Brønnøy

Infobox_Kommune
name=Brønnøy
idnumber=1813
county=Nordland
landscape=Sør-Helgeland
capital=Brønnøysund
governor=Kjell H. Trælnes (Sp)
governor_as_of=2005
arearank=99
area=1042
arealand=996
areapercent=0.32
population_as_of=2004
populationrank=130
population=7565
populationpercent=0.17
populationdensity=8
populationincrease=8.5
language=Neutral
lat_deg=65| lat_min=28| lat_sec=33| lon_deg=12| lon_min=24| lon_sec=1
utm_zone=33W| utm_northing=7263990 |utm_easting=0379623| geo_cat=adm2nd




munwebpage=www.bronnoy.kommune.no

Brønnøy is a municipality in the county of Nordland, Norway. Brønnøy was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Three other municipalities were later separated from it: Velfjord (1875), Sømna (1901) and the town of Brønnøysund (1923). All these three were again merged with Brønnøy January 1, 1964 - but Sømna was again separated from Brønnøy January 1, 1977.

Geography and nature

The municipality has great scenic variety with numerous islets, mountains, and some fertile agricultural areas. Brønnøy borders the municipalities of Vega and Vevelstad to the north, Vefsn and Grane to the east, and Bindal and Sømna to the south.

In the southwest is the island Torget with the mountain Torghatten, famous for a cavity that goes straight through the structure. The world's most northerly naturally occurring lime forests grows in Brønnøy, and there are patches of boreal rainforests in Grønlidalen nature reserve ( [http://nordland.miljostatus.no/msf_themepage.aspx?m=1605#9150 Norw txt] ) and Storhaugen nature reserve. Strompdalen nature reserve ( [http://nordland.miljostatus.no/msf_themepage.aspx?m=1685#4552 ] ) and Horsvær nature reserve, a nesting place for a rich variety of seabirds, are also located in the municipality.The administrative and commercial centre is Brønnøysund. A secondary centre is Hommelstø.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the small island Brønnøya (Norse "Brunnøy"), since the first church was built there. The first element is "brunnr" m 'well', the last element is "øy" f 'island'. (Islands with freshwater was important for seafarers.)

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1988). It shows a seamark.