Trondenes is an old parish and former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located along the western shore of the Vågsfjorden in what is now Harstad Municipality. Trondenes included the majority of the island of Grytøya and part of the eastern coast of the island of Hinnøya as well as some smaller islands. Located just north of the town of Harstad, the village of Trondenes was the

administrative centre An administrative center 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 administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality. That village is also the site of the historic Trondenes Church, the northernmost medieval stone church in Norway. The

Trondenes Historical Center Trondenes Historical Center ( no, Trondenes Historiske Senter) is a museum located in Trondenes, in the town of Harstad, in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The museum covers the history of Trondenes and the surrounding areas. The museum displayi ...

was built in 1997 near the church to teach about the history of the area.

Trondenes Fort Trondenes Fort is a fort situated on the Trondenes peninsula in the municipality of Harstad in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located about north of the town of Harstad. The fort has been the main base for the Norwegian Coastal Ranger ...

is also located on the Trondenes peninsula.

History

The parish of Trondenes was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

). The village of Harstad (population: 1,246) was declared a ladested and was therefore separated from Trondenes on 1 January 1904 to become a separate municipality. This left Trondenes with 7,775 inhabitants. On 1 January 1912, part of southern Trondenes (population: 291) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Evenes (in

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

county). On 1 July 1926, the municipality of Trondenes was divided into three separate municipalities. The areas east of the Tjeldsundet strait and east of the Vågsfjorden (population: 2,443) became the municipality of Skånland and the areas on the west side of the Tjeldsundet and Vågsfjorden were split two ways. The southern part (population: 4,224) became the municipality of Sandtorg and the northern part (population: 3,429) remained as the municipality of Trondenes. On 25 October 1956, a small border adjustment was made between Trondenes and the neighboring Kvæfjord Municipality. This resulted in 32 inhabitants becoming residents of Trondenes. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Trondenes municipality (population: 6,567), Sandtorg municipality (population: 7,512), the town of Harstad (population: 3,808) were merged to form a new, larger Harstad Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) was named after the old ''Trondenes'' farm ( Old Norse: ''Þróndarnes''), since the first Trondenes Church was built there. The first element is the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of ''þróndr'' which means " hog" and the last element is ''nes'' which means "

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

". The shape of the headland was probably compared with the

snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is c ...

of a hog.

Government

Municipal council

The municipal council of Trondenes was made up of 29 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council was as follows:

Media gallery

Trondenes.jpg, 10 Harstad Trondenes Church.jpg, Trondenes Historical Center.jpg, Harstad Trondenes.jpg, Trondenes, Kasgjord, Troms - Riksantikvaren-T432 01 0481.jpg, Trondenes - no-nb digifoto 20160511 00163 NB MIT FNR 09399.jpg, Kasfjord fra Nupen.JPG, Harstad, Norway - panoramio (4).jpg, Grytøya Alvestad Troms Norway.jpg,

References

External links

*
German Gun Battery on the peninsula Trondenes
{{Authority control Harstad Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway