Nord-Rana (historically: Mo) is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 3,980-square-kilometre (1,540sqmi) municipality existed from 1839 until its dissolution in 1964. From 1839 until 1844, it was named Nord-Ranen Municipality, from 1844 until 1923, it was called Mo Municipality, and then from 1923 until 1964 it was named Nord-Rana Municipality. The former municipality was located at the innermost part of the Ranfjorden. It encompassed the eastern 90% of what is now Rana Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Ytteren, just north of the town of Mo i Rana.[6][7]
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the 3,980.8-square-kilometre (1,537.0sqmi) municipality was the 4th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Nord-Rana Municipality was the 64th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 10,648. The municipality's population density was 2.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (7.0/sqmi) and its population had increased by 42.3% over the previous 10-year period.[8][9]
General information
Rana Municipality was established on 1 January 1838 under the old formannskapsdistrikt law. Shortly afterwards, in 1839, the municipality was divided into Nord-Ranen Municipality and Sør-Ranen Municipality.[6] In 1844, Nord-Ranen Municipality was renamed Mo Municipality. On 1 January 1923, the village of Mo was designated as a ladested and so it was separated from the rest of the municipality to become a town-municipality of its own. The new town of Mo (population: 1,305) kept the name Mo and the rest of the old municipality became known as Nord-Rana Municipality (bringing back the old name for the area).[10]
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Nord-Rana Municipality (population: 11,636) was merged with the town of Mo i Rana (population: 9,616), the part of Sør-Rana Municipality located north of the Ranfjorden (population: 697), and the Sjona area of Nesna Municipality (population: 543) to create the large, new Rana Municipality.[10]
Name
The municipality is named Nord-Rana. The first element is nord which directly translates to "northern". The second element is Rana which comes from the local river Ranelva (Old Norse: Raðund). The name of the river is probably derived from the word raðr which means "quick", "fast", or "rapid". Another possibility is that the name comes from the old Sami godRana Niejta.[11][12]
The municipal council(Herredsstyre) of Nord-Rana was made up of 35 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.
The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Nord-Rana Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position:[20][21]
↑Helland, Amund (1908). "Mo herred". Norges land og folk: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian). Vol.XVIII. Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p.446. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
↑Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (25 November 2024). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Foreningen Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
