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33-686: In 1997, the municipal council declared " town status " for the urban area of Sortland . Sortland is the largest town and commercial centre in Vesterålen . The town of Sortland is located close to the Sortland Bridge which crosses the Sortlandsundet strait and connects the two large islands of Langøya and Hinnøya by road. Since a lot of houses in the town are painted blue, Sortland is sometimes referred to as "the blue city". The 722-square-kilometre (279 sq mi) municipality

66-408: A bykommune (urban municipality) or herredskommune (rural municipality). This distinction was rescinded by The Local Government Act of 1992. Between 1960 and 1965 many Norwegian municipalities were merged. For instance when the urban municipality Brevik merged with the urban municipality Porsgrunn and the rural municipality Eidanger , the new municipality was called Porsgrunn and it kept

99-502: A municipality number in which the third digit was a zero and rural municipalities were given other numbers. In 1952 the special classifications of for towns/cities (kjøpstad, bergstad, and ladested) were entirely rescinded from the law and replaced by the simple classification of by . Starting on 1 January 1965, the government's focus was moved from the individual towns/cities to their corresponding municipalities. All Norwegian towns/cities and rural municipalities were classified as either

132-609: A pile and a field divided per chevron inverted , or between a pile inverted and a field per chevron , can be uncertain. The arms shown here, for the Elsenburg College of Agriculture, was blazoned by the South African Bureau of Heraldry as Per pile embowed inverted throughout gules, vert and argent; dexter a single share plough and sinister a garb, or, in base an anchor azure, cabled gules ; but it could as easily be blazoned as Per pale gules and vert; on

165-441: A pile may have other charges on it, may have its edges ornamented by any of the lines of variation , and may have any tincture or pattern. Occasionally piles have more than one point, appear in large numbers, have their points truncated or ornamented, have their edges ornamented, or are charged with other piles. A collection of charges in a converging arrangement may be blazoned as pilewise or in pile . The distinction between

198-682: A town or city. Each of these were granted certain special rights based on their classification and they did hold administrative authority within their borders. A ladested was subordinate to a kjøpstad and over time some of the ladesteds were "upgraded" to the status of kjøpstad in order to gain more trading rights. In 1665, Norway had 20 towns. There were 9 full market towns ( kjøpstad ): Bergen, Oslo, Trondheim, Tønsberg, Stavanger, Skien, Fredrikstad, Halden, and Kristiansand. There were two mountain towns { bergstad ): Kongsberg and Røros. There were 9 market seaports ( ladested ): Larvik, Moss, Porsgrunn, Molde, Kragerø, Risør, Holmestrand, Mandal, and Drammen (which

231-573: Is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Midtre Hålogaland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal . The municipal council ( Kommunestyre ) of Sortland is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show

264-550: Is located just north of the town of Sortland . One of the main roads through the municipality is Norwegian County Road 82 . The highest point in the municipality is the 1,261.76-metre (4,139.6 ft) tall mountain Møysalen . Møysalen is located on the southern border with Lødingen Municipality and it is within Møysalen National Park . The midnight sun occurs from 23 May to 23 July. Great places to observe

297-590: Is one of the few North Norwegian towns that have grown annually since the 1970s. List of towns and cities in Norway This is a list of towns and cities in Norway . The Norwegian language word by means a town or city –there is no distinction between the two words as there is in English. Historically, the designation of town/city was granted by the king, but since 1996 that authority

330-624: Is part of the Vesterålen prosti ( deanery ) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland . The municipality of Sortland is located on the islands of Langøya and Hinnøya in the Vesterålen archipelago . The municipality surrounds the inner part of the Eidsfjorden and the Sortlandssundet strait. There are several bridges in the municipality including Djupfjordstraumen Bridge , Kvalsaukan Bridge , and Sortland Bridge . The Sortland Bridge

363-509: Is the 159th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Sortland is the 109th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 10,618. The municipality's population density is 14.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (38/sq mi) and its population has increased by 4.8% over the previous 10-year period. In January 2012, the number of citizens in Sortland reached 10,000 for

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396-412: The city of Oslo , Oslo Municipality , and Oslo County are all one unified unit of government. Pile (heraldry) In heraldry , a pile is a charge usually counted as one of the ordinaries (figures bounded by straight lines and occupying a definite portion of the shield). It consists of a wedge emerging from the upper edge of the shield and converging to a point near the base. If it touches

429-549: The city status was awarded by the king and Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development . Since then, the status of town/city is decided by each municipal council and then it is formally accepted by the state. Since 1997, a municipality must have a minimum of 5,000 inhabitants in order to declare city status for one of its settlements. In 1999, the municipal council of Bardu Municipality declared city status for Setermoen , only to be rejected because

462-471: The Middle Ages such as Sir Thomas Holme and Nicholas Upton believed that whenever piles issued from the chief , they should automatically meet in point, but this view eventually fell out of favour and it has become common practice that unless otherwise specified, they should be drawn perpendicularly. However, it is still possible to see examples of the previous school of thought. Like any ordinary ,

495-487: The Sami language name changes depending on how it is used. It is called Suortá when it is spelled alone, but it is Suorttá suohkan when using the Sami language equivalent to "Sortland municipality". The coat of arms was granted on 15 March 1985. The official blazon is " Azure , a castle with three towers without crenelation Or " ( Norwegian : I blått en gull borg med tre tårn uten krenelering ). This means

528-505: The area around the inner and western part of the Eidsfjorden (population: 1,360) was transferred from Hadsel Municipality to Sortland Municipality. On 1 January 2000, the area surrounding the Godfjorden was transferred from Kvæfjord Municipality (and Troms county) to Sortland Municipality (and Nordland county). The municipality (originally the parish ) is named after the old Sortland farm ( Old Norse : Svortuland ) since

