Moland

Moland is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The 127-square-kilometre (49 sq mi) municipality existed from 1962 until 1992 when it was merged into the present-day municipality of Arendal which is located in what is now Agder county. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Eydehavn which had a population of 6,011 in 1967 and 8,148 in 1992. Other villages in the municipality included Kilsund, Narestø, Saltrød, Brekka, Strengereid, Vatnebu, and Sagene. The municipality consisted of the mainland area to the north and northeast of the town of Arendal plus the islands of Flostaøya and Tverrdalsøya.[1]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. The municipality of Moland was created on 1 January 1962 when a merger took place between the municipalities of Stokken (population: 2,783), Austre Moland (population: 1,607), and Flosta (population: 1,205) as well as Strengereid area (population: 375) of the municipality of Tvedestrand. On 1 January 1964, the Holte farm (population: 5) in Moland was transferred to Tvedestrand.

On 1 January 1992, another major municipality merger took place in this area. The municipalities of Moland (population: 8,148), Øyestad (population: 8,679), Tromøy (population: 4,711), and Hisøy (population: 4,026) were merged with the town of Arendal (population: 12,478) to form the new, much larger, municipality of Arendal with a population of nearly 40,000 people.[3]

The municipality was named Moland, by dropping the word Austre (meaning "eastern") from the old name of one of its predecessor municipalities: Austre Moland. The name Moland comes from the Old Norse word Móðguland which is derived from the river name Móðga , which can be linked with the Old Norse word móðigr which means "brave".[4]

The coat of arms was granted on 7 January 1983 and it was in use until the municipality's dissolution in 1992. The blue and white arms show a large, white letter "M" on a blue background. The colour represents the sea since the municipality has a long and rugged coastline, symbolized by the letter "M", the initial of the municipality. The three points in the "M" also refer to the three areas that formed Moland municipality: Stokken, Flosta, and Austre Moland.[5]

All municipalities in Norway, including Moland, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elected a mayor.[6]

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Moland was made up of representatives that were elected to four-year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: