Andøy

Andøy is the northernmost municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Vesterålen archipelago. The main island in the municipality is Andøya. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Andenes. Other villages in the municipality include Bjørnskinn, Bleik, Dverberg, Fiskenes, Fornes, Nordmela, Risøyhamn, Skarstein, Å, Åknes, and Åse. The municipality is the 172nd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Andøy is the 188th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,572. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 9.1% over the previous 10-year period. The municipality of Andøy was established as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 due to the work of the Schei Committee. Andøy Municipality was created from the merger of the old municipalities of Andenes (population: 3,812), Bjørnskinn (population: 1,835), and Dverberg (population: 1,719). Initially, the new Andøy Municipality had 7,366 residents. The municipal boundaries have not changed since that time. The municipality is named after the island on which it is located, Andøya (Amdarøy). The first element is the genitive case of the old uncompounded name of the island Ǫmd which has an unknown meaning. The last element is øy which means "island". The coat of arms was granted on 7 January 1983. The official blazon is "Azure, a schnecke argent from base sinister to sinister" (Delt av blått og sølv ved virvelsnitt mot venstre). This means the arms have a field (background) that is divided by a line called a schnecke (a swirling counter-clockwise spiral design that is looks like a wave). The field located below the line has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The tincture above the line is blue. The colors and design of the arms were chosen as a symbol for the fact that the municipality is situated at the sea and that fishing is important economically to the municipality.