# Sør-Vågsøy

Sør-Vågsøy is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1910 until 1964 and it encompassed the southern part of the island of Vågsøy and a small area on the mainland just east of the island. The area is now located in the present-day Kinn Municipality in Vestland county. The administrative centre of the municipality was Måløy, where Sør-Vågsøy Church is located. Other population centres in the municipality are the villages of Holvik, Vågsvåg, Torskangerpoll, Færestrand, and Ytre Oppedal.

## History

Sør-Vågsøy was originally a part of the municipality of Selje (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1910, the western part of the municipality of Selje was split off into the two new municipalities of Sør-Vågsøy and Nord-Vågsøy. Sør-Vågsøy had an initial population of 1,517. On 1 July 1921, the Blesrød farm in Nord-Vågsøy (just north of Måløy) was transferred to Sør-Vågsøy. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the new Vågsøy Municipality was created by merging the municipalities of Sør-Vågsøy (population: 3,926) and Nord-Vågsøy (population: 1,476) with parts of the neighboring municipalities of Davik and Selje.

### Name

The municipality is named Sør-Vågsøy since it encompasses the southern part of the island of Vågsøy (Old Norse: Vágsey). The prefix is sør which means "southern". The first element of the name is the genitive case of vágr which means "bay" or "inlet". The last element is ey which means "island".
Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Søndre Vaagsø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sør-Vaagsøy. The letter y was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name (ø is the Danish word for "island" and øy is the Norwegian word). The prefix was also modified from Søndre to Sør-, using an alternate way of spelling the same thing. On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Sør-Vaagsøy with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Sør-Vågsøy, using the letter å instead.

## Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

### Municipal council

The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Sør-Vågsøy was made up of 29 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Sør-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 6 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 8 |
| | Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 2 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 10 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 29 |
Sør-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 7 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 7 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 4 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 11 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 29 |
Sør-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 4 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 4 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 8 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
Sør-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 2 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 11 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
Sør-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 17 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
Sør-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 6 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
| Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945. |||

### Mayors

The mayors (Nynorsk: ordførar) of Sør-Vågsøy:
* 1910-1919: Kristen J. Sunde
* 1920-1922: Hans Søreide
* 1923-1925: Rasmus Sæternes
* 1926-1928: Jakob Myrestrand
* 1926-1940: Gabriel Bruvoll
* 1940-1941: Johan Gotteberg (NS)
* 1942-1945: Ingolf Hagevik (NS)
* 1945-1945: Gabriel Bruvoll
* 1946-1951: Hans Nystad
* 1952-1964: Marius Larsen