The 302-square-kilometre (117 sq mi) municipality is the 266th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Lavangen is the 335th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 986. The municipality's population density is 3.3 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.5/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 2.8% over the previous 10-year period.[6][7]
General information
Lavangen was established on 1 January 1907 when it was separated from Ibestad Municipality. The initial population was 1,536. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Lavangen Municipality (population: 1,677) and Salangen Municipality (population: 2,611) were merged into a new, larger Salangen Municipality. The merger was brief, however, because on 1 January 1977, the old Lavangen Municipality (except for the Lavangsnes area) was made a separate municipality once again.[8]
On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old Troms county.[9] On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Troms county.[10]
Name
The municipality is named after the local Lavangenfjord (Old Norse: Laufangr) since it is a central geographical feature of the area. The first element is lauf which means "leaf" (here in the sense of 'birchwood'). The last element is angr which means "fjord" or "bay".[11] On 19 December 2015, the national government approved the municipality's request to add Loabák as a co-equal, official name of the municipality in the Northern Sami language.[12] Both Loabák and Lavangen can be used interchangeably for the municipality. The spelling of the Sami language name changes depending on how it is used. It is called Loabák when it is spelled alone, but it is Loabága suohkan when using the Sami language equivalent to "Lavangen Municipality".[5]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 18 December 1987. The official blazon is "Gules, three birch leaves Orin pall stems conjoined" (Norwegian: I rødt tre gull bjørkeblad forent i trepass). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is three birchleaves that are connected and in a Y-shape design. The leaves have a tincture of Or which means they are commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms are a canting of the name of the municipality (which means leaf). The three leaves represent how the municipality was settled by Norwegians, Samis, and Kvens. The arms were designed by Øystein Hermod Skaugvolldal.[13][14][15][16]
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Lavangen is made up of 15 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Lavangen 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:[34]
^Rygh, Oluf (1911). Norske gaardnavne: Tromsø amt (in Norwegian) (17 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 36. Archived from the original on 13 May 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
^"Godkjenning av våpen og flagg". Lovdata.no (in Norwegian). Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet. 18 December 1987. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1995"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1996. Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1991"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1993. Archived(PDF) from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1987"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1988. Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1983"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1984. Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1979"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1979. Archived(PDF) from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^Larsen, Emil (1952). Det store gjennombruddet : 1902–1952 (in Norwegian). Narvik: Nord-Troms Arbeiderparti. p. 169. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
^Brox, Ditlev (1967). Lavangen skolesoga (in Norwegian). Harstad. p. 67. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Andersen, Thor M, ed. (1931). Norges ordførere: 1929–1931 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Hanche. p. 268. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
