Masfjorden

Masfjorden kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Hordaland within Norway
Masfjorden within Hordaland
Coordinates: 60°50′18″N 5°26′55″E / 60.83833°N 5.44861°E / 60.83833; 5.44861Coordinates: 60°50′18″N 5°26′55″E / 60.83833°N 5.44861°E / 60.83833; 5.44861
Country	Norway
County	Hordaland
District	Nordhordland
Administrative centre	Masfjordnes
Government
- Mayor (2003)	Håkon Matre (H)
Area
- Total	556 km2 (214.7 sq mi)
- Land	511 km2 (197.3 sq mi)
Area rank	191 in Norway
Population (2004)
- Total	1,712
- Rank	356 in Norway
- Density	3/km2 (7.8/sq mi)
- Change (10 years)	-7.0 %
Demonym	Masfjording[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1266
Official language form	Nynorsk
Website	masfjorden.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1951	1,928	—
1960	1,987	+3.1%
1970	1,858	−6.5%
1980	1,915	+3.1%
1990	1,891	−1.3%
2000	1,774	−6.2%
2007	1,631	−8.1%
2008	1,646	+0.9%
2009	1,652	+0.4%
Source: Statistics Norway.

Masfjorden is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Masfjorden was separated from Lindås on 1 March 1879.

The municipality is located around the fjord which is also called the Masfjorden which almost divides the municipality completely into a north side and a south side. A cable ferry connects these two parts. This is the only cable ferry in Norway that transports vehicles. The main population centre is located at Nordbygda on the north side. The local council however is located on the south side.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Matrsfjörðr. The first element is the genitive case of the old (uncompounded) name of the fjord: Matr. This name is derived from matr which means "food" - and the meaning is "the one full of food (fish)".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 28 September 1990. The arms feature three heldrer, a traditional tool made of wood for fastening a rope around a load. They are meant to symbolize unity. Three of these objects appear in yellow and they are centered on a field of red.^[2][3]

See also: Øyer

Geography

It contains several fjords such as Austfjorden.

References

1. ^ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/nb-no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskrivning_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn/. 
2. ^ Engene, Jan Oskar (27 June 2002). "Masfjorden, Hordaland". Flags of the World. http://www.fotw.us/flags/no-12-66.html. Retrieved 2008-09-22. 
3. ^ "Masfjorden Kommunevåpen". Masfjorden Municipality. http://www.masfjorden.kommune.no/kommunen/kommunevaapen.html. Retrieved 2008-09-22.  (Norwegian)