Country Norway County Hordaland Municipality ID NO-1213 Area 79.5 km² Local time Sunday 9:44 PM | Region Western Norway District Sunnhordland Adm. Center Fjelbergøya Population 2,308 (1965) | |
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Weather 7°C, Wind SE at 16 km/h, 57% Humidity | ||
Fjelberg is a former municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1965 when it was dissolved. In 1965, the municipality covered 79.8 square kilometres (30.8 sq mi), mostly islands and a small area on the mainland. It encompassed part of the present day municipalities of Kvinnherad and Vindafjord, primarily the islands of Fjelbergøya, Borgundøya, and Halsnøya, as well as some surrounding areas on the mainland. The administrative centre of the municipality was the small village located on the island of Fjelbergøya where Fjelberg Church is located.
History
The parish of Fjældberg was established as a formannskapsdistrikt on 1 January 1838. According to the 1835 census the parish had a population of 2,986 at the time. In 1855, the neighboring municipality of Eid was incorporated into Fjelberg, increasing its population to 4,794.
In 1865, the parish of Vikebygd (population: 1,062) in the southwestern part of the municipality was separated from Fjelberg and merged with a part of neighboring Finnås municipality to create the new municipality Sveen. On 1 January 1898, the southern part of the island of Huglo (population: 117) was transferred from Fjelberg to the neighboring municipality of Stord. On 1 July 1916, the southern (mainland) part of Fjelberg (population: 1,715) was split off to form the new municipality of Ølen, leaving Fjelberg with 1,926 inhabitants.
On 1 January 1965, as part of the nationwide merging of municipalities as suggested by the Schei Committee, Fjelberg municipality was dissolved. Fjelberg municipality was merged with neighboring Kvinnherad municipality, parts of Skånevik municipality, and most of Varaldsøy municipality to form the new (much larger) municipality of Kvinnherad. Prior to the merger, Fjelberg had a population of 2,308, and after the merger, the new municipality had nearly 10,000 residents.