The 425-square-kilometre (164 sq mi) municipality is the 231st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Tysvær is the 101st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 11,405. The municipality's population density is 28.5 inhabitants per square kilometre (74/sq mi) and its population has increased by 8.8% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
General information
The municipality of Tysvær was established in 1849 when it was separated from the large municipality of Skjold. Initially, the municipality had a population of 2,058. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the following areas were merged into a newly enlarged municipality of Tysvær:[6]
the old municipality of Tysvær (population: 1,862)
the Gismarvik, Førre, and Stegaberg areas of Avaldsnes municipality (population: 994)
the Grinde, Dueland, and Yrkje areas of Skjold municipality (population: 1,133)
the Breidal and Stølsvik farms from Vats municipality (population: 16)
the Hapnes and Dokskar farms from Vikedal municipality (population: 2)
On 1 January 1969, the small Sponevik farm area (population: 6), just north of the village of Skjoldastraumen, was transferred from the neighboring Vindafjord municipality to Tysvær.[6]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Tysvær farm (Old Norse: Teitsfjörðr) since the first Tysvær Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the old male name Teitr. The last element is fjörðr which means "fjord". Over time, the last element was corrupted to vær which means "fishing village", but that was not the meaning of the original name.[7]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 3 February 1984. The official blazon is "Azure, a heron argent issuant" (Norwegian: På blå grunn ein oppveksande sølv hegre). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is the top of a grey heron. The heron 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 heron was chosen as a symbol for the municipality since there are several large colonies of grey herons in the municipality. "Tysvær herons" is a nickname for the inhabitants of the municipality. The arms were designed by Stein Davidsen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[8][9][10]
The municipality lies on the northern shore of the Boknafjorden, with the Skjoldafjorden and Vindafjorden both partially located within the municipality. The island of Borgøy lies in the middle of the Skjoldafjorden in Tysvær.
The lake Aksdalsvatnet is the largest lake in the municipality. Another notable lake is Stakkastadvatnet, which lies on the Haugesund-Tysvær municipal border.
Tysvær has a number of scenic walks including Heggelifjellet and Kvinnesland.
Economy
The Kårstø industrial site is located along the shores of the Boknafjorden in southwestern Tysvær. The site has many natural gas-related facilities including the Kårstø Power Station.
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Tysvær is made up of 29 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.