Gildeskål

Gildeskål kommune
Municipality
View of Inndyr
Coat of arms Nordland within Norway
Gildeskål within Nordland
Coordinates: 67°1′24″N 14°4′38″E / 67.02333°N 14.07722°E / 67.02333; 14.07722Coordinates: 67°1′24″N 14°4′38″E / 67.02333°N 14.07722°E / 67.02333; 14.07722
Country	Norway
County	Nordland
District	Salten
Administrative centre	Inndyr
Government
• Mayor (2011)	Petter Jørgen Pedersen (Ap)
Area
• Total	661.83 km2 (255.53 sq mi)
• Land	619.09 km2 (239.03 sq mi)
• Water	42.74 km2 (16.50 sq mi)
Area rank	167 in Norway
Population (2011)
• Total	2,020
• Rank	323 in Norway
• Density	3.3/km2 (9/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-10.9 %
Demonym(s)	Gildeskålfjerding Gildeskålværing
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1838
Official language form	Neutral
Website	www.gildeskal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Gildeskål is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Bodø Region and the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Inndyr. Other villages include Forstranda, Lekanger, Mevik, Mårnes, Nygårdsjøen, Saura, Storvika, Sørarnøya, Sørfinnset, and Våg.

The municipality of Gildeskaal (later spelled Gildeskål) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

In 1853, the eastern district of Gildeskaal (population: about 1,150) was separated to become the new municipality of Beiarn. This left Gildeskaal with about 2,400 residents. The municipal boundaries have not changed since.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gildeskaal farm (Old Norse: Gildaskáli) because the first church was built there (Old Gildeskål Church. The first element is the plural genitive case of gildi 'feast' or 'banquet', and the last element is skáli 'hall'.

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1988). The arms show a silver cup on a blue background. The arms are canting since the meaning of the name Gildeskål refers to a banquet hall.

...
Wikipedia