichskommissar Josef Terboven ordered the Gestapo to retaliate, burning all buildings in the village, executing or sending the men to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and imprisoning the women and children for two years. In addition, 18 Norwegian prisoners at a Norwegian internment camp were killed as a reprisal.^[7] The event has since become known as the "Telavåg tragedy", and is sometimes compared to similar World War II atrocities, such as the Lidice massacre, with higher death tolls.^[8]

Geography

View of Nordspissen on Toftøya

Sund covers the southern third of the island of Store Sotra, as well as the many islands that surround it. The largest of the smaller islands are Toftøya, Lerøyna, Bjelkarøyna, Tyssøyna, Risøy, Vardøy, Golten, and Viksøy. In total, the municipality encompasses 466 islands and skerries, which gives it a total coastline of about 110 kilometres (68 mi).^[9]

The highest peak in Sund is Førdesveten, at 284 metres above sea level.^[9]

The fjord separating Store Sotra from the mainland, Korsfjorden, is historically the most used sea route into the city of Bergen, and is as much as 600 metres (2,000 ft) deep in some places. The treacherous waters in the area mean there has been a continuous need for piloting services, and this tradition is kept alive by the "Viksøy Losstasjon".

Climate

On an average, Sotra experiences 1,328 millimetres (52.3 in) of rainfall annually, less than the 2,250 millimetres (89 in) that the nearby city of Bergen receives. The year-round average temperature is 7.6 °C (45.7 °F), with the coldest month being February, when the average temperature reaches 2.1 °C (35.8 °F). The warmest month is August, with an average temperature of 12.8 °C (55.0 °F).^[9]

Settlements

There are six urban settlements, as defined by Statistics Norway, within the border of the municipality. The largest is Hammarsland in northern Sund, with 875 inhabitants as of 2013. The others are Tælavåg, Skogsvåg, Klokkarvik, Forland, and Glesnes.^[10]

Government

View of Toftevika

All municipalities in Norway, including Sund, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Sund is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to every four years. For 2011–2015, the party breakdown is as follows:^[11]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sund.