• Source: Vefsn Municipality

Vefsn (Southern Sami: Vaapste) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mosjøen (population: 9,843). Some of the notable villages in Vefsn include Drevvassbygda, Elsfjord, and Husvik.
The 1,929-square-kilometre (745 sq mi) municipality is the 41st largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Vefsn is the 91st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 13,469. The municipality's population density is 7 inhabitants per square kilometre (18/sq mi) and its population has increased by 1.4% over the previous 10-year period.




History



The municipality of Vefsn was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1862, the vast eastern district (population: 921) was separated from Vefsn Municipality to become the new Hattfjelldal Municipality. This left Vefsn Municipality with 5,051 residents. In 1876, the town of Mosjøen (population: 379) was separated from Vefsn Municipality to become a separate town-municipality. This left Vefsn Municipality with 4,672 residents.
In 1927, Vefsn Municipality was split into three: the small northern district (population: 964) became the new Drevja Municipality and the large southern district (population: 1,746) became the new Grane Municipality. After the split, Vefsn Municipality had 3,119 residents remaining. In 1939, a small area of Vefsn Municipality (population: 45) was transferred to neighboring town of Mosjøen.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, Vefsn Municipality (population: 5,358) was merged with the neighboring town of Mosjøen (population: 4,628) and the neighboring Drevja Municipality (population: 1,001) and Elsfjord Municipality (population: 920) to form a new, larger Vefsn Municipality. On 1 January 1995, the mainland areas of the neighboring Alstahaug Municipality (population: 70) were transferred to Vefsn Municipality.




= Name

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The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the river Vefsna (Old Norse: Vefsnar) which flows through the municipality into the Vefsnfjorden (Old Norse: Vefsnir). The meaning of the river name is unknown, but it possibly comes from the old word vefja which means "to wrap" or "to wind around". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Vefsen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Vefsn.




= Coat of arms

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The coat of arms was granted on 13 September 1974. The official blazon is "Sable, a rooster argent armed gules" (Norwegian: På svart bunn en sølv hane). This means the arms have a black field (background) and the charge is a rooster. The rooster has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The rooster is also armed which means its claws, beak, and comb are colored red. The rooster is a symbol for watchfulness and alertness. The arms were designed by Arthur Gustavsson.
The coat of arms was originally adopted by the municipality of Mosjøen on 25 March 1960. In 1962, Mosjøen was merged with Vefsn Municipality, Drevja Municipality, and Elsfjord Municipality to form a new, larger Vefsn Municipality. After the merger, the old arms of Mosjøen were chosen for the new municipality. Since the arms officially became obsolete after the merger, they were re-granted in 1974.




Churches


The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within Vefsn Municipality. It is part of the Indre Helgeland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.




Government


Vefsn Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.




= Municipal council

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The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Vefsn is made up of 29 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.




= Mayors

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The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Vefsn is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:




Geography


The administrative centre of Vefsn is the town of Mosjøen which is situated along the innermost part of the Vefsnfjorden. Outside Mosjøen, the large municipality of Vefsn is dominated by spruce forests, mountains, lakes, agriculture, and the Vefsna river. The municipality is served by Mosjøen Airport, Kjærstad.
The highest point in the municipality is the 1,556.55-metre (5,106.8 ft) tall mountain Geittinden. The mountain Lukttinden is located in the northern part of the municipality. There are many large lakes in Vefsn including Drevvatnet, Finnknevatnet, Fustvatnet, Hundålvatnet, Luktvatnet, Mjåvatnet, and Ømmervatnet. The Lomsdal–Visten National Park is partially located in Vefsn.




= Birdlife

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The bird watcher that visits Vefsn soon realizes that it will take more than a day to cover all the interesting habitats and birding areas. Here you will find areas of virtually untouched coniferous woodlands, both inland and along the coast. The Skjørlegda nature reserve is a good example of woodland protection. Here you will find a virtually untouched coniferous forest covering the Eiterå valley. The valley stretches inland to a higher mountainous habitat that is also worth checking.

















