Sørreisa
Encyclopedia
Sørreisa is a municipality
Municipalities of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...

 in Troms
Troms
or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...

 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...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sørreisa.

General information

The municipality of Sørreisen was established on 1 September 1886 when it was separated from the municipality of Tranøy
Tranøy
Tranøy is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality is situated on the southern coast of the island Senja. The municipal centre is the village of Vangsvik in the east. Stonglandseidet and Å in the west are other population centers. The now abandoned island of Tranøya, with its 18th...

. The initial population of Sørreisen was 1,361. Later the spelling was changed to Sørreisa. On 1 January 1964, the part of Sørreisa on the island of Senja
Senja
Senja is the second largest island in Norway . It is located along the Troms county coastline with Finnsnes as the closest town. Senja is connected to the mainland by the Gisund Bridge. The municipalities located on Senja are Lenvik , Berg, Torsken, and Tranøy...

 (population: 129) was transferred to the municipality of Lenvik
Lenvik
Lenvik is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality is partly situated on the mainland, partly on the island of Senja. The administrative center is the town of Finnsnes, where the Gisund Bridge connects Senja to the mainland by road. Other settlements include Aglapsvik, Gibostad,...

.

Name

The municipality is named after the Reisafjorden (originally Reisa), which again is named after the Reisaelva (the "Reisa river" - originally Reisa). The river name is derived from the verb rísa which means "raise" (referring to flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

ing). The first element Sør was added to distinguish the municipality from Nordreisa
Nordreisa
Nordreisa is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Storslett.The municipality consists of the valley of Reisadalen, with the Reisa river and deep pine forests, surrounded by mountains and high plateaus. Most people live in...

. The municipality was originally named Sørreisen.

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 7 September 1984. The arms show three gold star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

s on a red background. It was derived from the oldest known seal in the municipality, a 17th century seal of Jacob Hansen Kinapel, who was a police sergeant in Sørreisa from 1715 to 1748.

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...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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