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Fitjar

Fitjar kommune
Municipality
Fitjar.JPG
Coat of arms of Fitjar kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Fitjar kommune
Hordaland within
Norway
Fitjar within Hordaland
Fitjar within Hordaland
Coordinates: 59°55′08″N 05°22′17″E / 59.91889°N 5.37139°E / 59.91889; 5.37139Coordinates: 59°55′08″N 05°22′17″E / 59.91889°N 5.37139°E / 59.91889; 5.37139
Country Norway
County Hordaland
District Sunnhordland
Administrative centre Fitjar
Government
 • Mayor (2011) Wenche Tislevoll (H)
Area
 • Total 142.43 km2 (54.99 sq mi)
 • Land 134.45 km2 (51.91 sq mi)
 • Water 7.98 km2 (3.08 sq mi)
Area rank 359 in Norway
Population (2014)
 • Total 3,009
 • Rank 269 in Norway
 • Density 22.4/km2 (58/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 3.4 %
Demonym(s) Fitjabu
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1222
Official language form Nynorsk
Website www.fitjar.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Fitjar (Norwegian pronunciation: [fitːjar]) is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Fitjar municipality includes the northern part of the island of Stord and the hundreds of surrounding islands, mostly to the northwest of the main island. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fitjar.

The parish of Fitje was established as a municipality on 1 January 1863 when it was separated from the large municipality of Stord. Initially, the population of Fitje was 2,313. On 1 January 1868, a small area in the municipality of Finnaas (population: 10) was transferred to Fitje. In 1900, the name was changed to Fitjar. The original municipality included all of the land surrounding the Selbjørnsfjorden. On 1 January 1964, the area of Fitjar located north of the Selbjørnsfjorden on the islands of Huftarøy and Selbjørn (population: 696) was transferred to the municipality of Austevoll. On 1 January 1995, the islands of Aga, Agasystra, Gisøya, Vikøya, Selsøy, Risøya, and many smaller surrounding islands (population: 225) were transferred from Fitjar to the neighboring island municipality of Bømlo. These islands had recently been connected to Bømlo by road bridges which precipitated the municipal transfer.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Fitjar farm, since the first Fitjar Church was built there. The name is the plural form of fit which means "vigorous meadow". Before 1900, the name was written "Fitje".


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