Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the 1,431-square-kilometre (553 sq mi) municipality was the 51st largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Sørli Municipality was the 625th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 908. The municipality's population density was 0.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (1.6/sq mi) and its population had decreased by 0.5% over the previous 10-year period.[7][8]
The municipality of Sørli was established on 1 July 1915 when the old Lierne Municipality (sometimes referred to as Finnlierne) was split in two parts: Nordli Municipality (population: 863) in the north and Sørli Municipality (population: 739) in the south. The old Lierne Municipality had been created on 1 January 1874 when it was separated from the large Snåsa Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the neighboring Sørli Municipality (population: 898) and Nordli Municipality (population: 1,147) were reunited to once again form Lierne Municipality.[9]
Name
The municipal name is named after the old name for the region (Hlíð) which means "mountainside" (similar to the Norwegian word li). Historically, the prefix Finna- was often added to the name: Finnahlíð. This prefix is the pluralgenitive case of finnr which means "Sami person" (or Finn) because the district was historically populated by Sami people prior to the arrival of ethnic Norwegians. Later, the prefix was dropped and the definite plural form of li was used, Lierne. In 1915, the old municipality was divided into two parts: Nordli and Sørli. The names of these new municipalities came from the older name. The definite singular form of the name was used, li, and the prefix sør was added to show that this was the southern part of Li.[10]
The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Sørli was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position:[12]
The municipal council(Herredsstyre) of Sørli 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.
