Kvalsund

Kvalsund (Fálesnuorri and Valasnuora) is a former municipality in the old Finnmark county in Norway. The municipality is now part of Hammerfest Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county. The municipality existed from 1869 until its dissolution in 2020. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kvalsund. Other villages in the municipality include Áisaroaivi, Kokelv, Oldernes, Oldervik, Revsneshamn, Skaidi. At the time of its dissolution on 1 January 2020, the municipality was the 37th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Kvalsund was also the 392nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,027. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 6.7% over the previous decade. The Kvalsund Bridge (Kvalsundbrua) is a suspension bridge that crosses the Kvalsundet strait from the mainland to the island of Kvaløya. In 2015, the media said that for four years an application has been filed for establishing Norway's largest copper mine, depending on a permit for creating a zone in Repparfjorden for depositing waste from the mine.Cite news |last=Ytreberg |first=Rune |date=2015-09-12 |title=Dette er ikke en lek |page=16 |publisher=Dagens Næringsliv The municipality of Kvalsund was established on 1 July 1869 when it was separated from the Hammerfest landdistrikt (the rural municipality surrounding the town of Hammerfest). Initially, Kvalsund had 514 residents. On 1 January 1963, the Kokelv area in southern Måsøy Municipality (population: 34) was transferred to Kvalsund. On 1 January 2020, Kvalsund municipality was merged into the neighboring municipality of Hammerfest, a decision that the people of the two municipalities had agreed to in 2017. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Kvalsundet strait (Hvalsund). The first element comes from the name of the island Kvaløya. The island's name comes form the Old Norse word hvalr which means "whale". The last element is sund which means "strait" or "sound".