Aukra

Aukra kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Møre og Romsdal within Norway
Aukra within Møre og Romsdal
Coordinates: 62°49′43″N 6°50′45″E / 62.82861°N 6.84583°E / 62.82861; 6.84583Coordinates: 62°49′43″N 6°50′45″E / 62.82861°N 6.84583°E / 62.82861; 6.84583
Country	Norway
County	Møre og Romsdal
District	Romsdal
Administrative centre	Aukra
Government
– Mayor (2007)	Bernhard Riksfjord (Ap)
Area
– Total	59.91 km2 (23.1 sq mi)
– Land	58.82 km2 (22.7 sq mi)
– Water	0.09 km2 (0 sq mi)
Area rank	418 in Norway
Population (2010)
– Total	3,196
– Rank	267 in Norway
– Density	54.3/km2 (140.6/sq mi)
– Change (10 years)	7.3 %
Demonym	Gossing Aukraværing[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1547
Official language form	Nynorsk
Website	www.aukra.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Aukra is a village and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the region of Romsdalen. The administrative centre is the village of Aukra.

The municipality is made up of the island of Gossa as well as many small surrounding islands, plus a small area around Hollingen across the Julsund on the Romsdal peninsula. Some of the main population centers include Hollingen, Aukrasanden, Varhaugvika, and Røssøyvågen. Nyhamna is a major industrial area in Aukra.

The 1.06-square-kilometre (260-acre) village of Aukra is located on the southeastern side of the island and it has a population (2009) of 766. This gives it a population density of 723 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,870 /sq mi).^[2]

General information

The municipality of Akerø was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1840, most of Akerø on the Romsdal peninsula was separated to form the municipality of Frænen. On 1 January 1867, the islands to the west of Gossa (population: 601) were separated to become the new municipality of Sandøy. On 1 January 1924, the southern part of the municipality (Otrøya and several other islands) were separated to form the new municipality of Sør-Aukra, and the remainder of the municipality was re-named Nord-Aukra. On 1 January 1964, the Mordal area of Nord-Aukra (population: 77) was transferred to Molde. On 1 January 1965, Nord- was dropped from the name of the municipality, so it was then just called Aukra.^[3]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Aukra farm (Old Norse: Aukrin), since the first church was built there. The first element is akr which means "field" or "acre" and the last element is vin which means "meadow" or "pasture". Before 1918, the name was written Akerø.^[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 22 May 1987. The arms show two Bronze Age bracelets, based on an archaeological finding in the area. The rings thus symbolize the long tradition of habitation in the area.^[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish within the municipality of Aukra. It is part of the Diocese of Møre and the Deanery (Prosti) of Molde domprosti.

Churches in Aukra

Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Year Built	Location of the Church
Aukra	Aukra kirke	1835	Aukrasanden

History

Aukra is the site of Norway's best-known shipwreck and rescue operation of the 1900s, of the cargo ship Rokta on 4 April 1938. The monument of Rokta is situated on Rindarøy island with a view of Galleskjæra where the Rokta sank.

Economy

Nyhamna on the island of Gossa in Aukra is the location from where the Langeled pipeline, transporting natural gas from the enormous Ormen Lange gas field to the United Kingdom, came onstream in 2007. Local politicians expect a lot from the land-based production facility. Especially the taxes, which in their opinion, far exceeds the externalities put on the inhabitants of Gossa.

Aukra Auto runs the bus service on the island of Gossa.

References

1. ^ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/nb-no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskrivning_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn/. 
2. ^ Statistisk sentralbyrå (1 January 2009). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality.". http://www.ssb.no/beftett_en/tab-2009-06-16-01-en.html. 
3. ^ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf. 
4. ^ Rygh, Oluf (1908) (in Norwegian). Norske gaardnavne: Romsdals amt (13 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 300. http://books.google.com/books?id=yGtBAAAAIAAJ. 
5. ^ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/a/aukra.htm. Retrieved 18 October 2008. 

External links

• Møre og Romsdal travel guide from Wikitravel
• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway