Sortland

Infobox_Kommune
name=Sortland
idnumber=1870
county=Nordland
landscape=Vesterålen
capital=Sortland
governor=Svein Roar Jacobsen (Ap)
governor_as_of=2003
arearank=152
area=722
arealand=698
areapercent=0.22
population_as_of=2004
populationrank=105
population=9,509
populationpercent=0.21
populationdensity=14
populationincrease=8.6
language=Neutral
lat_deg=68| lat_min=42| lat_sec=31| lon_deg=15| lon_min=16| lon_sec=51
utm_zone=33W| utm_northing=7621909 |utm_easting=0511381| geo_cat=adm2nd

munwebpage=www.sortland.kommune.no
Audio|Sortland.ogg|Sortland is a town and municipality in the county of Nordland, Norway.

Sortland was separated from Hadsel in 1841. The area of Godfjorden was transferred from Kvæfjord (and Troms county) to Sortland (and Nordland county) January 1, 2000.

has its northern base in this town (Kystvaktskvadron Nord).

In 1997, the municipality decided to declare township for Sortland. With most houses painted blue, Sortland is often referred to as the blue town. The famous author Lars Saabye Christensen, receiver of The Nordic Council's Literature Prize, has been living in Sortland for parts of his life.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Sortland (Norse "Svortuland"), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of a rivername "*Svorta", the last element is "land" n 'land, farm'. The rivername is derived from "svartr" 'black' - and the meaning is 'the black/dark one'.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1985). It shows a gate (to represent Sortland as 'the gateway to Vesterålen').

External links

* [http://www.sortland.kommune.no/ Information from Sortland Municipality (Norwegian)]
* [http://www.visitvesteralen.com/index.asp?L=2 Tourist information about Vesterålen Islands (English)]
* [http://nordland.miljostatus.no/msf_themepage.aspx?m=1569#8400 Forfjorddalen nature reserve with the oldest pine trees in Norway]