The European route E39 highway runs through the western side of the municipality. On the east side of the municipality, the Frafjord Tunnel connects the Frafjord valley with the rest of the municipality.
The 618-square-kilometre (239 sq mi) municipality is the 187th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Gjesdal is the 95th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 12,302. The municipality's population density is 22 inhabitants per square kilometre (57/sq mi) and its population has increased by 11.4% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
General information
Høgsfjorden in front, Frafjorden in the back, looking east. Gjesdal includes everything in the forefront and right side, Forsand is on the left-back of the fjord.View of OltedalView of the Månafossen waterfall
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gjesdal farm (Old Norse: Gesdalir) since the first Gjesdal Church was built there. The first element is probably the old name of the local river, but the meaning is uncertain. The last element is the plural form of dalr which means "valley" or "dale".[7]
Before 1889, the name was spelled Gjæsdal, which is the Danish spelling. During the period from 1889 to 1917 it was spelled Gjesdal (Norwegian language version). On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Gjestal.[8] This was changed to mimic the pronunciation of the local dialect (the d in dal is pronounced t because of the voiceless consonant s in front). On 26 June 1964, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality back to Gjesdal as part of a border adjustment that was to take effect on 1 January 1965.[9] This change in spelling was made to bring the name back to the etymologically correct form of Gjesdal.[10]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 15 March 1985. The official blazon is "Azure, a ram's head caboshedargent" (Norwegian: I blått et sølv værhode sett forfra). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is the head of a ram. The ram head 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 ram was chosen as a symbol because sheep breeding and wool manufacturing have both been important throughout the history of Gjesdal. The wool industry was centered in the village of Ålgård where wool, textile, and clothing businesses have thrived. It is also an old heraldic charge, that may be found in a number of 14th century Norwegian seals. It depicts almost identical arms in a seal from 1400 of one Aslak Tordsson. The arms were designed by Kai Wood Moe after a preliminary draft by Jørgen Otteren. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[11][12][13]
The parish of Gjæsdal was established as a municipality in 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). It originally was much smaller than it is today, centered on the Gjesdalen valley in the western part of the present-day municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965 several areas were merged to form a much larger municipality of Gjesdal:[14]
the original municipality of Gjesdal (population: 3,353)
the Nedre Maudal area in Bjerkreim municipality (population: 40)
the parts of Forsand municipality south and east of the Frafjorden including Dirdal, Frafjord, Byrkjedal, Øvre Maudal, and Østabødal (population: 621)
On 1 January 1970, an unpopulated area of Time Municipality was transferred to Gjesdal. Then on 1 January 1989, another small, unpopulated area of Time was transferred to Gjesdal.[14]
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Gjesdal is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
Gjesdal municipality is located in the southern part of the Jæren district in Rogaland county. To the north and northwest, Gjesdal borders the municipality of Sandnes, to the east is Sirdal municipality (in Agder county), to the south is Bjerkreim municipality, and to the west is the municipality of Time.
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