Fana is a former municipality in the old

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

county in

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 was located in the central part of the Bergen Peninsula, south of the city of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

. 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 Nesttun. The roughly municipality existed from 1838 until 1972 when it had 44,402 residents, making it one of the most populous municipalities in the nation. The area of the former municipality encompassed the southern half of the present-day

Bergen Municipality Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county, it specifically included the present-day boroughs of

Fyllingsdalen Fyllingsdalen () is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located southwest of the city centre in the Fyllingsdalen valley, west of the mountain Løvstakken. The neighbourhoods of Fyllingsdalen mainly consis ...

Ytrebygda Ytrebygda is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is the site of Bergen Flesland Airport. Location Ytrebygda is located southwest of the city center, south of the Grimstadfjorden and the lake Nordåsvannet. ...

, and Fana, as well as the southern part of the borough of Årstad. The historic

Fana Church Fana Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Bergen Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in Fanahammeren, a village in the borough of Fana in the city of Bergen. It is one of the two churches for the Fana paris ...

was the main church for the municipality.

History

Fana - no-nb digifoto 20151008 00062 NB MIT FNR 07980 A

Udvalgte norske Nationaldragter - no-nb digibok 2012022813001-51

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 "Fane" was established as a

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 ...

, the predecessor of today's municipalities ''("kommune")'', on 1 January 1838. The spelling was later changed to "Fana". In 1879, a small area of Fana (population: 18) was transferred to the

Laksevåg Laksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located in the western part of the municipality. Historically, the area was called ''Laxevaag'', and it was a separate municipality until 1972 when it was ...

area of the neighboring Askøy Municipality. On 12 August 1955, the northern part of /the

valley in Fana (population: 1,590) was sold to the city of

for . This gave the city a lot of room to grow. On 1 January 1966, another small border adjustment took place: a small part of Fana located along the lake Ortuvatnet in Fyllingsdalen (population: 4) was transferred to the city of Bergen. On 1 January 1972, the municipality of Fana (population: 44,402) was merged into the city of Bergen in addition to the other neighboring municipalities of Arna,

, and

Åsane Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre. Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on ...

, forming a much larger city-municipality of Bergen.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Fana'' farm () since the first

was built there. The meaning of the name is uncertain and there are several possibilities for its meaning. One option is that it is the

dative case In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a drink". In this examp ...

of which means "

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

" or "

marshland In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

". Another possibility is that it comes from a local dialect word which means "dust" or "ash". A third possibility is that it comes from a

Gothic language Gothic is an extinct language, extinct East Germanic languages, East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only Ea ...

word which means "piece of cloth". Regardless of its meaning, it is thought that the farm was named after the local Fanafjorden or a local mountain. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Fane''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Fana''.

Government

During its existence, this municipality was 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 ...

was

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.

Municipal council

The

of Laksevåg was made up of 53 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

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 ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors

The

mayors 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 ...

() of Fana: *1838-1839: Ivar Munthe Daae *1840-1843: Jens Kobro Daae *1844-1855: Wollert Konow Sr. *1856-1865: Hans Jensen Krog *1866-1867: Nils Nilsson Nøttveit *1868-1869: Rasmus Larsen Bøgenes *1870-1873: Kolbein Karlsen Fantoft *1874-1879: Nils Nilsen Nøttveit *1880-1883: Wollert Konow Jr. *1884-1885: Ole Torbjørnsen Myklestad *1886-1891: Wollert Konow Jr. *1892-1893: Steffen Sælen *1894-1901: Wollert Konow Jr. *1902-1907: Steffen Sælen *1908-1910: Ivar Bergersen Sælen *1911-1913: Steffen Sælen *1914-1916: Ivar Bergersen Sælen *1917-1918: Georg Sivert *1920-1925: Fredrik Odfjell *1926-1931: Wilhelm Mohr *1932-1940: Hjalmar Negaard *1945-1956: Jacob Meland *1956-1959: Kaare Meland *1959-1971: Jacob L. Berstad

References