The 382-square-kilometre (147 sq mi) municipality is the 243rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Gjemnes is the 243rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,669. The municipality's population density is 7.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (19/sq mi) and its population has increased by 4.4% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
General information
The municipality of Gjemnes was established on 1 September 1893 when the southern part of Kvernes Municipality (population: 477), the northern part of Øre Municipality (population: 226), and the southwestern part of Frei Municipality (population: 231) were merged. The initial population of the municipality was 934. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Øre Municipality (population: 1,565) and all of Tingvoll Municipality located west of the Tingvollfjorden (population: 778) were merged with Gjemnes Municipality (population: 697) to form a new, larger municipality of Gjemnes.[6]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gjemnes farm (Old Norse: Gímnes) since it was the site of Gjemnes Church. The first element is somewhat uncertain. It may come from an old river name (Gíma). The river name may be derived from the word gíma which means "opening" or "mouth". The last element is nes which means "headland".[7]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 4 November 1983. The official blazon is "Vert, a deer head cabossedOr" (Norwegian: I grønt et gull hjortehode, sett forfra). This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is the head and antlers of a red deer. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The green color in the field symbolizes the importance of the agricultural history of the community. The deer head was chosen since these deer are quite common in the municipality. The deer antlers have twelve points on them, representing the twelve districts of Gjemnes. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth who based it off an original idea by Birger A. Eikrem. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[8][9][10]
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Gjemnes is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.