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Bjerkreim

Bjerkreim kommune
Municipality
View of the Bjerkreim landscape
View of the Bjerkreim landscape
Coat of arms of Bjerkreim kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Bjerkreim kommune
Rogaland within
Norway
Bjerkreim within Rogaland
Bjerkreim within Rogaland
Coordinates: 58°39′25″N 06°08′48″E / 58.65694°N 6.14667°E / 58.65694; 6.14667Coordinates: 58°39′25″N 06°08′48″E / 58.65694°N 6.14667°E / 58.65694; 6.14667
Country Norway
County Rogaland
District Dalane
Administrative centre Vikeså
Government
 • Mayor (2015) Torbjørn Ognedal (Sp)
Area
 • Total 650.56 km2 (251.18 sq mi)
 • Land 577.30 km2 (222.90 sq mi)
 • Water 73.26 km2 (28.29 sq mi)
Area rank 170 in Norway
Population (2016)
 • Total 2,825
 • Rank 282 in Norway
 • Density 4.9/km2 (13/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 14.1 %
Demonym(s) Bjerkreimsbu
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1114
Official language form Neutral, but the schools and churches use Nynorsk
Website www.bjerkreim.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Bjerkreim is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Dalane. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vikeså. Other villages in the municipality include Bjerkreim and Øvrebygd.

Nature has been generous in giving Bjerkreim many idyllic places, making Bjerkreim a good place to live by living in a countryside environment, but still relatively close to a major city, Stavanger. The two and a half thousand inhabitants in Bjerkreim have a total area of 585 square kilometres (226 sq mi) at their disposal. It includes one of the most important salmon rivers in Norway, Bjerkreimselva. The most important livelihoods are agriculture and small-scale industries.

The parish of Birkrem was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1965, there were many municipal changes in Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On that date, the Nedre Maudal area of Bjerkreim (population: 40) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Gjesdal.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Bjerkreim farm (Old Norse: Bjarkarheimr), since the first Bjerkreim Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of bjørk which means "birch" and the last element is heimr which means "homestead" or "farm". Before 1889, the name was written "Birkrem".


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Wikipedia

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