Stord

Stord is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since it has such a variety of landscapes: coastline, fjords, forests, agricultural land, and mountain areas. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Leirvik, which is also the largest town in the municipality and the whole region of Sunnhordland. Leirvik was declared a town in 1997. Other population centres in the municipality include the large village of Sagvåg and the smaller villages of Litlabø and Grov. The municipality is the 316th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Stord is the 69th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 18,919. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 5.4% over the previous 10-year period. The parish of Stordøen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1863, the northern district of the municipality (population: 2,313) was separated to become the new municipality of Fitjar. On 15 May 1868, the southern district of Stordøen located on the mainland (population: 900) was separated to form the new municipality of Valestrand. On 1 January 1898, the southern part of the island of Huglo (population: 117) was transferred from the neighboring municipality of Fjelberg to Stord. On 1 January 1970, the small uninhabited part of the island of Stord along the Valvatnavågen that belonged to Bømlo was transferred to Stord municipality. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the large island of Stord (Storð). The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it may come from the word storð which means "ground" or "earth" (this is an old word that is still used in Icelandic literature). Before 1889, the name was spelled "Stordøen". The first coat of arms was adopted on 3 December 1955, but since it did not meet the government regulations, it was not formally approved by the King in council.