Kvam

Infobox_Kommune
name = Kvam
herad = yes
idnumber = 1238


county = Hordaland
landscape = Hardanger
capital = Norheimsund
language = Nynorsk
demonym = Kvemming


munwebpage = www.kvam.kommune.no
governor = Astrid Kristin Selsvold (Ap)
governor_as_of = 2007
arearank = 180
area = 616
arealand = 580
areapercent = 0.19
population_as_of = 2004
populationrank = 122
population = 8,389
populationpercent = 0.18
populationdensity = 14
populationincrease = -2.6
lat_deg = 60 | lat_min = 25 | lat_sec = 4 | lon_deg = 6 | lon_min = 9 | lon_sec = 30
utm_zone = 32V | utm_northing = 6701327 | utm_easting = 0343549 | geo_cat = adm2ndotheruses

Kvam is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The parish of "Vikør" was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Parts of Strandebarm were merged with Kvam on 1 January 1965. The municipality borders Voss to the north, Vaksdal, Samnanger and Fusa to the west, Granvin to the east and Hardangerfjorden to the south.

Important settlements in the municipality include Norheimsund, Øystese, Ålvik, Tørvikbygd, Strandebarm and Mundheim. Norheimsund and Øystese are the largest settlements with 2,087 and 1,626 inhabitants respectively. [cite paper | author=Statistics Norway | title=Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality. 1 January 2006 | date=2006 | url=http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/01/10/beftett_en/tab-2006-07-05-01-en.html] The largest lakes are Bjølsegrøvvatnet and Holmavatnet. In addition a portion of Hamlagrøvatnet is located in Kvam.

In 2007 Kvam participated in a trial where the mayor was directly elected. The sitting mayor, Astrid Selsvold, won the election with 26.7% of the votes.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was "Hvammr", identical with the word "hvammr" which means "(small) valley".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 27 November 1981. The arms show the Fykesund, a bay in the municipality. The shape of the bay is symbolized in the coat-of-arms. [cite web|url=http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/k/kvam.htm|author=Norske Kommunevåpen|date=1990|title=Nye kommunevåbener i Norden|accessdaymonth=21 September|accessyear=2008]

History

Kvam was created in 1837 as Vikør formannskapsdistrikt, named after the parish today known as Vikøy. According to the 1835 census the municipality had a population of 2,321. [cite web |url=http://www.rhd.uit.no/dok/nos12.html |title=Hjemmehørende folkemengde Hordaland 1801-1960 |accessdate= |author=Registreringssentral for historiske data |authorlink= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher=University of Tromsø |language=Norwegian ] The name was changed from Vikør to Kvam in 1912. [cite web |url=http://kvam.arkivplan.no/content/view/full/34270 |title=Arkivkatalogar |accessdate= |author=Kvam municipality |authorlink= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |language=Norwegian ]

On 1 January 1965 the district Åsgrenda with 61 inhabitants was moved to Ullensvang municipality. At the same time the size of Kvam was significantly enlarged when parts of the municipalities Strandebarm, Varaldsøy and Jondal were incorporated into Kvam. After the merger Kvam had a population of 9,119. [cite paper | author=Dag Jukvam / Statistics Norway | title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen | date=1999 | url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdfl no icon]

Notable residents

*Jon Fosse
*Valgerd Svarstad Haugland
*Per Øyvind Heradstveit
*Kaptein Kvam, local vigilante
*Geirr Tveitt

References