Tjeldsund is a municipality

Municipalities of Norway

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

 in Nordland

Nordland

is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is...

 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...

. It is part of the Ofoten

Ofoten

Ofoten is a district in North Norway, consisting of the municipalities Tysfjord, Ballangen, Evenes, Tjeldsund, Narvik and Lødingen. It is named after the main fjord Ofotfjord, which is at the center of this landscape...

 traditional region

Districts of Norway

The country Norway is historically divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords,...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hol i Tjeldsund

Hol, Nordland

Hol is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway.It was created by a split from Buksnes on July 1, 1919. At that time Hol had a population of 2 272....

. Tjeldsund was separated from the municipality of Lødingen

Lødingen

Lødingen is a village and municipality in Nordland in Northern Norway. Lødingen is located on the southeastern corner of the island Hinnøya, and is part of the Ofoten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lødingen.Lødingen was established as a...

 in 1909.

Villages in Tjeldsund include Fjelldal

Fjelldal

Fjelldal is a village in Tjeldsund municipality, Norway. It is located on the eastern bank of Tjeldsundet, between Ramsund and Evenskjer. The city Harstad is located about 45 kilometres north of Fjelldal, and Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes is reachable by car in a 15-minute drive.The population of...

 and Ramsund

Ramsund, Norway

Ramsund is a small village in the municipality of Tjeldsund, Norway.Elevation: Ramsund lies near the fjord. Population: 289....

. Norges Brannskole (The Norwegian education and training center for firemen) is situated in the municipality. Marinejegerkommandoen

Marinejegerkommandoen

Marinejegerkommandoen is a Norwegian maritime special forces unit. It was formally established in 1951. It is located in Ramsund in the northern part of Norway and at Haakonsvern Naval Base in Bergen...

 is based at Ramsund.

Name

The municipality is named after the Tjeldsundet

Tjeldsundet

Tjeldsundet is the sound or strait that is located between the island Hinnøya and mainland Norway in the northern part, and in the southern part it is between Hinnøya and Tjeldøya island...

 strait

Strait

A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...

 between Tjeldøya

Tjeldøya

Tjeldøya is an island in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in Tjeldsund municipality. Its area is 187 km²....

 and Hinnøya

Hinnøya

-Geography and environment:Covering an area of , it is the fourth-largest island in the country, and the largest off the mainland. The western part of the island is in the Vesterålen district, while the southwestern part is in Lofoten. As of 2006, it had a population of 31,851, of which the only...

. The first element is the (uncompounded) 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....

 name of Tjeldøya (Tjöld or Tjalda) and the last element is sund which means "strait" or "sound". The name of the island is probably derived from tjald which means "tent" or tjaldr which means "oystercatcher

Oystercatcher

The oystercatchers are a group of waders; they form the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia...

 (Haematopus ostralegus)".

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 in 1990. The arms show an Anthony's cross

Cross of Tau

The Cross of Tau, named after the Greek letter it resembles, is suspected to have originated with the Egyptians. When a King was initiatied into the Egyptian mysteries a tau was placed against his lips. It has been a symbol to many cultures before Christianity, including a mention in the Old...

 and as a canting

Canting arms

Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...

 of the letter T

T

T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets...

for Tjeldsund.