The 363-square-kilometre (140 sq mi) municipality is the 248th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sørreisa is the 218th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,428. The municipality's population density is 9.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (26/sq mi) and its population has increased by 0.6% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
General information
The municipality of Sørreisen was established on 1 September 1886 when the large Tranøy Municipality was divided into three: Tranøy Municipality (population: 1,239) in the west, Dyrøy Municipality (population: 1,281) in the south, and Sørreisen Municipality (population: 1,361) in the east. Later, the spelling was changed to Sørreisa. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the part of Sørreisa Municipality across the Reisafjorden on the island of Senja (population: 129) was transferred to Lenvik Municipality.[6]
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.[7] On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Troms county.[8]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local Reisafjorden (Old Norse: Reisa). The fjord was named after the river Reisaelva which flows into the fjord. The river name is derived from the verb rísa which means "to raise" (referring to flooding). The prefix sør (meaning "southern") was added to the name to distinguish the municipality from the nearby Nordreisa Municipality to the north.[9] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Sørreisen. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sørreisa.[10]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 7 September 1984. The official blazon is "Gules, three six-pointed mulletsOr" (Norwegian: I rødt 3 seksoddete gull stjerner, to over en). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is three six-pointed stars. Each star 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 arms were designed by Ottar Jarl Myrvang. The design was inspired by the oldest seal preserved from Sørreisa. The seal belonged to the local politician Jacob Hansen Kinapel who was a policeman in Sørreisa from 1715 to 1748. His heptagonal 18th century seal shows his initials IHSK around three stars, an eight-pointed star in the centre over two six-pointed stars.[11][12][13]
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Sørreisa is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.