Nord-Rana (historically: ''Mo'') is a former municipality in

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

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 existed from 1839 until its dissolution in 1964. From 1839 until 1844, it was named ''Nord-Ranen Municipality'', from 1844 until 1923, it was called ''Mo Municipality'', and then from 1923 until 1964 it was named ''Nord-Rana Municipality''. The former municipality was located at the innermost part of the

Ranfjorden RanfjordenIn English this means ''the Ran fjord''; the ''-en'' in the full name is a suffix meaning 'the' in Norwegian. is a fjord in the Helgeland district of Nordland county, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic ...

. It encompassed the eastern 90% of what is now

Rana Municipality or is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mo i Rana, which houses the National Library of Norway. Other population centers in R ...

. 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 ...

was the village of

Ytteren Ytteren is a neighborhood within the town of Mo i Rana in Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Ytteren and the neighboring village of Båsmoen make up the northern parts of the town of Mo i Rana. They are both located on the northern ed ...

, just north of the town of

Mo i Rana (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ) or (and unofficially , ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city, and the administrative centre of Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just sou ...

Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 4th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Nord-Rana Municipality was the 64th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 10,648. 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 had increased by 42.3% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

was established on 1 January 1838 under the old

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. Shortly afterwards, in 1839, the municipality was divided into ''Nord-Ranen Municipality'' and '' Sør-Ranen Municipality''. In 1844, ''Nord-Ranen Municipality'' was renamed ''Mo Municipality''. On 1 January 1923, the village of Mo was designated as a ladested and so it was separated from the rest of the municipality to become a town-municipality of its own. The new town of Mo (population: 1,305) kept the name ''Mo'' and the rest of the old municipality became known as Nord-Rana Municipality (bringing back the old name for the area). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, Nord-Rana Municipality (population: 11,636) was merged with the town of

(population: 9,616), the part of

Sør-Rana Municipality Sør-Rana is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1929 until its dissolution in 1964. The areais now part of Hemnes Municipality. (Hemnes Municipality was also named ''Sør-Rana'' from 1838 until 1844) ...

located north of the

(population: 697), and the Sjona area of

Nesna Municipality Nesna is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Nesna (village), v ...

(population: 543) to create the large, new

Name

The municipality is named ''Nord-Rana''. The first element is ''nord'' which directly translates to "northern". The second element is ''Rana'' which comes from the local river

Ranelva Ranelva is a long river in Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is one of the longest rivers in Nordland county. The catchment area of the river is . Before the power stations of ''Reinforsen'' (1925) and Langvatnet (1964) were bui ...

(). The name of the river is probably derived from the word which means "quick", "fast", or "rapid". Another possibility is that the name comes from the old Sami god

Rana Niejta Rana Niejta and Rana Niejte are variant forms of the Ume Sami name of a goddess in Sami religion, Sami mythology. In Northern Sami she is called Rana Neida and Rana Neide (names in other Sami languages are Rana Nieda, Ruona Neida, Radien-neide and ...

Geography

The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Snøtinden. The former municipality was located at the innermost part of the

Saltdal Municipality Saltdal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of ...

Beiarn Municipality Beiarn is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. Beiarn is also a part of the Bodø Region, a statistical metropolitan region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village ...

, and

Meløy Municipality Meløy is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Salten Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ørnes. O ...

were located to the north;

Rødøy Municipality Rødøy is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Våga ...

and

were located to the west;

was located to the southwest; and the nation of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

was located to the east. The self-governing town of Mo was located within Nord-Rana Municipality as an

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

Government

While it existed, Nord-Rana 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 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. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of 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 Nord-Rana was made up of 35 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 Nord-Rana was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position: * 1838–1842: Hans Wølner * 1842–1844: Johannes Hansen * 1844–1847: Holger Olsen Enge * 1848–1851: Agathon Bartholomæus Hansteen * 1852–1854: Johannes Hansen * 1854–1856: Jens Jensen Yttermark * 1857–1860: Jakob Jæger * 1860–1864: Jens Jensen Yttermark * 1865–1866: Peder Johanessen * 1867–1874: Jens Pedersen Ånes * 1874–1877: Jens Jensen Yttermark * 1877–1883: Jonas Frost Enga * 1883–1888: Anders Bang Hanssen Leirbakhei * 1889–1894: Hans P. Johnsen * 1895–1901: Jakob Thode Jakobsen * 1902–1907: Einar Nilsen * 1908–1910: Ragnvald Hvoslef * 1911–1913: Peder Pedersen * 1914–1916: Johannes Skaar * 1917–1922: Redvald Knudtson * 1923-1924: Peder Pedersen Ytteren ( Bp) * 1925-1939: Åsmund Olsen Selfors ( NKP) * 1940-1940: Einar Aanes ( Ap) * 1945-1950: Einar Aanes ( Ap) * 1950-1963: Eilif M. Davidsen ( Ap) * 1963-1964: Per Karstensen ( Ap)

References

{{Authority control Rana, Norway Former municipalities of Norway 1839 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1839 Populated places disestablished in 1964