Due to the opening of the Sotra Bridge to the mainland in 1971 and its proximity to the city of Bergen, the population has grown from less than 7,000 to over 25,000 as of 2017. The result is major traffic jams over the bridge every day. The highway that leads to Bergen has reduced the traveling time to only fifteen minutes from the municipal centre at Straume on Litlesotra to the center of Bergen.
At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the 148-square-kilometre (57 sq mi) municipality is the 355th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Fjell was the 43rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 25,204. The municipality's population density is 178.5 inhabitants per square kilometre (462/sq mi) and its population has increased by 21.2% over the last decade.[4]
General information
Aerial view of the island of LitlesotraView of the rugged mountainous landscape of Fjell
The parish of Fjæld was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the islands of Misje and Turøyna (population: 404) were transferred from the municipality of Herdla to the municipality of Fjell.[5]
On 1 January 2020, the three neighbouring municipalities of Fjell, Sund, and Øygarden were merged into one large island municipality called Øygarden.[6]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Fjelde farm (Old Norse: Fjall) since the first Fjell Church was built there. The name is identical to the modern Norwegian word fjell which means "mountain". The oldest form of the name was Undir Fjalli which means "under/below the mountain".[7] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Fjæld or Fjeld. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Fjell.[8]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was adopted by the municipal council on 27 April 1957 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The blazon is "Azure, a seagull volantargent over a fesssabledancetty topped and wavy with three bars wavy argent beneath". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a seagull flying over three triangular black mountain shapes over three wavy lines. The seagull and wavy lines have a tincture of argent which means they are commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. A mural crown was often displayed above the shield. The arms were designed to show the geography of the municipality, specifically the sea (shown with three wavy lines) and the steep mountains (shown with three black triangular shapes). The seagull shown above the mountains is a common bird in the area. The arms are canting since the name of the municipality means "mountain". The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland, but they were never formally approved by the government because they did not meet the Norwegian heraldic guidelines for coats of arms.[9][10]
Fjell was an island municipality located entirely on islands off the coast of the mainland Bergen Peninsula. It covered many islands in a large archipelago that stretched from Sund in the south to Fedje in the north. The largest island in Fjell was Sotra, although only the northern half of the island is part of Fjell. The second-largest island was Litlesotra, where the largest village area in Fjell is located (the village of Straume). The small island of Bildøyna is located between those two islands. The small island of Geitung lies north of Bildøyna and the small island of Bjorøy lies to the south. Bjorøy is not connected to Fjell by road, but there is the undersea Bjorøy Tunnel that connects it to the city of Bergen. On the western side of Sotra, the smaller islands of Algrøyna, Lokøyna, and Syltøyna are located. On the north end of Sotra lies the small islands of Misje and Turøyna.[11]
History
Fjell was the location of Fjell Fortress, a World War II German mountaintop fortification designed to command all water approaches to the port of Bergen.[11]
Population
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1845
1,971
—
1855
2,242
+13.7%
1865
2,553
+13.9%
1875
2,802
+9.8%
1891
3,185
+13.7%
1900
3,502
+10.0%
Year
Pop.
±%
1910
3,806
+8.7%
1920
4,902
+28.8%
1930
4,625
−5.7%
1946
5,169
+11.8%
1951
5,172
+0.1%
1960
5,453
+5.4%
Year
Pop.
±%
1970
6,798
+24.7%
1980
10,177
+49.7%
1990
14,735
+44.8%
2000
18,178
+23.4%
2010
21,823
+20.1%
2019
26,166
+19.9%
Note: The municipal borders were changed in 1964, causing a significant change in the population. Source: Statistics Norway[12][13] and Norwegian Historical Data Centre[14]
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Fjell was made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
