Sauda

Sauda () is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sauda, where most of the population lives. Other villages in the municipality include Saudasjøen and Amdal. Despite being in the northern part of the region of Ryfylke, Sauda participates in the Haugalandet Council and is under the jurisdiction of the Haugaland og Sunnhordland District Court. The municipality is the 197th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sauda is the 190th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,525. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 4.8% over the previous 10-year period. The town of Sauda is the fifth largest town in Rogaland county with 4,254 inhabitants (2016), and the city center is home to Northern Europe's largest melting plant, Eramet Norway AS. The municipality is situated in the mountain valleys surrounding the Saudafjorden. The municipality of Sauda was established in 1842 when it was separated from the large municipality of Suldal. Initially, Sauda had a population of 1,584. The municipal boundaries have never changed. The municipality declared the urban area of Sauda as a town in 1999. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sauda farm (Sauðar) since the first Sauda Church was built there. The farm is now part of the village of Saudasjøen. The name seems to come from the word sauðr which means "sheep", however, the same word is also the singular past indicative of the verb sjóða which means "to seethe" or "to boil", possibly referring to a spring of water. Before 1918, the name was written as "Saude" or "Søvde". The coat of arms was granted on 14 May 1976. The official blazon is "Azure, three pallets dancetty argent" (I blått en vertical sølv trillingstreng med bredtannet snitt). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a set of three, vertical, jagged lines. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used.