Meråker

Meråker is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Midtbygda which is about west of Storlien in Sweden and east of the town of Stjørdalshalsen in neighboring Stjørdal municipality. Other villages in Meråker include Gudåa, Kopperå, and Stordalen. The municipality markets itself as a recreational area. The main areas of employment are in industry and agriculture. The municipality is noted for its characteristic dialect. The municipality is the 80th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Meråker is the 260th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,399. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 4.5% over the previous 10-year period. The municipality of Meråker was established on 1 January 1874 when the old municipality of Øvre Stjørdal was divided into two: Hegra (population: 3,409) in the east and Meråker (population: 1,861) in the west. The municipal borders have not changed since then. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Nord-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Meråker farm (spelled "Mørakre" around 1430) since the first Meråker Church was built there. The meaning of the first element is uncertain (maybe merr which means "mare" or mýrr which means "bog" or "marsh"). The last element is akr which means "field" or "acre". The coat of arms was granted on 28 September 1990. The official blazon is "Gules, a cart argent" (I rødt en sølv vogn). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a mining cart. The mining cart has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This design was chosen to symbolize the fact that mining has traditionally played a major role in the area and has been of great economic importance for Meråker. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.