Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the 326-square-kilometre (126 sq mi) municipality was the 262nd largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. Tjøtta Municipality was the 423rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,747. The municipality's population density was 5.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (14/sq mi) and its population had decreased by 21% over the previous 10-year period.[8][9]
General information
The municipality of Tjøtta was established in 1862 when it was separated from Alstahaug Municipality. Initially, Tjøtta Municipality had a population of 2,781. On 1 July 1917, the southeastern district of Tjøtta Municipality (population: 1,097) was separated to become the new Vevelstad Municipality, leaving Tjøtta with 2,287 inhabitants. On 1 July 1920 the Giskåen farm with 10 inhabitants was transferred to Vevelstad Municipality.[10]
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the part of Tjøtta Municipality located on the eastern part of the island of Alsta (population: 180) was incorporated into Leirfjord Municipality. On 1 January 1965, the Skogsholmen island area in western Tjøtta (population: 196) was incorporated into Vega Municipality. The rest of Tjøtta Municipality (population: 1,477) was merged with most of Alstahaug Municipality (population: 920) and the town of Sandnessjøen (population: 3,856) to form a new, larger Alstahaug Municipality.[10]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Tjøtta farm (Old Norse: Þjótta) since the first Tjøtta Church was built there. The name of the farm (and the island on which it is located) comes from the word þjó which is a noun describing the "upper part of a thigh". The name was likely used to refer to the shape of the island.[11][12]
The municipal council(Herredsstyre) of Tjøtta was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.
The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Tjøtta was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position (incomplete list):
^Helland, Amund (1908). "Tjøtta herred". Norges land og folk: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian). Vol. XVIII. Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 172. Retrieved 20 September 2018.