At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the 319-square-kilometre (123 sq mi) municipality was the 269th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Vikna was the 221st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,492. The municipality's population density was 14.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (37/sq mi) and its population had increased by 11.4% over the last decade.[4][5]
General information
Ytre Vikna.
The municipality of Vikten was established on 1 July 1869 when it was separated from the large municipality of Nærøy. Initially, the population of Vikten was 1,749. On 1 January 1881, a small area of Fosnes (population: 61) was transferred to Vikten. The name of the municipality was later changed to Vikna.[6]
On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Nord-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.
On 1 January 2020, the municipality of Vikna was merged with most of the neighboring municipality of Nærøy to form the new Nærøysund Municipality.[7] The Lund area in Nærøy was not part of the merger. It became part of the newly enlarged Namsos Municipality on the same date.[8]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named "Vikna". It was named after the three large islands which made up the municipality: Inner-Vikna, Mellom-Vikna, and Ytter-Vikna (Old Norse: Víkn). The name is derived from the word vík which means "cove" or "wick" (likely since the islands have numerous coves and inlets).[9] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Vikten. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Vikna.[10]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 13 May 1988 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official blazon is "Azure, three salmon argentin annulo" (Norwegian: I blått tre sølv lakser som danner en sirkel). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is three salmon forming a circle. The fish design has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This design was chosen to symbolize the importance of salmon fishing and farming in the municipality. The arms were designed by Torleif Flosand. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[11][12][13]
The municipality consisted of a large island archipelago with some 6,000 large and small islands going far into the Norwegian Sea off the northwestern coast of Trøndelag county. Vikna is the largest spawning area for cod south of Lofoten. The three largest islands are: Inner-Vikna, closest to the mainland, Mellom-Vikna, and then Ytter-Vikna as the westernmost island. Other islands include Borgan and Lauvøya.
On 21 October 1962, the coastal steamer (Hurtigruten) Sanct Svithun run aground on Nordøyan as a result of navigational error. The ship sunk, and there was a tragic loss of 41 lives. A memorial bauta was raised on Nordøyan in 2002.
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Vikna is made up of 23 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Hurtigruten boats stop frequently at Rørvik and Norwegian County Road 770 via the Nærøysund Bridge connects Vikna to the mainland and European route E6. There is also the small Rørvik Airport, Ryum, just south of Rørvik. Vikna and neighbouring Nærøy form a common work area with nearly 10,000 inhabitants.
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