The 302-square-kilometre (117 sq mi) municipality is the 266th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Lavangen is the 334th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 970. The municipality's population density is 3.3 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.5/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 4.5% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
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, the neighboring municipalities of Lavangen (population: 1,677) and Salangen (population: 2,611) were merged into one large municipality of Salangen. 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.[7]
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.[8] On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Troms county.[9]
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".[10] 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.[11] 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".[4]
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.[12][13][14][15]
The municipality encompasses the land around the Spansdalelva river valley and most of the area around the Lavangenfjord, south of the Astafjorden. The municipality borders Narvik (in Nordland county) to the south, Gratangen to the west, Salangen to the north, and Bardu to the east.
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.
^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.
^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.
^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.
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