Vestre Moland Municipality
Vestre Moland herred
Former municipality
View of the Vestre Moland Church which was built of stone in the 12th century
View of the Vestre Moland Church which was built of stone in the 12th century
Aust-Agder within Norway
Aust-Agder within Norway
Vestre Moland within Aust-Agder
Vestre Moland within Aust-Agder
Coordinates: 58°15′31″N 08°21′54″E / 58.25861°N 8.36500°E / 58.25861; 8.36500
CountryNorway
CountyAust-Agder
Established1 Jan 1838
 • Created asFormannskapsdistrikt
Disestablished1 Jan 1962
 • Succeeded byLillesand Municipality
Administrative centreMøglestu
Area
 (upon dissolution)[1]
 • Total103 km2 (40 sq mi)
Population
 (1962)
 • Total2,454
 • Density24/km2 (62/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-0926[2]
Data from Statistics Norway

Vestre Moland is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Møglestu where the Vestre Moland Church is located. The 103-square-kilometre (40 sq mi) municipality existed from 1838 until 1962 when it was merged into the municipality of Lillesand. Today, the area of Vestre Moland covers the northern part of the present-day municipality of Lillesand in Agder county.[1]

Vestre Moland included the island of Justøy and the area surrounding the ladested of Lillesand. The lake Østre Grimevann is in the northern part of Vestre Moland and the Blindleia inland waterway is located along the coast of Vestre Moland.

History

Historical picture from Møglestue

The municipality (originally the parish) of Vestre Moland was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1865, the municipality was divided into the two separate municipalities of Vestre Moland (population: 2,167) in the north and Høvåg (population: 2,069) in the south. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, Vestre Moland (population: 2,454) was merged with the municipality of Høvåg, the ladested of Lillesand, and the Gitmark farm area in the municipality of Eide to form a new, enlarged Lillesand municipality.[3]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Moland farm (Old Norse: Móðguland) since the first Vestre Moland Church was built there. The prefix vestre (which means "western") was added to differentiate the place from Austre Moland which was located a little further north along the coast of Norway in present-day Arendal. The first element of the name is derived from the river Móðga. The river name comes from the Old Norse word móðigr which means "brave" or "courageous". The last element is land which means "land" or "district".[4]

See also: Austre Moland § Name, and Moland § Name

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.[5]

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Vestre Moland was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Vestre Moland herredsstyre 1960–1961 [6]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 7
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 3
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 2
  Centre Party (Senterpartiet) 3
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 6
Total number of members:21
Vestre Moland herredsstyre 1956–1959 [7]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 7
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 3
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 3
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 3
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 5
Total number of members:21
Vestre Moland herredsstyre 1952–1955 [8]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 8
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 2
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 2
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 3
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 5
Total number of members:20
Vestre Moland herredsstyre 1948–1951 [9]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 6
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 3
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 3
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 2
  Joint list of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Radical People's Party (Radikale Folkepartiet) 6
Total number of members:20
Vestre Moland herredsstyre 1945–1947 [10]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 7
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 2
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 3
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 2
  Joint list of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Radical People's Party (Radikale Folkepartiet) 6
Total number of members:20
Vestre Moland herredsstyre 1938–1941* [11]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 5
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 4
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 3
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 8
Total number of members:20
Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (23 July 2015). "Vestre Moland – kommune". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  2. ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  3. ^ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
  4. ^ Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nedenes amt (in Norwegian) (8 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 146.
  5. ^ Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938. Retrieved 21 December 2020.


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