Skånevik

This article is about the former municipality in Norway. For the village in Sunnhordland, Norway, see Skånevik (village).

Skånevik is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The 588-square-kilometre (227 sq mi) municipality^[3] existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. It included the land surrounding both sides of the Skånevikfjorden and its smaller branches: the Åkrafjorden and Matersfjorden in the present-day Etne Municipality and Kvinnherad Municipality. It also included the eastern part of the island of Halsnøya and stretched quite a ways inland all the way to the Folgefonna glacier. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Skånevik where Skånevik Church is located.^[4]

Skånevik Municipality Skånevik herad
Former municipality
Skaanevik herred  (historic name) Skonevig herred  (historic name)
View of the Åkrafjorden and the Langfossen waterfall
Hordaland within Norway
Skånevik within Hordaland
Coordinates: 59°43′58″N 05°56′15″E
Country	Norway
County	Hordaland
District	Sunnhordland
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Disestablished	1 Jan 1965
• Succeeded by	Kvinnherad and Etne municipalities
Administrative centre	Skånevik
Area  (upon dissolution)
• Total	588 km2 (227 sq mi)
Population  (1964)
• Total	2,705
• Density	4.6/km2 (12/sq mi)
Demonym	Skåneviksbu[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1212[2]
Data from Statistics Norway

History

The parish of Skonevig was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The spelling of the name was changed in the early 20th century to its present spelling of Skånevik. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Skånevik was dissolved due to the recommendations of the Schei Committee during a period of many municipal mergers across Norway. The area of Skånevik situated south of the Skånevikfjord and Åkrafjorden, as well as the parts of Skånevik located north of the fjord and east of the village of Åkra (population: 1,493) were merged with the neighboring municipality of Etne to the south. The rest of Skånevik lying north of the fjord and west of Åkra (population: 1,189), became a part of the neighbouring municipality of Kvinnherad to the north.^[5]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Skaanevik farm (Old Norse: Skǫðinarvik) since the first Skånevik Church was built there. The meaning of the first element is uncertain. It may be the plura form of the word skaði which means "harm" or "danger". The last element is vin which means "meadow" or "pasture".^[6] On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Skaanevik with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Skånevik, using the letter å instead.^[7][8]

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[9]

Municipal council

The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Skånevik was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Skånevik heradsstyre 1960–1963 ^[10]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	5
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	4
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	2
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	3
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	4
Total number of members:		21

Skånevik heradsstyre 1956–1959 ^[11]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	1
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	3
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	1
	List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	12
Total number of members:		21

Skånevik heradsstyre 1952–1955 ^[12]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	7
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	3
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	22
Total number of members:		36

Skånevik heradsstyre 1948–1951 ^[13]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	9
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	4
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	19
Total number of members:		36

Skånevik heradsstyre 1945–1947 ^[14]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	7
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	2
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	3
	List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste)	2
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	20
Total number of members:		36

Skånevik heradsstyre 1938–1941* ^[15]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	8
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	3
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	5
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	18
Total number of members:		36
Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945.

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
2. Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
3. Helland, Amund (1921). "Skaanevik herred". XII Søndre Bergenhus amt. Anden del. Norges land og folk (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 88. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
4. Store norske leksikon. "Skånevik – sogn og tidligere kommune" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 16 March 2015.
5. Jukvam, Dag (1999). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
6. Rygh, Oluf (1910). Norske gaardnavne: Søndre Bergenhus amt (in Norwegian) (11 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 44–45.
7. "Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m". Norsk Lovtidend (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norway: Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri: 1000. 1917.
8. Den Nye rettskrivning : regler og ordlister (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norge: Den Mallingske Boktrykkeri. 1918.
9. Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
10. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
11. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
12. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
13. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
14. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
15. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938. Retrieved 16 May 2020.