Country Norway County Nordland Municipality ID NO-1843 | Region Northern Norway District Salten Time zone CET (UTC+01:00) | |
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Bodin is a parish and former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It was a large municipality encompassing all of the mainland area around the town of Bodø, part of the land on the southern shore of the Saltfjorden, and the islands of Helligvær, Landegode, Bliksvær, and Givær. It lies entirely inside the present-day municipality of Bodø.
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The present-day parish of Bodin represents the mainland area immediately surrounding the town of Bodø and the western islands. The main church for the parish is the historic Bodin Church.
History
The municipality of Bodø landdistrikt was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It included the rural areas surrounding the town of Bodø. In 1896, the name was changed to Bodin. On 1 July 1938, an area of Bodin (population: 559) was transferred to Bodø. On 1 January 1959, another area of Bodin (population: 1,303) was transferred to the town of Bodø. On 1 January 1963, an area of Skjerstad (population: 224) was transferred to Bodin.
On 1 January 1964, the majority of the municipality of Kjerringøy (population: 524) and the Øyjord area of Sørfold (population: 81) were merged into Bodin. Then on 1 January 1968, Bodin ceased to exist as a separate municipality when it was merged into the town of Bodø. Upon merging, Bodin had a population of 13,323 and Bodø had a population of 14,252.
Name
Until 1896 the name of the municipality was Bodø landdistrikt, meaning "the rural district of Bodø". The town of Bodø is named after the old farm Bodøgård meaning "the farm (gård) of Bodø". The Old Norse form of the farm's name was Boðin or Boðvin, and the municipality (originally the parish) was named after it because the first church (Bodin Church) was built on its ground. The meaning of the first element is, maybe, boði ("skerry") and the last element is vin which means "meadow" or "pasture". The old Norse form was revived in 1896 as the name of the rural municipality.