Kopervik
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Kopervik is the largest town on the island of Karmøy in Rogaland county, Norway. It is the administrative centre of Karmøy Municipality. It is part of the traditional district of Haugaland and the Haugesund Region, a statistical metropolitan area. The town was an independent municipality from 1866 to 1964.
The 7.82-square-kilometre (1,930-acre) town has a population (2025) of 12,006 and a population density of 1,535 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,980/sqmi). The municipality of Karmøy has 43,918 inhabitants, 27.3% live in Kopervik.
Kopervik is one of three towns in Karmøy Municipality (the others are Åkrehamn and Skudeneshavn). Kopervik is a transportation hub for scheduled boats going north to Bergen and south to Stavanger. The main industries are aluminium smelting and fishing. Kopervik contains Karmøy Municipality's municipal government buildings as well as a lot of the commercial development in the municipality.
History
The village of Kopervik was declared a ladested (town) on 16 August 1866, and since towns could not be part of a rural municipality, it was separated from the large Avaldsnes Municipality to form a small urban municipality of its own. Initially, Kopervik had a population of 737 and it encompassed about 44 hectares (110 acres).
On 1 January 1965, there were many big municipal mergers in Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee, and on that date the town of Kopervik was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Avaldsnes, Stangaland, Torvastad, Skudenes, and Åkra plus the nearby town of Skudeneshavn. Together these municipalities formed the new, large Karmøy Municipality. Prior to the merger, Kopervik Municipality had 1,737 residents. Kopervik lost its status as a "town" upon merging into Karmøy Municipality. In 1996, due to some changes in the laws on towns, Karmøy Municipality declared Kopervik to be a town once again.
Kopervik Church has been located in the town for a long time. The previous church building was destroyed by fire in 2010, and its replacement was completed in 2016. The original church was built in 1861 by the architect Jacob Wilhelm Nordan.
According to legend, King Sverre I of Norway ordered the construction of a wooden castle on the headland at the entrance to the harbour where Kopervik is located today. A part of Kopervik is therefore called Treborg, literally meaning "wooden castle". There is however no evidence of its existence. Kopervik was also home to Tormod Torfæus, appointed as the official Royal Norwegian historian to the Danish king during the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway.
Name
The town was named Kopervik in 1866 when it was established as a ladested. The name has an uncertain meaning, but the Old Norse form of the name may have been Koparvík. The first element is possibly named after a very small, nearby skerry, Koparnaglen, which was originally named Kobbanaglen. That name likely comes from the word kobbi which means "seal". The last element is vík which means "inlet" or "bay".
Municipal self-government (1866–1964)
From 1866 through 1964, Kopervik was an independent municipality. While it existed, Kopervik Municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Karmsund District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.
Municipal council
The municipal council (Bystyre) of Kopervik Municipality was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 9 | |
| Conservative Party (Høyre) | 5 | |
| Christian Democratic Party (KristeligFolkeparti) | 3 | |
| Liberal Party (Venstre) | 4 | |
| Total number of members: | 21 |
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 9 | |
| Conservative Party (Høyre) | 5 | |
| Christian Democratic Party (KristeligFolkeparti) | 4 | |
| Liberal Party (Venstre) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 21 |
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 9 | |
| Conservative Party (Høyre) | 4 | |
| Christian Democratic Party (KristeligFolkeparti) | 4 | |
| Liberal Party (Venstre) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 20 |
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 7 | |
| Conservative Party (Høyre) | 4 | |
| Christian Democratic Party (KristeligFolkeparti) | 3 | |
| Joint list of the LiberalParty (Venstre) and the RadicalPeople'sParty (RadikaleFolkepartiet) | 5 | |
| Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 20 |
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 8 | |
| Conservative Party (Høyre) | 1 | |
| Communist Party (KommunistiskeParti) | 4 | |
| Joint list of the LiberalParty (Venstre) and the RadicalPeople'sParty (RadikaleFolkepartiet) | 4 | |
| Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 3 | |
| Total number of members: | 20 |
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 6 | |
| Liberal Party (Venstre) | 7 | |
| Joint list of the ConservativeParty(Høyre) and the Free-mindedPeople'sParty(FrisinnedeFolkeparti) | 5 | |
| Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 2 | |
| Total number of members: | 20 | |
| Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945. |
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 6 | |
| Liberal Party (Venstre) | 8 | |
| Joint list of the ConservativeParty(Høyre) and the Free-mindedPeople'sParty(FrisinnedeFolkeparti) | 5 | |
| Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 1 | |
| Total number of members: | 20 |
Mayors
The mayor (Bokmål:ordfører) of Kopervik Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:
- 1866–1870: Claudius Schiwe
- 1870–1875: A.J. Olsen
- 1876–1876: L.B. Henriksen
- 1877–1884: Adolf Hagbarth Marius Lunde
- 1885–1892: Aasmund Vinje
- 1893–1901: Rasmus Østbø
- 1902–1904: Reinhold Maartmann
- 1905–1905: Ole Waage
- 1906–1907: Tobias Telaus Ariansen
- 1908–1913: Carl Lundberg
- 1914–1916: Andreas Tomasgaard
- 1917–1917: Kristian Lundberg
- 1918–1918: Andreas Tomasgaard
- 1919–1919: Carl Lundberg
- 1920–1922: Thomas Idsøe
- 1923–1923: Carl Lundberg
- 1924–1924: Ketil Arneson Skeie
- 1925–1926: Carl Lundberg
- 1927–1927: Andreas Tomasgaard
- 1928–1931: Carl Lundberg
- 1932–1932: Leif Holmbek
- 1932–1934: Anton Salomonsen
- 1935–1938: Elias Sandvig
- 1939–1939: Nils O. Fjeldkårsta
- 1940–1941: Elias Sandvig
- 1946–1947: Magnus Børresen
- 1948–1948: Elias Sandvig
- 1949–1949: Magnus Børresen
- 1950–1950: Elias Sandvig
- 1950–1953: Lauritz Wathne
- 1954–1955: Magnus Børresen
- 1956–1957: Johan Fritzner Thorkildsen
- 1958–1959: Magnus Børresen
- 1960–1963: Frimann Skeie
- 1964–1964: Axel Holst Roness
Notable people
- Jan Kjell Larsen (born 1983), a footballer
- Svein Munkejord (born 1948), a former fisheries minister
- Asbjørn Sunde (1909–1985), a saboteur against the Nazi occupation of Norway
- Tormod Torfæus (1636–1719), an Icelandic-Norwegian historian
- Øyvind Vaksdal (born 1955), former member of the Norwegian Parliament
- Karina Sævik (born 1996), a footballer
External links
- 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- 5 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine