At the time of its dissolution as a municipality on 1 January 2020, the 893-square-kilometre (345 sq mi) municipality was the 126th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Lenvik was also the 101st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 11,644. The municipality's population density was 13.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (35/sq mi) and its population has increased by 4.3% over the previous decade.[4][5]
General information
View of the lake Rossfjordstraumen
The large municipality of Lenvik was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1848, most of the mainland parts of Lenvik (population: 2,616) was separated to form the new Målselv Municipality, leaving Lenvik with 3,029 residents. Then in 1855, the northern part of Lenvik (population: 811) was separated to form the new municipality of Hillesøy. This left Lenvik with 2,757 inhabitants. On 1 January 1871, a small part of Lenvik (population: 70) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Malangen.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, many several neighboring areas were merged into Lenvik:[6]
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Lenvik farm (Old Norse: Lengjuvík) since the first Lenvik Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Lengja. The river name is derived from the word langr which means "long". The last element is vík which means "cove" or "bay".[9] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Lenviken. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Lenvik, removing the definite form ending -en.[10]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 22 August 1986 and it was in used until 1 January 2020 when the municipality became part of the new Senja Municipality. The official blazon is "Azure, three oars bendwiseOr, blades to the chief" (Norwegian: I blått tre skråstilte gull årer med bladene opp). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is three oars laying diagonally with the blades at the top of the shield. The oars 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 blue color in the field and the oars were chosen as a symbol for sailing and shipping along with the fishing industry which is the main form of income in the municipality. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.[11][12][13]
The first church was built around 1150 at Bjorelvnes, and for a century, this was the northernmost church in the world. Important villages in the past include Klauva and Gibostad. Gibostad was the administrative centre until the 1960s, when the administration was moved to Finnsnes. In 2000, Finnsnes was declared a town.
Geography
The municipality of Lenvik lies partly on the island of Senja and also on the mainland of Norway. The Malangen fjord flows along the northern boundary and the Solbergfjorden lies on the southern boundary. The Gisundet strait runs north–south through the center of the municipality with only one road crossing, the Gisund Bridge. The municipalities of Berg and Tranøy border the municipality to the west, the municipality of Tromsø is to the north (across the Malangen fjord), the municipalities of Balsfjord and Målselv are to the east, and the municipalities of Sørreisa and Dyrøy are to the south.
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Lenvik was made up of 31 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
+4.3%
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