= Farms of Vefsn

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Historically, the land of Vefsn was divided up into named farms. These farms were used in census and tax records and are useful for genealogical research.



Farm maps

Note that each map has a maximum number of listings it can display, so the map has been divided into parts consistent with the enumeration districts (Norwegian: tellingskrets) in the 1920 census. This map will include one farm name per farm number; other farm names or subdivision numbers may exist.
The municipalities of Mosjøen, Elsfjord, and Drevja were incorporated into Vefsn in 1962, and are not included in these maps. Tellingskrets 5, Granli; 6 Øvre Svenningdal, and 7 Austervefsen og Feplingdal, are now part of other municipalities, primarily Grane.



Names and numbers

Following are the farms in the Vefsn Municipality, as they are listed in O. Rygh's series Norske_Gaardnavne (lit. 'Norwegian farm names'), the Nordland volume of which was published in 1905.

See also: Digital version of Norske Gaardnavne - Nordland (in Norwegian)
The farm numbers are used in some census records, and numbers that are near each other indicate that those farms are geographically proximate. Handwritten Norwegian sources, particularly those prior to 1800, may use variants on these names. For recorded variants before 1723, see the digital version of O. Rygh. Note that the 1920 census records mapped above may not match O. Rygh.
Farm names were often used as part of Norwegian names, in addition to the person's given name and patronymic or inherited surname. Some families retained the farm name, or toponymic, as a surname when they emigrated, so in those cases tracing a surname may tell you specifically where in Norway the family was from. This tradition began to change in the mid to late 19th century, and inherited surnames were codified into law in 1923.




Notable people


Notable people that were born or lived in Vefsn include:

Thorolf Holmboe (1866 in Vefsn –1935), a painter, illustrator, and designer
Nils Mjaavatn (1883 in Vefsn – 1951), a farmer, teacher, and politician
David Monrad Johansen (1888 in Vefsn – 1974), a composer
Aage Grundstad (1923 in Vefsn – 2012), an award-winning accordion player
Erling Bauck (1924 in Mosjøen – 2004), a Norwegian resistance member and writer
Kjell Eliassen (born 1929 in Vefsn), a diplomat
Trond Øyen (1929 in Mosjøen – 1999), a Norwegian violinist
Baard Owe (1936 in Mosjøen – 2017), an actor, moved to Denmark in 1956
Inga Juuso (1945 in Mosjøen – 2014), a yoiker, Sami singer and actress
Odd Eriksen (born 1955; worked in Mosjøen), a politician also known for stopping an Algerian hijacker from crashing a Kato Air-flight in 2004.
Frode Fjellheim (born 1959 in Mussere), a yoiker and musician on piano and synthesizer
Finn Guttormsen (born 1968 in Mosjøen), a Jazz musician on upright bass
Aleksander L. Nordaas (born 1982 in Mosjøen), a screenwriter and film director
Silje Reinåmo (born 1982 in Mosjøen), an actress, dancer, and musical performer
Sandra Lyng (born 1987 in Mosjøen), a Norwegian singer




= Sport

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Johan Lind (born 1942 in Mosjøen), a speed skater who competed at the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics
Bent Inge Johnsen (born 1972 in Mosjøen), a former footballer with 284 club caps and assistant manager
Anette Sagen (born 1985 in Mosjøen), a Norwegian former ski jumper
Thomas Drage (born 1992 in Mosjøen), a football player with over 220 club caps




See also


Nazi concentration camps in Norway




References






External links


Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)
mosjoen.com - local portal for Mosjøen and Vefsn (in Norwegian)
Local history and genealogy (in Norwegian)
Andås nature reserve with mixed forest (in Norwegian)
Skjørlægda nature reserve preserving an intact valley ecosystem (in Norwegian)

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Vefsn Municipality
• Mosjøen
• Hemnes Municipality
• Korgfjell Tunnel
• Grane Municipality
• Alstahaug Municipality
• Artscape Nordland
• Hattfjelldal Municipality
• List of urban areas in Norway by population
• List of towns and cities in Norway