Berg is a former municipality in

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into the new

Senja Municipality Senja is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Berg, Lenvik, Torsken, and Tranøy were merged into one municipality. It is located in the traditional district of Hålogaland. ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality was the village of

Skaland or is a village in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The village is located on the shores of the Bergsfjorden on the northwest side of the Senja (island), island of Senja, about to the southwest of the village of Senjahopen and about ...

. Other villages included

Finnsæter Finnsæter is a small village in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The village is located on the western coast of the island of Senja, about across the Bergsfjorden from the municipal centre of Skaland or is a village in Senja M ...

Mefjordvær Mefjordvær (historic spelling: ''Medfjordvær'') is a fishing village in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The village is located about northwest of the village of Senjahopen, along the Medfjorden on the northwest coast of the large S ...

, and

Senjahopen Senjahopen or Senjehopen is a village in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway. Senjahopen is located along the Medfjorden on the northwest part of the large island of Senja, where it is one of the most important fishing villages on the isl ...

. The municipality was located on the western part of the large island of Senja. Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 281st largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Berg was also the 406th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 888. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was and its population has decreased by 5.7% over the previous decade. The municipality was the first place in the world to utilize a hydroelectrical

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

in the mining community of Hamn. When the mining industry ceased, the "electrical adventure" did as well. The buildings are still located at Hamn, now functioning as a special hotel/lodge. The first female pastor in the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

, Ingrid Bjerkås, worked in this parish, starting in 1961.

General information

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Berg was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 1 January 1902, the southern part of Berg (population: 1,229) was separated to form the new

Torsken Municipality Torsken () is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality that was located on the western coast of the large Senja (island), island of Senja in Troms Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until ...

. This left Berg with 1,002 residents. The municipal borders did not change after that time. In March 2017, the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

voted to merge Berg Municipality,

Lenvik Municipality Lenvik () is a former municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The municipality was partly situated on the mainland and partly on the island of Senja in what is now Senja Municipali ...

, and

Tranøy Municipality Tranøy () is a former municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality was situated on the southern coast of the large island of Senja. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into the new Senj ...

. The new municipality would encompass the whole island of Senja plus part of the mainland. The new

was established on 1 January 2020.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Berg'' farm () in what is now the village of

. The farm is where Berg Church is located. The name is the same as the word which means "

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 2 October 1987. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"Per

bend sinister In heraldry, a bend is a band or strap running from the upper dexter (the bearer's right side and the viewer's left) corner of the shield to the lower sinister (the bearer's left side, and the viewer's right). Authorities differ as to how m ...

double bevilled

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

and

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaz ...

"'' (). This means the arms have a double bevilled

division of the field In heraldry, the field (heraldry), field (background) of a escutcheon (heraldry), shield can be divided into more than one area, or subdivision, of different tincture (heraldry), tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinary (heral ...

running along a diagonal path (

). The

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) below the line has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

. The field above the line has a tincture of

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms are

canting ' (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: , Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, VOS Spelling: , ) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax () in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely (). Traditional consists of copper wax-con ...

since "berg" means "mountain" in Norwegian and the arms show the profile of the three mountains of Trælen, Oksen, and Kjølva. The colors represent "winter darkness", "black sea", and "toward brighter times." The arms were designed by Rolf Tidemann.

Churches

The

had one parish () within Berg Municipality. It was part of the Senja prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms and Finnmark counties as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral, t ...

Geography

The municipality faced the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

on the west side of the large island of Senja. The largest urban area in Berg was the village of

. The highest point in the municipality (and on the whole island of

Senja or is an island in Senja Municipality in Troms county, Norway in northern Europe. With an area of , it is the second largest island in Norway (outside of the Svalbard archipelago). It has a wild, mountainous outer (western) side facing the A ...

) was the tall mountain Breidtinden. There were three large

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

s that cut into the municipality: Bergsfjorden, Ersfjorden, and Mefjorden.

Climate

Government

While it existed, Berg Municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality fell under the

Senja District Court Senja District Court () was a district court located in the town of Finnsnes in Troms county, Norway. The court served the central and southeastern part of the county which included the municipalities of Bardu, Berg, Dyrøy, Lenvik, Målselv, ...

and the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Municipal council

The

of Berg was made up of 15 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Mayors

The

() of Berg was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position (incomplete list): *1902-1907: Kristian Fredriksen Finborud *1917-1919: Rudolf Brox *1928-1932: Jørgen Pedersen *1946-1948: Johannes Schanke ( V) *1951-1959: Eivind Kristian Midtgård ( Ap) *1971-1975: Inge Mikalsen ( Ap) *1975-1979: Nils Heiberg ( LL) *1979-1995: Roald Johan Nymo ( Ap) *1995-2007: Trond Abelsen ( Ap) *2007-2011: Jan Harald Jansen ( Ap) *2011-2015: Guttorm Nergård ( V) *2015-2019: Roar Jakobsen ( LL)

References

{{authority control Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 2020 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 2020