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Ibestad Municipality

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Ibestad Municipality

Ibestad (Northern Sami: Ivvárstádik) is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hamnvik. Some of the other larger villages in Ibestad include Engenes, Laupstad, Rollnes, Sørrollnes, Sørvika, and Å.

The 241-square-kilometre (93 sq mi) municipality is the 293rd largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Ibestad Municipality is the 313th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,311. The municipality's population density is 5.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (14/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 8.7% over the previous 10-year period.

The municipality of Ibestad was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). Initially, Ibestad Municipality covered a large area from the Vågsfjorden strait to the border with Sweden (the old Astafjord Church parish). In 1854, the rural eastern half of the municipality (population: 757) was separated from Ibestad Municipality to form the new Bardu Municipality. This left Ibestad with 4,741 residents.

Then, on 1 January 1871, the northeastern part of the municipality (population: 1,384) was separated from Ibestad to form the new Salangen Municipality. This left Ibestad with 4,301 inhabitants. On 1 January 1907, the easternmost area of Ibestad (population: 1,536) became the separate Lavangen Municipality. Ibestad had 5,709 residents remaining after the split. In 1926, Ibestad Municipality was divided into four separate municipalities: Andørja Municipality (population: 1,420) in the northeast, Gratangen Municipality (population: 1,967) in the southeast, Astafjord Municipality (population: 1,018) in the southwest, and (a much smaller) Ibestad Municipality (population: 1,768) in the northwest.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Ibestad Municipality (population: 1,821) was merged with Andørja Municipality (population: 1,330) and the part of Skånland Municipality located on the island of Rolla (population: 143), creating a new Ibestad Municipality with a total of 3,294 residents.

On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old Troms county. On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Troms county.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Ibestad farm (Old Norse: Ívarsstaðir) since the first Ibestad Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the male name Ívarr. The last element is staðir which means "homestead" or "farm". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Ibbestad. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Ibestad.

The coat of arms was granted on 19 December 1986. The official blazon is "Azure, a cross formy within and conjoined to an annulet argent" (Norwegian: I blått et sølv hjulkors med utbøyde armer). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a cross formy inside an annulet (circle). The charge 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 design is reminiscent of the Ibestad Church, built around the year 1200. It is one of the northernmost stone churches in the world. In the 1960s a 13th-century gravestone was found at the church which had the same type of "wheel cross" design. This design was eventually chosen for the Ibestad coat of arms. These types of crosses were often used as ornaments in wooden stave churches. The arms were designed by Steinar Hanssen.

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