The 241-square-kilometre (93 sq mi) municipality is the 291st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Frøya is the 174th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 5,391. The municipality's population density is 23.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (61/sq mi), and its population has increased by 19.6% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
General information
Flatval, Frøya municipality
The parish of Frøya was established as a municipality on 1 January 1877 when it was separated from Hitra Municipality. Its initial population was 3,949. On 1 January 1906, it was split into two municipalities: Nord-Frøya Municipality in the north and Sør-Frøya Municipality in the south. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Nord-Frøya and Sør-Frøya were merged back together again, forming a new Frøya Municipality.[7] On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.
Name
The name of the island and municipality come from Norse mythology. Although Frøya is a variant of the name of the Norse goddess Freyja, the Old Norse form of the name of the island was Frøy or Frey (the ending -a in the modern form is actually the feminine definite article – so the meaning of Frøya is 'the Frøy'). Therefore, the name of the island probably has the same root as the name of the Norse godFreyr, brother to Freyja. The names originally were titles: "lord" or "lady". The oldest meaning of the common word was "(the one) in front; the foremost, the leading" and here in the sense "the island in front of Hitra". Until 1906 the island and municipality name was spelled Frøien (-en is the masculine definite article in Norwegian).[8]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 13 March 1987. The official blazon is "Azure, three fishhooks argentin bend" (Norwegian: I blått tre sølv angler i skrå rekke). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a series of three fish hooks lined up diagonally. The fish hooks have a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The fish hooks mimic Stone Age hooks made of bone that are meant to symbolize the importance of fishing and trapping by the people of Frøya. The arms were designed by Einar H. Skjervold based on an idea by S. Hogstad from Kolsås.[4][9][10][11]
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Frøya is made up of 23 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
The main island of Frøya is fairly open and has no natural forests–mostly covered with marshes and heather. The largest villages on the island are Sistranda in the east and Titran in the west. Frøya is a member of the International Island Games Association. The highest point above sea level is the 76-metre (249 ft) tall Besselvassheia, and the second highest point is the 74-metre (243 ft) tall Bremnestua.[27]
Climate
Frøya has a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb) with a year amplitude of only 11.2 °C (20 °F) from the coldest to the warmest month. November and December are the wettest months, while April – July are the driest part of the year. The record high is from July 2014, and the record low is from February 2010. The average date for the last overnight freeze (below 0 °C (32.0 °F)) in spring is 4 April[28] and average date for first freeze in autumn is 20 November (1981-2010 average)[29] giving an average frost-free season of 229 days.
Climate data for Sula, Frøya 1991-2020 (5 m, extremes 1975-2024)
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1995"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1996. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1991"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1993. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1987"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1988. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1983"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1984. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1979"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1979. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunevalgene 1975"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1977. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunevalgene 1972"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1973. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunevalgene 1967"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1967. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"Kommunevalgene 1963"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1964. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^Festskrift: kommunalt selvstyre i Sør-Trøndelag 150 år : 1837-1987 (in Norwegian). Trondheim: Strindheim trykkeris forl. 1987. p. 176. ISBN8290551126.
