Harstad (town)

Harstad (Norwegian pronunciation: [hɐ̞̂ɻ.ʃt̠ɐ̞] ⓘ, Northern Sami: Hárstták[4]) is a town in Harstad Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The town is also the administrative centre of the municipality of Harstad. The 11.15-square-kilometre (2,760-acre) town has a population (2023) of 21,289 which gives the town a population density of 1,879 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,870/sq mi).[1] It is the second-largest town in Troms county, after the city of Tromsø, and it is the largest town in Central Hålogaland.[5]

Harstad (Norwegian)
Hárstták (Northern Sami)
Town
View of the town
View of the town
Harstad is located in Troms
Harstad
Harstad
Location in Troms
Harstad is located in Norway
Harstad
Harstad
Harstad (Norway)
Coordinates: 68.8011°N 16.5441°E / 68.8011; 16.5441
CountryNorway
RegionNorthern Norway
CountyTroms
DistrictCentral Hålogaland
MunicipalityHarstad Municipality
Area
[1]
 • Total11.15 km2 (4.31 sq mi)
Elevation
[2]
3 m (10 ft)
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total21 289
 • Density1,879/km2 (4,870/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Post Code
9405 Harstad
Former municipality
Harstad ladested
Troms within Norway
Troms within Norway
Harstad within Troms
Harstad within Troms
CountryNorway
CountyTroms
DistrictCentral Hålogaland
Established1904
 • Preceded byTrondenes Municipality
Disestablished1 Jan 1964
 • Succeeded byHarstad Municipality
Administrative centreHarstad
Area
 (upon dissolution)
 • Total0.7 km2 (0.3 sq mi)
 • Rank#679 in Norway
Population
 (1963)
 • Total3,860
 • Rank#231 in Norway
 • Density5,514/km2 (14,280/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
Decrease −8.4%
ISO 3166 codeNO-1901[3]
Data from Statistics Norway

The town is located on the northeastern part of the large island of Hinnøya, along the Vågsfjorden. The town is made up of several areas including Gangsås, Grønnebakkan, Kanebogen, Medkila, Sama, Seljestad, and Stangnes, and Trondenes. There are two churches of the Church of Norway in the town: Harstad Church and Kanebogen Church. The historic Trondenes Church lies on the north edge of the town, near the Trondenes Fort.

History

On 1 January 1904, the village of Harstad was granted town privileges as a ladested. On the same date, the new town was separated from the Trondenes Municipality to become a separate town-municipality of its own. Initially, the town of Harstad had 1,246 residents. The town of Harstad existed as its own municipality between 1 January 1904 until 31 December 1963.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the town of Harstad (population: 3,808) was merged with Trondenes Municipality (population: 6,567) to the north and Sandtorg Municipality (population: 7,512) to the south, forming a new, much larger Harstad Municipality.[6]

Name

The town (and municipality) is named after the old Harstad farm (Old Norse: Harðarstaðir), since the town is built where the farm once was located.[7] The first element is (probably) the genitive case of the male name Hǫrðr. The last element is staðir which means "homestead" or "farm".[7] On 6 February 2017, the municipality of Harstad adopted a co-equal Sami language name for the municipality: Hárstták. The Sami language name spelling changes depending on how it is used. It is called Hárstták when it is spelled alone, but it is Hársttáid suohkan when using the Sami language equivalent to "Harstad municipality".[4][8]

  • Panorama from westerly hill
    Panorama from westerly hill
  • View point
    View point
  • Northern part of town
    Northern part of town
  • Town centre
    Town centre
  • Harstad in winter
    Harstad in winter
  • View from Gangsåstoppen
    View from Gangsåstoppen
  • Nocturnal view
    Nocturnal view
  • Harstad Church
    Harstad Church
  • Winter view
    Winter view

References
  1. Statistisk sentralbyrå (1 January 2017). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality".
  2. "Harstad, Harstad (Troms)". yr.no. Archived from the original on 2018-09-02. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  3. Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (2023-01-26). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  4. "Stadnamn og rettskriving" (in Norwegian). Kartverket. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  5. Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (2018-02-21). "Harstad". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  6. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  7. Rygh, Oluf (1911). Norske gaardnavne: Troms amt (in Norwegian) (17 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 21.
  8. "Harstad fikk samisk navn". NRK Nord-Norge (in Norwegian). 2017-02-06.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harstad (town).
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.