Varaldsøy 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 existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1965. The municipality encompassed the whole island of

Varaldsøy Varaldsøy is an island (and village) in the municipality of Kvinnherad in Vestland county, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe ...

and a wide strip of the mainland west of the island. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village area of Varaldsøy on the southern part of the island, where

Varaldsøy Church Varaldsøy Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Kvinnherad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the island of Varaldsøy. It is the church for the Varaldsøy parish which is part of the Sunnhordland prosti ...

is located. Varaldsoy kirke 2

History

On 1 January 1902, the southern district of the municipality of

Strandebarm Strandebarm is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The original municipality was large, spanning both sides of the central part of the Hardangerfjorden. It also included the island of Varaldsøy. Over time, the municipa ...

was separated to become the new municipality of Varaldsøy. Initially, Varaldsøy had a population of 848. 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, the municipality of Varaldsøy was dissolved and its lands were split between two neighboring municipalities. The

Mundheim Mundheim is a small village in the municipality of Kvam in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the southern part of the municipality, along the Hardangerfjorden, just northwest of the island of Varaldsøy. The village sits at the junction ...

area northwest of the island on the mainland (population: 300) was incorporated into

Kvam Municipality Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger set ...

, and the island of Varaldsøy and the rest of the mainland area southwest of the island (population: 511) became a part of

Kvinnherad Municipality Kvinnherad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in size in former Hordaland county. The administrative centre of the mu ...

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 island of

(). The first element comes from the old male name . The last element is which means "

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Varaldsø''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Varaldsøy''. The letter ''y'' was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name ( is the Danish word for "island" and is the Norwegian word).

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.

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 Varaldsøy: *1902-1919: Nils Dybsland *1920-1922: Nils Kårstad *1923-1925: Torbjørn Galtung *1926-1928: Erik Skjelnæs *1929-1931: Nils Dybsland *1932-1940: Kristoffer Mundheim *1941-1942: Lars Nedrevåge *1942-1945: Sverre Mundheim *1945-1945: Kristoffer Mundheim *1946-1961: Lars Gerhard Sandvik *1961-1963: Arnt Johan Pettersen *1964-1965: Haktor Djuvsland

Municipal council

The

of Varaldsøy was made up of 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:

References