# Nord-Vågsøy

Nord-Vågsøy is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1910 until 1964, and it encompassed the northern part of the island of Vågsøy. The area of Nord-Vågsøy now makes up the northern part of the present-day Kinn Municipality in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Raudeberg where the Nord-Vågsøy Church is located. Other villages in Nord-Vågsøy include Halsør, Vedvik, Refvik, Kvalheim, and Kråkenes.

## History

Nord-Vågsøy was originally a part of the municipality of Selje (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1910, the western part of Selje was split off from the municipality to create the new municipalities of Nord-Vågsøy (population: 1,111) and Sør-Vågsøy (population: 1,517). On 1 July 1921, the Blesrød farm in Nord-Vågsøy (just north of Måløy) was transferred to Sør-Vågsøy municipality. 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 neighboring Davik and Selje municipalities.

### Name

The municipality is named Nord-Vågsøy since it encompasses the northern part of the island of Vågsøy (Old Norse: Vágsey). The prefix is nord which means "northern". 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 Nordre Vaagsø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nord-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 Nordre to Nord-, 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 Nord-Vaagsøy with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Nord-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 Nord-Vågsøy was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Nord-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 2 |
| | Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Nord-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Nord-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 14 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Nord-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 16 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Nord-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Nord-Vågsøy heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
| 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

Politically, Nord-Vågsøy was marked by the father and son Karl Iversen and Leif Iversen, who served as mayors for forty of the 54 years that the municipality was in existence. The mayors (Nynorsk: ordførar) of Nord-Vågsøy:
* 1910-1917: Olaf Refvik
* 1918-1925: Karl Iversen
* 1926-1929: Olaf Refvik
* 1929-1937: Karl Iversen
* 1937-1941: Leif Iversen (H)
* 1941-1941: Jon Sefland (NS)
* 1941-1942: Reinhart Horn (NS)
* 1942–1945: Ole Olsen (NS)
* 1945-1964: Leif Iversen (H)