Finsland (municipality)

Finsland is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. The 118 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The administrative centre was the village of Finsland where Finsland Church is located. The municipality generally encompassed the northern part of the present-day municipality of Kristiansand in what is now Agder county.

History
The parish of Finsland was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Finsland municipality was dissolved and its lands split between two municipalities. The small area of Finsland near Kleveland bru (population: 34) was transferred to the neighboring Marnardal municipality and the rest of Finsland (population: 797) was merged with the municipality of Greipstad (population: 2,061) and the Eikeland area of Øvrebø (population: 39) to form the new municipality of Songdalen. Prior to the merger, the population of Finsland was 831.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Finsland farm (Finnsáland) since the first Finsland Church was built there. The first element comes from the old name for the local river Finnså. The river name is likely a compound of the words finn and which means "river". The word finn could be referring specifically to the plant Nardus stricta or to "moorland" or "wilderness" in general. The farm is situated by the river Finnsåna, which flows into the river Mandalselva. There are also farms nearby called Finsdal and Finsådal, so the first element is a common local name. The last element is which means "land" or "district".

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Finsland was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.