The municipality of Torpen was established on 1 January 1914 when the large Nordre Land Municipality was divided into two: Torpen (population: 2,219) and Nordre Land (population: 2,570). In 1918, the spelling of the name was changed from Torpen to Torpa. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, the municipality of Torpa (population: 2,620) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Nordre Land (population: 3,870) and the Tranlia and Store Røen areas (population: 196) of the neighboring Fluberg Municipality creating a new, larger Nordre Land Municipality.[5]
Name
Lunde church in west Torpa
The municipality (originally the parish) is named, Torpen (Old Norse: Þorp) since it is the old name for the area. The name is identical with the word þorp which means "hamlet" or "village".[6] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Torpen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Torpa, removing the definite form ending -en.[7]
The municipal council(Herredsstyre) of Torpa was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: