Nesna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Nesna. Other villages in Nesna include Handnesneset, Husby, Saura, and Vikholmen. The municipality consists of the three main islands Tomma, Hugla (known as "Hugløy" by its inhabitants), and Handnesøya, and one peninsula that bears the name of the municipality, Nesna. The old Husby Estate is headquartered in Husby on Tomma island. The Coastal Express arrives two times a day at the village of Nesna, the northbound arrives 05:30 and the southbound 11:15. The village of Nesna is also home to the Nesna campus of Nord University, and there is also the KVN High School, and Nesna Church. The 183.2 km2 municipality is the 310th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Nesna is the 294th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,808. The municipality's population density is 9.9 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 4.9% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Nesna was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The western island district of Nesna Municipality (population: 1,348) was separated from Nesna Municipality on 1 July 1888 to form the new Dønnes Municipality. This left Nesna Municipality with 2,958 residents. On 1 January 1919, the Bardalssjøen farm (population: 4) was transferred from Hemnes Municipality to Nesna Municipality. In 1945, a small area of southern Nesna Municipality (population: 26) was transferred to Leirfjord Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, the part of the island of Løkta (population: 80) belonging to Nesna Municipality was transferred to the new Dønna Municipality. The part of the island of Tomma (population: 80) belonging to Dønnes Municipality was transferred to Nesna Municipality. Then on 1 January 1964, the Bardalssjøen area of Nesna Municipality (located south of the Ranfjorden), was transferred to Leirfjord Municipality. On that same date, the part of Nesna around the inner part of the Sjona fjord was transferred to Rana Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Nesna farm since the first Nesna Church was built there. The name is derived from the word which means "headland". Historically, the name of the municiaplity was spelled Nesne. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nesna.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 23 June 1989. The official blazon is "Per chevron inverted Or and Azure". This means the arms have a field (background) that is divided by a line in the form of an inverted chevron pattern. The background above the line has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The background below the line has a tincture of azure. The arms are a canting of the name of the municipality (Nesna comes form nes which means headland in Norwegian). The arms show a yellow-colored "headland" or peninsula surrounded by blue water. The arms were designed by Jarle E. Henriksen.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within Nesna Municipality. It is part of the Nord-Helgeland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Government

Nesna Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Nesna is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Nesna is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:

Geography

The highest point in the municipality is the 921.75 m tall mountain Tommskjevelen. Nesna is located west of Rana Municipality, north of Leirfjord Municipality (across the Ranfjorden), east of Dønna Municipality (an island municipality), and south of Lurøy Municipality.

Farms of Nesna

Historically, the land of Nesna was divided up into named farms. These farms were used in census and tax records and are useful for genealogical research.

Map of the farms

Note that each map has a maximum number of listings it can display, so the map has been divided into parts consistent with the enumeration districts in the 1920 census. This map includes one farm name per farm number; other farm names or subdivision numbers may exist. (Note: The historical tellingskrets 4, Nordsjona og Kvalnes, and 5, Myklebostad og Venes, are now part of Vefsn Municipality, while the historical tellingskrets 8, Bardal; 9, Sørlandet; and 10, Lilandet Fagerviken, are now part of Leirfjord Municipality).

Farm names and numbers

The farms in the Nesna municipality are listed in O. Rygh's series Norske Gaardnavne ("Norwegian farm names"), the Nordland volume of which was published in 1905. The farm numbers are used in some census records, and numbers that are near each other indicate that those farms are geographically proximate. Handwritten Norwegian sources, particularly those prior to 1800, may use variants on these names. For recorded variants before 1723, see the digital version of O. Rygh. Note that the 1920 census records mapped above may not match O. Rygh. Farm names were often used as part of Norwegian names, in addition to the person's given name and patronymic or inherited surname. Some families retained the farm name, or toponymic, as a surname when they emigrated, so in those cases tracing a surname may tell you specifically where in Norway the family was from. This tradition began to change in the mid to late 19th century, and inherited surnames were codified into law in 1923.

Notable people