Andørja

Andørja (Northern Sami: Áttir) is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. It is located in the northeastern half of the present-day municipality of Ibestad. It encompassed the entire 135-square-kilometre (52 sq mi) island of Andørja. Andørja Church in Engenes was the church for the whole municipality.

History

The municipality of Andørja was established on 1 July 1926 when the large municipality of Ibestad was separated into Ibestad, Andørja, Astafjord and Gratangen. Andørja had an initial population of 1,420. On 1 January 1964, Andørja was merged with Ibestad and the part of neighboring Skånland municipality that was located on the island of Rolla. Prior to the merger, Andørja had a population of 1,330.

Name

The name of the municipality is the same as the name for the island (Old Norse: Andyrja). The meaning of the name is not certain, but one theory is that the first element and comes from the word for "against" and the second element yrja means "gravel" or "rocks", possibly referring to the waves from the sea hitting against the rocky shores.

Andørja (island)

Andørja is an island in the municipality of Ibestad in Troms county, Norway. The 135-square-kilometre (52 sq mi) island lies about 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of the town of Harstad. The island is located entirely within the present-day municipality of Ibestad, although the island itself was a separate municipality (Andørja) from 1926 until 1964. The largest population area on Andørja island is the Å - Ånstad - Laupstad area on the west coast with 205 residents (2001).Andørja Church is located in Engenes on the northwestern tip of the island.

Geography

The Vågsfjorden lies to the north and west of the island and the Astafjorden flows along the southeastern coast. The Bygda strait sits between Andørja and the island of Rolla to the west and the Mjøsundet strait sits between Andørja and the Norwegian mainland to the east.

The Mjøsund Bridge connects Andørja to the mainland (across the Mjøsundet strait) and the Ibestad Tunnel is an undersea road tunnel that connects Andørja to Rolla.