Sunnylven is a former municipality in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

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 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. Since that time, it has made up the southern part of the present-day

Stranda Municipality Stranda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stranda, ...

. It encompassed the areas around the

Sunnylvsfjorden Sunnylvsfjorden is a fjord in Stranda Municipality and Fjord Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The long Sunnylvsfjorden is one of the innermost branches of the large Storfjorden. The fjord ranges from wide and reaches below sea ...

and

Geirangerfjorden or is a fjord in the Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located entirely in Stranda Municipality. It is a branch off the Sunnylvsfjorden, which itself is a branch off the Storfjorden (). The small village of Geiranger ...

. The village of

Hellesylt Hellesylt is a small village in Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village lies at the head of the Sunnylvsfjorden, which is a branch of the Storfjorden, and which the more famous Geirangerfjorden in turn branches off ...

was 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 and

Geiranger Geiranger is a small tourist village in Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal county in the western part of Norway. It is located in Stranda Municipality at the head of the Geirangerfjorden, which is a branch of the large Storfjorden (Sunnmøre), ...

was the other main population centre in Sunnylven. The main church for the municipality was

Sunnylven Church Sunnylven Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hellesylt, at the end of the Sunnylvsfjorden. It is the church for the Sunnylven parish whi ...

in Hellesylt. Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the municipality was the 184th largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. Sunnylven Municipality was the 472nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,226. 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 decreased by 5.6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Sunnylven was established 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). According to the 1835 census, Sunnylven had a population of 1,476. 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 1965, Sunnylven Municipality (population: 1,221) and

(population: 3,453) were merged to form a new, larger

Name

The municipality (originally 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 ...

) is named after the

(). The first element is which means "southern". This is likely referring to the fact that the main Storfjorden splits into two branches:

Norddalsfjorden Norddalsfjorden is a branch off of the main Storfjorden (Sunnmøre), Storfjorden in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The fjord is located in Fjord Municipality and a small part is also in Stranda Municipality. The fjord is long, when you include ...

(in the north) and

(in the south). The last element is which is frequently used in the

Sunnmøre Sunnmøre (, ) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities () of Fjord, Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Sande, Haram, Stranda Mu ...

area in the names of

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. It possibly comes from the word which means "low, wet terrain". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Sunnelven''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Sunnylven''.

Churches

The

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 ...

had two parishes () within Sunnylven Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Sunnylven

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

and the Austre Sunnmøre 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 Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

Geography

The municipality encompassed the areas around the

and

. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Blåfjellet, near the border with Norddal Municipality.

Hjørundfjord Municipality Hjørundfjord is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Ørsta Municipality in the traditional district of Sunnmøre. The administrati ...

was located to the northwest,

was located to the north, Norddal Municipality was located to the east,

Skjåk Municipality Skjåk is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bi ...

was located to the southeast (in

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...

county), and

Stryn Municipality Stryn is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Stryn. The municipality is located along the innermost part of th ...

was located to the south (in

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...

county).

Government

While it existed, Sunnylven 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

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. These areas constitute the ...

Municipal council

The

of Sunnylven was made up of 17 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 Sunnylven was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position (incomplete list): *1840–1840: Amund Olsen Kjelstad *1846–1848: Knut Syltevig *1849–1852: Nils O. Langeland *1860–1860: Nils O. Langeland *1869–1869: Knut Syltevig *1870–1877: Andreas Stadheim *1877–1914: Ole Ingebrigtsen Langeland ( V) *1914–1920: Peter Andreas Lillebø *1920–1941: Knut Stadheim *1941–1944: Peter A. Gausdal ( NS) *1945–1945: Knut Stadheim *1946–1948: Peder Kristian Frøysa *1948–1951: Aamund Lillebø *1951–1955: Stefan Aasen *1955–1959: Ivar N. Hole ( V) *1959–1963: Knut Martin Stadheim *1963–1964: Ivar N. Hole ( V)

References

{{Authority control Stranda Sunnmøre Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1965 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 1965