Steigen

Steigen ('stejgen) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Leinesfjord. Other villages include Bogen, Leines, Nordfold, Nordskot, and Sørskot. Engeløy Airport, Grådussan is located in the northern part of the municipality. Måløy–Skarholmen Lighthouse is located in the Vestfjorden in the western part of the municipality. The only road access to the municipality is via the Steigen Tunnel.

The 1009 km2 municipality is the 114th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Steigen is the 246th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,665. The municipality's population density is 2.8 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 4.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The municipality of Steigen was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The southern part of Steigen was separated on 1 September 1900 to form the new Ledingen Municipality. This left 2,216 residents in Steigen.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, a major municipal merger took place. A new municipality Steigen was created by the merging the following areas: Prior to the merger, the population of Steigen was 1,843, and after the merger, the new municipality had 4,545 residents.
 * all of Steigen Municipality (population: 1,829)
 * all of Leiranger Municipality (population: 1,397)
 * most of Nordfold Municipality except the Mørsvikbotn area (population: 1,212)
 * the small Brennsund area of Kjerringøy Municipality (population: 30)
 * the part of Hamarøy Municipality that was south of the Sagfjorden and between the lake Storvatnet and the Veggfjellan mountain (population: 77)

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Steigen farm (Steig) since the first Steigen Church was built there. The name is derived from the verb stíga which means "mount" or "rise". This is referring to the high and steep mountain Steigtinden (tinden means "the peak") behind the farm.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 12 October 1988, but they were not formally approved by the government until 11 January 1991. The official blazon is "Or three axe blades sable in bend" (I gull tre svarte øksehoder i skrå rekke). This means the arms have a field (background) that 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 charge is three axe heads from the Viking Age that are lined up diagonally. The design was chosen to represent the Viking history of the municipality. There are three axe heads to represent that three municipalities were merged in 1964 to form the present municipality. The arms were designed by Henry Tømmerås, the municipal cultural secretary at the time.

Churches
The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Steigen. It is part of the Salten prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography
The municipality is located along the coast of the Vestfjorden, about 100 km north of the town of Bodø, well inside the Arctic Circle. The road to Steigen departs from European route E6 and makes use of the 8 km long Steigentunnelen (see World's longest tunnels). Steigen borders Hamarøy Municipality in the north and Sørfold Municipality to the south. The Vestfjorden and Lofoten are located west of Steigen. The Sagfjorden lies on the north and the Folda fjord in the south.

The municipality is mainly located on a peninsula dissected by many fjords. Steigen also includes several islands. The largest island is Engeløya, where there are ancient burial mounds (such as Sigarshaugen) and the world's most northerly naturally occurring Hazel forest in Prestegårdsskogen Nature Reserve. The largest glacier is Helldalsisen encircling a 1361 m mountain. The island of Engeløya is connected to the mainland by the Engeløy Bridges and just to the north of that lies the uninhabited island of Lundøya.

Steigen has fertile lowlands in between the mountains and the sea. There are several archeological sites showing settlements from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Viking Age. Lakes in the region include Forsanvatnet, Hopvatnet, Makkvatnet, and Straumfjordvatnet.

Climate
The monthly 24-hr averages range from -1 C in January and February to 13 C in July and August, with precipitation ranging from 49 mm in May to 146 mm in October; annual average is 970 mm and mean annual temperature is 5.1 C.

Government
All municipalities in Norway are 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 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 Salten og Lofoten District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Steigen is made up of 17 representatives that are elected for four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Steigen:


 * 1838–1839: Christian B. Stoltenberg
 * 1839–1840: Hans P. Meisler
 * 1840–1847: Martin Adolph Sigholt
 * 1848–1851: Thomas Aagesen
 * 1852–1864: Peder Hansen
 * 1865–1868: Fredrik Nikolai Jensen
 * 1869–1870: Thomas Aagesen
 * 1871–1878: Peder Hansen
 * 1878–1879: Jonas Svensen
 * 1879–1880: Gerhard Schøning
 * 1881–1884: Johan C.R. Wisløff
 * 1885–1886: Ole Nilssen
 * 1887–1892: Johan C.R. Wisløff
 * 1893–1894: Lars Fremmerlid
 * 1895–1896: Peter M. Kristiansen
 * 1897–1901: Kristian B. Kristensen
 * 1902-1913: Søren S. Svendsen
 * 1914-1916: Hartvig Olsen
 * 1917-1928: Søren S. Svendsen
 * 1929-1931: Peder Hansen
 * 1932-1937: Søren S. Svendsen
 * 1938-1941: Sigurd Vik (NS)
 * 1941-1945: Johan Beck (NS)
 * 1945-1945: Jakob Aalstad
 * 1946-1955: Gudmund Storsæther (LL)
 * 1956-1959: Ludvig Fjellbakk (Ap)
 * 1960-1963: Sverre Kristiansen (Ap)
 * 1964-1965: Trygve Aasjord (H)
 * 1966-1967: Erling J. Vindenes (V)
 * 1968-1971: Johan O. Skjelstad (Ap)
 * 1972-1979: Jan A. Laxaa (Sp)
 * 1980-1985: Tor Johan Aalstad (Sp)
 * 1985-1991: Ragnar Kildahl (Sp)
 * 1991-1999: Svein Benoni (Sp)
 * 1999-2003: Arne Marhaug (Ap)
 * 2003-2007: Berit Woie Berg (V)
 * 2007-2019: Asle Schrøder (Sp)
 * 2019–present: Aase Refsnes (SV)

Notable people

 * Marit Elveos (born 1965 in Steigen), a Norwegian cross-country skier who competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics
 * Tom Erik Breive (born 1980 in Steigen), a retired Norwegian football midfielder with over 100 club caps