Sande is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Larsnes on the island of Gurskøya. Other villages in Sande include Gursken, Sandshamn, Bringsinghaug, and Voksa. The 93 km2 municipality is the 331st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sande is the 257th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,442. The municipality's population density is 27.1 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 7.1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Sande was established as a municipality on 1 January 1867 when it was separated from the large Herøy Municipality. The initial population was 2,493. On 1 January 1873, a part of eastern Sande (with 362 residents) was transferred back to Herøy. On 1 January 1889, the Eksund area and the island of Ekø (population: 119) were transferred to Herøy Municipality. On 1 January 1905, the eastern district of Sande was separated to form the separate municipality of Rovde. This left Sande with 2,221 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the northern part of the municipality of Rovde (population: 562) plus three farms in the Gurskedalen valley (population: 25) were merged back with Sande (the southern part of Rovde was merged with Vanylven Municipality). The new Sande municipality had a population of 3,465. On 1 January 2002, the Åram area (population: 380) on the mainland was transferred from Sande to Vanylven Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sande farm since the first Sande Church was built there. The name comes from the word which means "sand" or "sandy beach". Before 1892, the name was written Sandø.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 23 October 1987. The official blazon is "Azure, a line buoy argent". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a line buoy. The line buoy has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The blue color in the field symbolizes the importance of the sea. This symbol was chosen since it was historically used by fishermen in ocean and fjords around the island municipality. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth who based it off an idea from Helge Kragseth. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Sande. It is part of the Søre Sunnmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

Geography

Sande is composed of many islands including Sandsøya, Kvamsøya, Voksa, Riste, and part of Gurskøya (which is shared with neighboring Herøy). The island municipality sits north of the Rovdefjorden and east of the Vanylvsfjorden. The Haugsholmen Lighthouse sits in the southwest part of the municipality.

Government

Sande 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 Møre og Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Sande is made up of 21 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 mayors of Sande:

Notable people

Gallery