Hadsel

Infobox_Kommune
name=Hadsel
county=Nordland
capital=Stokmarknes
idnumber=1866
landscape=Vesterålen
governor=Reidar Johnsen (Sp)
governor_as_of=2003
arearank=188
area=566
arealand=551
areapercent=0.17
population_as_of=2004
populationrank=126
population=8,039
populationpercent=0.18
populationdensity=15
populationincrease=-7.8
demonym=Hadselværing
language=Bokmål
lat_deg=68| lat_min=32| lat_sec=6| lon_deg=14| lon_min=49| lon_sec=30
utm_zone=33W| utm_northing=7602526 |utm_easting=0492855| geo_cat=adm2nd

munwebpage=www.hadsel.kommune.no

Hadsel is a municipality in the county of Nordland, Norway.Hadsel was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Sortland was separated from Hadsel in 1841.

The municipality is the southernmost municipality in the Vesterålen region. It is spread over four islands: Hadseløya, Hinnøya, Langøya and Austvågøy. About 70% of the population live on Hadseløya island. Hadseløya island is connected to Langøya with a bridge. (See Hadsel Bridge.) There's also a small airport, Stokmarknes Airport, Skagen, which is the busiest small aircraft airport in Norway, serving 100,000 passengers annually (1997).

The administrative centre of Hadsel is Stokmarknes, one of two towns on Hadseløya island, the other being Melbu.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Hadsel (Norse "Höfðasegl"), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of "höfði" m 'high and steep cliff', the last element is "segl" n 'sail'. (A cliff near the farm has been compared in form with a sail.)

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1976). It shows four golden rings (to represent the four islands of Hadseløya, Austvågøya, Hinnøya and Langøya).

External links

* [http://www.melbu.vgs.no/hadselbilder/ Pictures from Hadsel]

References