Rana, Norway
Rana is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mo i Rana, which houses the National Library of Norway. Other population centers in Rana include Alterneset, Båsmoen, Dunderland, Eiteråga, Flostrand, Hauknes, Mæla, Myklebustad, Nevernes, Røssvoll, Selfors, Skonseng, Storforshei, Utskarpen, and Ytteren.
By population, Rana is the second largest municipality in Nordland county—and the third largest in North Norway. By area, Rana is the largest municipality in Norway south of Finnmark county (the fourth largest overall), since Rana has large areas of mountains and forested valleys.
Rana was a part of the Terra Securities scandal in 2007 relating to some investments that were made by the municipality.
General information
Municipal history
The municipality of Rana was originally established in 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). However, it was divided into Nord-Rana and Sør-Rana in 1839. In 1844, Nord-Rana was renamed Mo and Sør-Rana was renamed Hemnes. The village of Mo was separated from the rural district of Mo and became a town and municipality of its own on 1 January 1923. At that time, the rural district changed its name back to Nord-Rana. On 1 January 1964, the town of Mo (population: 9,616), the municipality of Nord-Rana (population: 11,636), the northern part of Sør-Rana (population: 697), and the Sjona area of Nesna (population: 543) were all merged. The united municipality was named simply Rana.