Sokndal is the southernmost municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Dalane. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hauge. Other villages in Sokndal include Li, Rekefjord, Sogndalsstranda, and Åna-Sira. Sogndalsstranda is a picturesque, old fishing village, which may have inspired the municipality in becoming Norway's first member of Cittaslow. The Jøssingfjorden, known for the Altmark Incident, is also located in Sokndal. The municipality is the 267th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sokndal is the 219th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,280. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 0.2% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
The parish of Soggendal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. In 1845, the small lading place of Sogndal was separated from Sokndal as a municipality of its own. This left Sokndal with 2,819 residents. On 12 December 1868, a small part of Sokndal was transferred to neighboring Eigersund municipality. On 1 July 1944, the small lading place of Sogndal was reincorporated into Sokndal. In 1947, a small area in Sokndal was transferred to Eigersund. On 1 January 1967, the Tjørn farm was transferred from Eigersund to Sokndal.
Name
The Old Norse form of the name was Sóknardalr. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Sókn and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The river name is derived from the Old Norse verb sœkja which means "seek" and so the meaning is "the river which seeks its way". Before 1918, the name was written "Sogndal" or "Soggendahl".
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 8 July 1988. The arms show three black pickaxes on a yellow background. These were chosen to symbolize the importance of mining and agriculture in the municipality. It was designed by Johan Digernes of Haugesund.
The municipality is the southernmost in Rogaland county. The North Sea lies to the south and west, the river Sira and the Åna fjord lie to the southeast, the municipality of Lund lies to the east and north, and the municipality of Eigersund lies to the northwest. The lakes Grøsfjellvatnet and Eiavatnet both lie on the northern border of the municipality. The coastline of Sokndal is fairly smooth, although there are two larger fjords which cut into the municipality: the Rekefjorden and Jøssingfjorden. The Lille Presteskjær Lighthouse marks the entrance to the Rekefjorden. The southeastern part of the municipality is very rocky and rugged. It is the site of the large Tellnes mine, a large producer of titanium.
Climate
Economy
At Tellnes, just east of Hauge i Dalane, there is an ilmenite mine run by Titania AS, supplying 10% of the world production of ilmenite. It's also the world's largest opencast ilmenite mine.
