Finnås 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,

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, which existed from 1838 until 1916, was located in the traditional district of

Sunnhordland Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Harda ...

. Originally, the municipality encompassed all of the island of Bømlo, the small surrounding islands, and the mainland located south of the

Bømlafjorden Bømlafjorden () is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord is the outer-most part of the Hardangerfjord, running between the island of Bømlo (in Bømlo Municipality) and the mainland ( Sveio Municipality). The Bømlafjord Tunnel crosse ...

. It was located in the present-day municipalities of

Bømlo Bømlo () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre of the muni ...

and

Sveio Sveio is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county, Norway. Sveio is a border district that is sometimes considered to be located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Haugalandet since it is located on th ...

. The ''Kulleseid Canal'' is a canal that was built in the 1800s on a small

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

on the island of Bømlo. It enabled boats to journey between the east and west sides of Bømlo island. Today the channel is surrounded by a small trading center and tourist center, and it is a popular guest harbor.

History

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 ''Findaas'' 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). In 1865, the southern mainland district of Findaas (population: 2,237) and the

Vikebygd Vikebygd is a village in Vindafjord municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located along the Ålfjorden, about straight west of the village of Ølensvåg. The village was the administrative centre of the former municipality o ...

area of the neighboring municipality of

Fjelberg Fjelberg is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1965 when it was dissolved. In 1965, the municipality covered , mostly islands and a small area on the mainland. It encompassed par ...

(population: 1,062) were merged to form the new municipality of '' Sveen''. On 1 January 1868, a small part of Finnaas (population: 10) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Fitje. On 1 April 1870, the Øklandsgrend area (population: 247) was transferred from Finnaas to the neighboring municipality of

Stord Stord is a municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since i ...

. The spelling of the name changed slightly over time from ''Findaas'' to ''Finnaas'' and then finally to ''Finnås''. On 1 July 1916, the municipality of Finnås was split to create three new (smaller) municipalities: *

Bremnes Bremnes is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1916 until 1963, when it was merged into the new municipality of Bømlo which is now part of Vestland county. The administrative centre of the ...

(population: 3,411), the northern/western half of the island of

and smaller surrounding islands *

Moster Moster is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1916 until 1963, when it was merged into the new, larger municipality of Bømlo. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village o ...

(population: 1,316), the southeastern peninsula on the island of Bømlo, the island of

, and the smaller surrounding islands * Bømmel (population: 1,217), the southwestern peninsula on the island of Bømlo and smaller surrounding islands (later renamed ''Bømlo''). On 1 January 1963, the three municipalities were merged into a new, larger

Bømlo Municipality Bømlo () is a municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Svortland. Other villages in Bømlo in ...

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the ''Finnaas'' farm since the

Old Moster Church Old Moster Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Bømlo Municipality in Vestland county, Norway, and it is one of the oldest churches in all of Norway. It is located in the village of Mosterhamn on the Moster (island), island of ...

was built there. The name is relative new name with very little historical record. The first element is which is the local name for a type of grass known as

Nardus stricta ''Nardus'' is a genus of plants belonging to the grass family, containing the single species ''Nardus stricta'', known as matgrass. It is placed in its own tribe Nardeae within the subfamily Pooideae. The name derives from ancient Greek ' () fro ...

. The last element is which means "hill". Thus it means a hill with "finn" grass. During its time as a municipality, it was always spelled ''Finnaas''. On 21 December 1917 (after the municipality had been dissolved and merged into Bømlo), a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Finnaas'' with the

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

" aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Finnås'', using the letter å instead. Since then, when referring to the old municipality, the new spelling is used, but the letter "å" was never used while the municipality existed.

Notable people

* Haldor Andreas Haldorsen (1883–1965), a politician elected to the

Norwegian Parliament 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 ...

from

* Ola Olsen (1891–1973), a politician elected to the

from

* Gerhard Meidell Gerhardsen (1885–1931), a bailiff and politician for the Conservative Party and Centre Party * Gerhard Meidell Gerhardsen (1912–1986), an economist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnaas Bømlo Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1916 disestablishments in Norway

History

Name

Notable people

See also

References