561-426: The arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a castle with a gate and three towers without crenelation . The castle has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The blue color in the field symbolizes the importance of sea and the castle is an updated version of an old coat of arms for Sortland. The castle gate symbolizes Sortland as

594-470: The base, it is blazoned throughout . Though the pile issues from the top of the shield by default, it may be specified as issuing from any other part of the edge or as extending from edge to edge of the shield. Although it is not supposed to issue singly from the base, this rule is frequently ignored. When a shield has more than one pile, and they are angled so that they touch at the base, they are described as piles in point . A few heraldry authorities from

627-408: The cities of today which got this status before 1996, Tvedestrand with 1,983 inhabitants is the smallest. On another note, the laws of 1996 allowed some settlements which lost their city status in the 1960s to regain it. Oslo , founded in the 11th century, is the largest city and also the capital of Norway. Oslo is the only city in Norway that is consolidated with its municipality and county, thus

660-414: The current and historical composition of the council by political party . The mayor ( Norwegian : ordfører ) of Sortland is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position: Sortland has been regarded as one of the best music communities in Norway, and the local band Madrugada has been one of the best ones in

693-440: The first Sortland Church was built there. The first element is Svort which is the genitive case of the local river name Svorta . The river name is derived from svartr which means "black" or "dark". The last element is land which means "land" or " farm ". On 2 May 2017, the national government approved a resolution to add a co-equal, official Sami language name for the municipality: Suortá . The spelling of

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726-578: The first time. The municipality of Sortland was established in 1841 when it was separated from the large Hadsel Municipality . During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee . On 1 January 1963, the Holm area (population: 65) along the Gavlfjorden was transferred from Langenes Municipality to Sortland Municipality. Also on that date,

759-457: The gateway to the Vesterålen region and that it is the commercial centre of the region as well. The arms were designed by Kurt Myrland. The old coat of arms was in use from the 1950s until 1985 when the new arms were granted. The arms showed a castle (very similar to the one in the current arms) in a stylized landscape, including waves and sun rays. The arms included a golden border with three black-white-black piles issuing from both flanks of

792-497: The last overnight freeze (low below 0 °C (32.0 °F)) in spring is 7 May and average date for first freeze in autumn is 14 October giving a frost-free season of 159 days (1981-2010 average). Earlier weather station Sortland Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services , senior citizen services, welfare and other social services , zoning , economic development , and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality

825-668: The midnight sun }includes the Sortland Bridge, Ramnflauget, Godfjorden, Holm, and Skytterhaugen in the Vestmarka residential area. Because of Sortland's high latitude, }} is no real darkness between late April and mid-August. Polar night occurs in Sortland from 30 November to 12 January when the sun remains below the horizon and is not visible at all. The return of the sun is an occasion for celebration in Northern Norway , known as "Soldagen" ( lit.   ' Day of

858-585: The moon lights the scene making it a breathtaking experience. Pictures taken here have been presented in National Geographic Magazine. Sortland has a subpolar oceanic climate . The weather station (Sortland-Kleiva) has been recording since January 1956. The record high of 31 °C (88 °F) was set on 29 July 2018. The record low −13.5 °C (7.7 °F) was set in January 2016 (extremes available since 2004). The average date for

891-583: The municipality fell short of the population limit. One exception is Honningsvåg in Nordkapp Municipality , where the municipality actually has less than 5,000 inhabitants but declared city status before the limit was implemented by law in 1997. Because of the new laws in 1996-1997, Norway witnessed a rapid rise in the number of cities after that time. A number of relatively small settlements are now called by , such as Brekstad with 1,828 inhabitants and Kolvereid with 1,448 inhabitants. Among

924-472: The municipality number for Porsgrunn. As a result, Brevik was no longer considered an urban municipality/town. On another note, when the urban municipality Hønefoss was merged with the rural municipalities Hole , Norderhov , Tyristrand , and Ådal to form the new municipality of Ringerike , Ringerike retained the old municipality number of Hønefoss meaning that it retained its town/city status. The same thing happened to Egersund and Florø . Before 1996,

957-482: The nation. Sortland Jazz Festival is an event organized by Sortland Jazz and Music Club, which takes place every autumn. Some of the world's leading jazz musicians have been participating. Sortland is the largest commercial centre in Vesterålen with several indoors shopping centers and many small businesses. The retail turnover per inhabitant in Sortland is greater than in any other town in North Norway. Sortland

990-465: The sun ' ) which is commonly celebrated with children getting the day off from school. The polar night does not mean that it becomes totally dark, typically daylight is visible for a few hours around noon. Sortland and the Vesterålen region are perfect for observing the spectacular Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) phenomenon. The aurora borealis trails its multi coloured banner across the sky and

1023-474: The white castle. Also, there were four red sun rays issuing from behind the castle (four piles issuant from chief and flanks conjoined in heart), and in the base there were waves of red, black, and white. In the white chief inscribed the word "Sortland". A mural crown with four embattlements was on the top. The Church of Norway has one parish ( sokn ) within Sortland Municipality. It

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1056-423: Was actually 2 towns: Bragernes and Strømsø). All of the ladested places on this list were later upgraded to kjøpstads . During the 1800s, urbanization took hold in Norway and many new towns/cities were added. The special trading rights for towns/cities were abolished in 1857. In 1946, Norwegian municipalities were each assigned a municipality number , a four-digit codes based on ISO 3166-2:NO . Towns/cities got

1089-465: Was given to the local municipal councils for each municipality in Norway. In Norway today, there are 108 towns/cities, but they have no legal authority or powers and they are not an administrative body, it is simply a designation. All local government rests with the municipality which may or may not have a town/city located within it. Historically, the words kjøpstad ( market town ), ladested (small seaport), or bergstad were used for

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