Gjesdal

This article is about the municipality in Norway. For the village in Rogaland, Norway, see Gjesdal (village).
Gjesdal kommune
Gjestal (historic)
Municipality

View of the Gjesdal landscape

Coat of arms
Rogaland within
Norway

Gjesdal within Rogaland
Coordinates: 58°46′55″N 06°00′31″E / 58.78194°N 6.00861°E / 58.78194; 6.00861Coordinates: 58°46′55″N 06°00′31″E / 58.78194°N 6.00861°E / 58.78194; 6.00861
Country Norway
County Rogaland
District Jæren
Administrative centre Ålgård
Government
 • Mayor (2013) Frode Fjeldsbø (Ap)
Area
 • Total 617.95 km2 (238.59 sq mi)
 • Land 558.20 km2 (215.52 sq mi)
 • Water 59.75 km2 (23.07 sq mi)
Area rank 180 in Norway
Population (2015)
 • Total 11,600
 • Rank 98 in Norway
 • Density 20.8/km2 (54/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 25.1% %
Demonym(s) Gjesdalbu[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1122
Official language form Neutral
Website www.gjesdal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Gjesdal is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ålgård. Other villages in Gjesdal include Dirdal, Frafjord, Gilja, Gjesdal, and Oltedal. The 618-square-kilometre (239 sq mi) municipality lies about 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the southwest of the city of Stavanger in southwestern Norway.[2]

The European route E39 highway runs through the western side of the municipality. On the east side of the municipality, the Frafjord Tunnel connects the Frafjord valley with the rest of the municipality.

General information

Map of Gjesdal
Høgsfjorden in front, Frafjorden in the back, looking east. Gjesdal includes everything in the forefront and right side, Forsand is on the left-back of the fjord.
View of Oltedal

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gjesdal farm (Old Norse: Gesdalir), since the first Gjesdal Church was built there. The first element is probably an old river name and the last element is the plural form of dalr which means "valley" or "dale".[3]

Before 1889, the name was written Gjæsdal, which is the Danish spelling. During the period from 1889-1917 it was spelled Gjesdal (Norwegian language version). Then starting in 1918, it was spelled Gjestal after the pronunciation of the local dialect (the d in dal is pronounced t because of the voiceless consonant s in front). In 1964, the spelling was changed back to the etymologically correct form of Gjesdal.[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 15 March 1985. The arms show a white sheep's head on a blue background. The sheet was chosen as a symbol because sheep breeding and wool manufacturing have both been important throughout the history of Gjesdal. The wool industry was centered in the village of Ålgård where wool, textile, and clothing businesses have thrived.[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Gjesdal. It is part of the Jæren deanery in the Diocese of Stavanger.

Churches in Gjesdal
Parish (Sokn)Church NameLocation of the ChurchYear Built
GjesdalDirdal ChurchDirdal1903
Gjesdal ChurchGjesdal1848
Oltedal ChurchOltedal2002
ÅlgårdÅlgård ChurchÅlgård2015
Old Ålgård ChurchÅlgård1917

History

The parish of Gjæsdal was established as a municipality in 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It originally was much smaller than it is today, centered around the Gjesdalen valley in the western part of the present-day municipality. On 1 January 1965, there were many major municipal changes in Norway due to the recommendations of the Schei Committee. On that date several areas were merged together to form a much larger municipality of Gjesdal:[6]

On 1 January 1970, an unpopulated area of Time was transferred to Gjesdal. Then on 1 January 1989, another small, unpopulated area of Time was transferred to Gjesdal.[6]

Government

View of the Månafossen waterfall

All municipalities in Norway, including Gjesdal, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Gjesdal is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to every four years. For 2011–2015, the party breakdown is as follows:[7]

Gjesdal Kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party NameName in NorwegianNumber of
representatives
 Labour PartyArbeiderpartiet10
 Progress PartyFremskrittspartiet4
 Conservative PartyHøyre4
 Christian Democratic PartyKristelig Folkeparti6
 Centre PartySenterpartiet3
Total number of members:27

Geography

Gjesdal municipality is located in the southern part of the Jæren district in Rogaland county. To the northwest, Gjesdal borders the municipality of Sandnes, to the north is Forsand municipality, to the east is Sirdal municipality (in Vest-Agder county), to the south is Bjerkreim municipality, and to the west is the municipality of Time.

Gjesdal sits at the head of the Høgsfjorden and along the south and east sides of the Frafjorden. The Månafossen waterfall, the largest waterfall in Rogaland county, is located in the Frafjord valley. There are several large lakes in the municipality such as Edlandsvatnet, Flassavatnet, Limavatnet, and Oltedalsvatnet. The Figgjoelva river has its headwaters in Gjesdal also.

Notable residents

References

  1. ↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. ↑ Store norske leksikon. "Gjesdal" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  3. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1915). Norske gaardnavne: Stavanger amt (in Norwegian) (10 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 155–159.
  4. ↑ Store norske leksikon. "Gjestal" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  5. ↑ "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  6. 1 2 Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  7. ↑ "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.