Ålvundeid is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The 179 km2 municipality existed from 1899 until its dissolution in 1960. It had one of the smallest municipal populations in Norway. It was located in the northern part of the present-day Sunndal Municipality. The old municipality included the Innerdalen valley and the Ålvund valley area. The administrative centre was the village of Ålvundeidet, also where the Ålvundeid Church is located.

History

The municipality of Ulvundeidet was established on 1 January 1899 when it was split off from Øksendal municipality. The new municipality had an initial population of 462, making it one of the smallest municipalities in the county. The name was later changed to Ålvundeid. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1960, Ålvundeid Municipality (population: 513) was merged with Øksendal Municipality (population: 497) and Sunndal Municipality (population: 5,851) to form a new, larger Sunndal Municipality.

Name

The municipality is named after the old Ålvund farm and the isthmus on which it is located. The first element comes from the word which used to mean "gravel" or "gravelly ground". The last element is which means "isthmus", since the old farm was located on a small isthmus between the Sunndalsfjorden and the Ålvundfjorden. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Ulvundeidet. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Aalvundeid. On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Aalvundeid with the digraph "Aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Ålvundeid, using the letter Å instead.

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.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Ålvundeid was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: