Tranøy is a former municipality that was located in the old Troms county, Norway. The municipality is situated on the southern coast of the large island of Senja. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into the new Senja Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Vangsvik in the eastern part of the municipality. Other important villages included Stonglandseidet, Skrollsvika, and Å. The nearly-abandoned island of Tranøya, with the 18th-century wooden Tranøy Church, used to be the centre of activities for the municipality. From Tranøybotn it is only a short walk to the Ånderdalen National Park, with varied landscapes within a very limited area, including deep pine forests. At the time of its dissolution as a municipality on 1 January 2020, the municipality was the 204th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Tranøy was also the 352nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,536. The municipality's population density was and its population has decreased by 2.7% over the previous decade.
General information
The large municipality of Tranøy was established on 1 January 1838. The original municipality included all the land surrounding the large Solbergfjorden. On 1 September 1886, the municipality was divided into three separate municipalities: Tranøy on the west, Dyrøy in the south, and Sørreisa in the east. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964 several changes took place:
The Hellemo, Paulsrud, Johnsgård, and Stormo farms were transferred to Lenvik Municipality.
The parts of Bjarkøy Municipality on the island of Senja and Lemmingsvær islands were transferred to Tranøy Municipality.
The Rødsand area of Torsken Municipality was also transferred to Tranøy Municipality.
In March 2017, the Parliament of Norway voted to merge the municipalities of Berg, Torsken, Lenvik, and Tranøy. The new municipality will encompass the whole island of Senja plus part of the mainland. The new municipality will be established on 1 January 2020 and it will be called Senja Municipality.
Name
The municipality is named after the small island of Tranøya, since the first Tranøy Church was built there. The first element is comes from trana which means "crane" and the last element is øy which means "island". Prior to 1909, the name was written Tranø.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms is from modern times; they were granted on 15 May 1987. The arms are silver or white with a black Atlantic halibut in the center. The fish is a main species of local fish, which symbolizes the importance of fishing for the local community. In addition to this, the fish played a major role in local legends, similar to the role of bears in land-based legends.
The municipality of Tranøy is located on the southern end of the large island of Senja. The Andfjorden, Vågsfjorden, and Solbergfjorden surround the municipality to the west, south, and southeast. The municipalities of Torsken and Berg lie to the north and the municipality of Lenvik is to the east. Ånderdalen National Park lies in the northwestern part of the municipality.
The municipal council of Tranøy was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
