Hå is a municipality

Municipalities of Norway

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...

 in Rogaland

Rogaland

is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%...

 county

Counties of Norway

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 430 municipalities...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Hå is the southernmost municipality in the district Jæren

Jæren

Jæren is a traditional district in the county of Rogaland. The others are Dalane, Ryfylke and Haugalandet.Jæren is the largest flat lowland area in Norway, stretching from the municipality of Randaberg in the north to Hå in the south. The coast is flat compared to the rest of the Norwegian coast,...

.

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

Formannskapsdistrikt

Formannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...

). It was divided into Nærbø

Nærbø

Nærbø is the biggest village in the municipality of Hå, situated in the southern corner of the region of Rogaland. According to the Norwegian bureau of statistics the population of Nærbø was 5881 on January 1, 2009...

 and Varhaug

Varhaug

Varhaug is a village in the district of Jæren, Norway and is the administrative centre and the second largest village in Hå municipality. It was also the administrative centre for the former municipality Varhaug. It was founded in the late 19th century and expanded around the local train station in...

 in 1894. The municipality of Hå was (re)created after the merger of Nærbø, Varhaug, and Ogna

Ogna

Ogna is a village and former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway.Ogna was separated from Eigersund in 1839. It was merged with Nærbø and Varhaug to create the old municipality of Hå January 1, 1964....

 on 1 January 1964. In local politics, the divisions between the three previous municipalities are very visible.

Name

The municipality is named after the old Hå farm (Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

: Háar). The meaning of the name is unknown.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is from modern times. They were granted on 5 July 1991. The arms show a special type of local winch

Winch

A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in or let out or otherwise adjust the "tension" of a rope or wire rope . In its simplest form it consists of a spool and attached hand crank. In larger forms, winches stand at the heart of machines as diverse as tow trucks, steam shovels and...

, used to remove stones from the fields. It also symbolizes the hard living on the rocky soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

s of the municipality.

Settlements

List of villages in Hå

Name	Population	Area (km²)	Residents per km²
Brusand Brusand Brusand is a village in the municipality of Hå, Norway. Its population is 384.Brusand is a train station on Jærbanen. Only local trains stop at Brusand ....	392	0.23	1,704
Hæen Hæen Hæen is a village in Hå municipality, Rogaland county. The village has a population of 299, as of 2008. Hæen lies between Vigrestad and Brusand....	301	0.26	1,158
Nærbø Nærbø Nærbø is the biggest village in the municipality of Hå, situated in the southern corner of the region of Rogaland. According to the Norwegian bureau of statistics the population of Nærbø was 5881 on January 1, 2009...	5,881	2.99	1,967
Ogna Ogna Ogna is a village and former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway.Ogna was separated from Eigersund in 1839. It was merged with Nærbø and Varhaug to create the old municipality of Hå January 1, 1964....	376	0.34	1,106
Sirevåg Sirevåg Sirevåg is a village in the municipality of Hå, Norway. Its population is 385.Sirevåg is a train station on Jærbanen. Only local trains stop at Sirevåg ....	455	0.68	669
Varhaug Varhaug Varhaug is a village in the district of Jæren, Norway and is the administrative centre and the second largest village in Hå municipality. It was also the administrative centre for the former municipality Varhaug. It was founded in the late 19th century and expanded around the local train station in...	2,619	1.57	1,668
Vigrestad Vigrestad Vigrestad is a village in the municipality of Hå, Norway. Its population was 1850 in 2009. It is situated approximately 32 metres above sea level and 7, 5 km from Varhaug, which is the municipality's administrative centre....	1,850	1.27	1,457

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
  Statistics Norway
  Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...