# Kinsarvik (municipality)

Kinsarvik is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kinsarvik where Kinsarvik Church is located. The municipality of Kinsarvik existed two different times: from 1838 until 1869 and then again from 1913 until 1964. The municipality centered on the inner part of the Hardangerfjorden, and (originally) surrounded all of the Sørfjorden. The original Kinsarvik encompassed all of the present day municipalities of Ullensvang (except for Røldal) and a small part of Voss. Upon its final dissolution in 1964, it covered an area of 382 square kilometres (147 sq mi).

## History

The large parish of Kinsarvik (spelled Kinzervig at that time) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The parish of Kinsarvik was centered at Kinsarvik Church and it had one parish annex: Ullensvang. In 1869, Ullensvang became the main parish, and Kinsarvik became an annex to Ullensvang (and the municipality then changed its name to Ullensvang).
On 1 July 1913, the municipality of Ullensvang was split into three separate municipalities. The northwestern part became Kinsarvik (population: 1,736), the central part was Ullensvang (population: 1,941) and the southern part became Odda (population: 3,077). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Kinsarvik municipality was dissolved. The Lussand-Kvanndal area north of the Hardangerfjorden (population: 72) was transferred to Granvin Municipality. The remainder of Kinsarvik (population: 1,513) was merged into Ullensvang Municipality once again.

### Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Kinsarvik farm (Old Norse: Kinsarvík) since the first Kinsarvik Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the old river name Kinns (now called Kinso). That name comes from the word kinn which means "steep hillside". The last element is vík which means "bay" or "cove". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Kinservik. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Kinsarvik.

## 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 Kinsarvik is made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Kinsarvik heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 1 |
| | Centre Party (Senterpartiet) | 7 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 2 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 13 |
Kinsarvik heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 13 |
Kinsarvik heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
Kinsarvik heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 1 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 11 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
Kinsarvik heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 9 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
Kinsarvik heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 2 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 10 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
| 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. |||