Alstahaug
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Most residents of Alstahaug live in the town of Sandnessjøen which is situated on the island of Alsta. The characteristic Seven Sisters mountain range is found on the eastern part of the island. Local legend has made this chain of peaks into seven sisters, two adjacent peaks representing twin sisters.
The island is connected to the mainland via the large Helgeland Bridge along Norwegian County Road 17. The Sandnessjøen Airport, Stokka is located 10 km south of Sandnessjøen.
The 188 km2 municipality is the 307th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Alstahaug is the 136th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 7,333. The municipality's population density is 39.2 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 0.5% over the previous 10-year period.
The large municipality of Alstahaug was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1862, the southern district (population: 2,781) was separated to become the new municipality of Tjøtta (Vevelstad Municipality was later separated from Tjøtta). This left Alstahaug with about 3,280 residents. Just two years later, in 1864, the western island district (population: 2,438) was separated to become the new municipality of Herøy. Then on 1 July 1899, the northern district (population: 2,673) was separated to form the new municipality of Stamnes (Leirfjord Municipality was later separated from Stamnes).
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, several major municipal changes took place. First, the Husvær island area of Alstahaug (population: 461) was transferred from Alstahaug to Herøy Municipality. On the same day, the following areas were merged to form the new, larger municipality of Alstahaug:
* most of the municipality of Tjøtta, except the Skogsholmen area (population: 1,477)
* the municipality of Sandnessjøen (population: 3,856)
* the municipality of Alstahaug (population: 970)
On 1 January 1971, the Skålvær islands (population: 32) were transferred from Vega Municipality to Alstahaug. On 1 January 1995, the mainland areas of Alstahaug (population: 70) were transferred to Vefsn Municipality.
Map - Alstahaug
Map
Country - Norway
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| Flag of Norway | |
Norway has a total area of 385,207 km2 and had a population of 5,425,270 in January 2022. The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden at a length of 1,619 km. It is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast and the Skagerrak strait to the south, on the other side of which are Denmark and the United Kingdom. Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. The maritime influence dominates Norway's climate, with mild lowland temperatures on the sea coasts; the interior, while colder, is also significantly milder than areas elsewhere in the world on such northerly latitudes. Even during polar night in the north, temperatures above freezing are commonplace on the coastline. The maritime influence brings high rainfall and snowfall to some areas of the country.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| NOK | Norwegian krone | kr | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| FI | Finnish language |
| SE | Northern Sami |
| NO | Norwegian language |
| NN | Nynorsk |