Os, Hordaland

Os is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. It is located in the Midhordland region, just south Norway's second-largest city, Bergen. Due to its proximity to Bergen, Os is experiencing strong population growth. The administrative centre (and commercial centre) of Os is the village of Osøyro. It is the largest settlement in the municipality, with over 60% of the municipal residents living here. Other larger villages in Os include Hagavik, Halhjem, Søfteland, Søre Øyane, and Søvik.

History

The parish of Os was established as a formannskapsdistrikt, the predecessor of today's municipalities, on 1 January 1838. It originally encompassed all of the land surrounding the Fusafjorden. In 1856, the eastern district of Os (across the fjord) was separated to form the new, separate municipality of Fusa. This left Os with 3,750 residents.

In 1900 "Askviknes Barnehjem" (near Hagavik) opened; it housed children of romani/tater; in the beginning the children's stay was something their families applied for; later children were introduced to the facility without consent of their families.

Hordaland

Hordaland [ˈhɔrdɑˈlɑn]  ( listen) is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county government is the Hordaland County Municipality which is located in Bergen. Before 1972, the city of Bergen was its own separate county apart from Hordaland.

Name and symbols

Name

Hordaland (Old Norse: Hǫrðaland) is the old name of the region which was revived in 1919. The first element is the plural genitive case of hǫrðar, the name of an old Germanic tribe (see Charudes). The last element is land which means "land" or "region" in the Norwegian language.

Until 1919 the name of the county was Søndre Bergenhus amt which meant "(the) southern (part of) Bergenhus amt". (The old Bergenhus amt was created in 1662 and was divided into Northern and Southern parts in 1763.)

Flag

The flag of Hordaland shows two golden axes and a crown in red. The flag is a banner of the coat of arms derived from the old seal of the guild of St. Olav from Onarheim in Tysnes municipality. This seal was used by the delegates of Sunnhordland in 1344 on the document to install king Haakon V of Norway. It was thus the oldest symbol used for the region and adapted as the arms and flag in 1961. The symbols refer to the patron saint of the guild, Saint Olav, King of Norway, whose symbol is an axe.

Hordaland (newspaper)

Hordaland is a local newspaper published in Voss, Norway. It is published three days a week, and covers Ulvik, Granvin, Vaksdal and Modalen in addition to Voss.

History and profile

Established in 1883, Hordaland was affiliated with the Liberal Party of Norway. The party ties were abolished in 1972. The chief editor is Sigmund Midttun.

It had a circulation of 9,600 of whom 8,726 are subscribers in 2008. It is published by Hordaland Bladdrift AS, which is in turn owned by private persons.

The paper was awarded the European Newspaper of the Year in the category of local newspaper by the European Newspapers Congress in 2011.

References