Tromsøysund Municipality

Tromsøysund is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The 1530 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality encompassed most of what is now Tromsø Municipality including areas on the island of Kvaløya and on the mainland. It completely surrounded the city of Tromsø, both on a number of islands as well as on the mainland. The municipality included the villages of Bjerkaker, Tromsdalen, and Movik. The administrative centre was the village of Tromsdalen, just across the strait from the city of Tromsø.

Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the 1529.9 km2 municipality was the 42nd largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Tromsøysund Municipality was the 25th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 16,191. The municipality's population density was 10.6 PD/km2 and its population had increased by 29.9% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The large prestegjeld (parish) of Tromsøe existed for hundreds of years. In 1838, the new formannskapsdistrikt law established municipal self-government in Norway. According to the law, each prestegjeld became a municipality, but all cities in Norway had to be separated from their prestegjeld and be their own city-municipalities. So, on 1 January 1838, the city of Tromsøe became a municipality and the large surrounding district became a municipality called Tromsøe landdistrikt. Initially, the new municipality had a population of 4,286.

In 1860, the southern part of the municipality (population: 3,610) was split off from Tromsøe landdistrikt to become the new Balsfjord Municipality. This left Tromsøe landdistrikt with 2,632 inhabitants. In November 1860, the name of the municipality was changed to Tromsøsundet (the spelling was changed to the more modern spelling Tromsøysund later). On 1 January 1861, one area of Tromsøysund (population: 110) was transferred into the city of Tromsø. On 1 January 1873, a part of the neighboring Malangen Municipality (population: 287) was merged back into Tromsøysund (this area in Malangen had been separated from Balsfjord in 1871). This area included the Bakkejord-Kvalnes-Lauksletta-Mjelde area on the southern part of the island of Kvaløya and the Brokskar-Bentsjorda area on the mainland. At the same time, an uninhabited part of Tromsøysund was also transferred into the city of Tromsø. On 1 July 1915, another part of Tromsøysund (population: 512) was transferred into the city of Tromsø. Again on 1 July 1955, the Bjerkaker area of Tromsøysund (population: 1,583) was transferred to the city of Tromsø.

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. All of Tromsøysund Municipality (population: 16,727) was merged with the city of Tromsø (population: 12,602), the parts of Hillesøy Municipality on Kvaløya island (population: 1,316), and most (except the Svensby area) of Ullsfjord Municipality (population: 2,019) to form a new, larger Tromsø Municipality.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) was originally named Tromsøe landdistrikt, which means the rural district around Tromsø. In 1860, the name of the municipality was changed to Tromsøsundet, after the local Tromsøysundet strait. The first element of the name comes from the island of Tromsøya (Trums). The meaning of the name is uncertain. The last element is which means "strait" or "sound". On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Tromsøysund.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 9 April 1954. The official blazon is "Gules, a two-masted ship Or" (På rød bunn et tomastet gull skip). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a two-masted ship. The ship 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 boat symbolized the importance of the sea and fishing for the municipality. The arms were designed by Sverre Mack who was helped by Hallvard Trætteberg. This coat of arms was the first municipal coat of arms for a rural municipality in Norway (previously, arms had been used for towns and cities, but not rural locations).

Churches
The Church of Norway had one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Tromsøysund. It was part of the Tromsøysund prestegjeld and the Tromsø domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland.

Geography
The highest point in the municipality was the 1169 m tall mountain Bentsjordtinden.

Government
While it existed, Tromsøysund Municipality was 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 was under the jurisdiction of the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Tromsøysund was made up of 53 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Tromsøysund:


 * 1838-1842: Leonhard Holmboe
 * 1842-1844: Hans Kiil Larsen
 * 1844-1848: Hans Simon Christoffersen
 * 1848-1852: Peder Jeremias Larsen
 * 1852-1854: Hans Lokkert Nilsen
 * 1854-1857: Hans A. Moursund, Jr.
 * 1857-1859: Hans Henrik Kjær
 * 1859-1861: Hans Bergesen Holmeslett
 * 1861-1865: Lars Moe
 * 1865-1866: Hans Bergesen Holmeslett
 * 1867-1875: Petter Jensen
 * 1875-1876: Hans Bergesen Holmeslett
 * 1877-1898: P. Chr. Nikolaisen
 * 1899-1910: Hans Pedersen Berg
 * 1911-1913: Hans Nilsen Finnvik
 * 1914-1916: Ole M. Gausdal
 * 1917-1925: Iver Walnum
 * 1926-1928: Anton Jakobsen
 * 1929-1931: Alfred Hansen
 * 1932-1934: Anton Jakobsen
 * 1935-1940: Alfred Hansen
 * 1941-1941: Otto Hj. Munthe-Kaas
 * 1941-1943: Theodor Hansen
 * 1943-1944: Einar W. Nilsen
 * 1944-1944: Fritz Posti
 * 1945-1945: Johan Smith Meyer
 * 1945-1948: Alfred Hansen
 * 1948-1961: Kåre Martin Hansen
 * 1962-1963: Kåre Nordgård