The parish of Hosanger was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1885, the exclave of Seim was separated from Hosanger and merged into the new Alversund Municipality. This left Hosanger with 3,387 residents. On 1 January 1867, the Øksendalen farm (population: 28) in the Eksingedalen valley was transferred from Voss Municipality to Hosanger by Royal resolution. On 1 January 1910, the eastern part of Hosanger (population: 821) which included the Modalen and Eksingedalen valleys was separated from Hosanger to form the new Modalen Municipality. The split left Hosanger with 2,524 inhabitants.[3]
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Hosanger was dissolved and its lands were divided as follows amongst its neighbors:[3]
All of Hosanger located on the island of Osterøy (population: 1,616) became a part of the new Osterøy Municipality.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named Hosanger (Old Norse: Hosangr) which was the old name of the local bay, now known as the Mjøsvågen. The first element is hosa which means "long stocking". The last element is angr which means "bay" or "inlet".[4]
The municipal council(Heradsstyre) of Hosanger was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
The historic Hosanger Church was built in 1796. It is located in the village of Hosanger and it served as the main church for the municipality. It is a Romanesque-style church constructed of brick and stone. On the site there once was a stave church dating back to the Middle Ages. It was first mentioned in historical records in 1329. Later, a wooden church was constructed. The wooden church was struck by lightning and burned down on Christmas Day 1795. From 1863 until 1865, the church was extended to the west. The vestry extension on the south side of the church was built in 1962–1964.[12]