| Sandnes kommune | |||
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| — Municipality — | |||
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| Coordinates (city): 58°51′5.80″N 5°44′9.61″E / 58.851611°N 5.7360028°ECoordinates: 58°51′5.80″N 5°44′9.61″E / 58.851611°N 5.7360028°E | |||
| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Rogaland | ||
| District | Jæren | ||
| Municipality ID | NO-1102 | ||
| Administrative centre | Sandnes | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor (2007) | Norunn Østråt Koksvik (H) | ||
| Area (Nr. 273 in Norway) | |||
| - Total | 303 km2 (117 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 286 km2 (110.4 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2009) | |||
| - Total | 63,431 | ||
| - Density | 212/km2 (549.1/sq mi) | ||
| - Change (10 years) | 18.3 % | ||
| - Rank in Norway | 8 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Official language form | Neutral | ||
| Norwegian demonym | Sandnesbu[1] | ||
| Website | www.sandnes.kommune.no | ||
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| Historical populations | ||
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| Year | Pop. | %± |
| 1951 | 4,178 | — |
| 1960 | 3,980 | −4.7% |
| 1970 | 30,015 | 654.1% |
| 1980 | 36,255 | 20.8% |
| 1990 | 44,340 | 22.3% |
| 2000 | 52,998 | 19.5% |
| 2007 | 60,507 | 14.2% |
| 2008 | 62,037 | 2.5% |
| 2009 | 63,431 | 2.2% |
| Source: Statistics Norway | ||
Sandnes (help·info) is a city and municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Jæren.
Contents |
History
Sandnes was separated from Høyland as a municipality of its own in 1860, and gained city status the same year. On 1 January 1965, the rural municipalities of Høyland and Høle, as well as parts of Hetland, were merged with Sandnes.
Name
The city is named after an old farm ("Sandnæs" 1723), since the city was built on its ground. The first element is sand which means "sand" or "sandy beach", the last element is nes which means "headland".
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms was granted on 21 April 1972. The arms show a piece of pottery, as pottery was one of the main industries in the late 18th century. The symbol is a leirgauk, which in English would be a ceramic cuckoo-bird (leir(e)= clay/ceramic and gauk/gjök = cuckoo-bird). The ceramic Sandnes-cuckoo (Norwegian: sandnesgauker) is an ocarina or simple flute which was made by the potteries in Sandnes and used to advertise their products. Later it also became a nickname for people from Sandnes.[2]
Geography
The city of Sandnes is located about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Stavanger, and these two cities have expanded so as to form a conurbation. The municipality of Sola is located to the west, Klepp and Time to the south, and Gjesdal and Forsand to the east. The fjord Gandsfjorden is situated north-south and ends in the centre of Sandnes. The international airport of Stavanger is situated in Sola.
Sandnes's districts are Lura, Trones, Stangeland, Soma, Malmheim, Sandved, Ganddal, Figgjo, Austrått, Sviland, Hana (includes Aspervika and Dale), Høle, Riska.
The landscape of the Stavanger and Sandnes region is quite flat. On the long west coast there are several beaches and further inland the land is raised to form low plains with some small peaks rising up to 400 to 500 metres (1,300 to 1,600 ft) above sea level. From Stavanger and Sandnes it is approximately one hour by car to alpine and skiing resorts. In Sandnes there are some easily accessible small mountain peaks, such as dalsnuten and Dale, with a view over the Sandnes/Stavanger area. The renowned Lysefjord is also easily accessible by car or boat.
Distance to some cities
- Stavanger 12 kilometres (7.5 mi)
- Kristiansand 155 kilometres (96 mi)
- Bergen 170 kilometres (110 mi)
- Oslo 305 kilometres (190 mi)
- Ålesund 400 kilometres (250 mi)
- Trondheim 570 kilometres (350 mi)
- Tromsø 1,360 kilometres (850 mi)
Economy
Sandnes hosts a large array of retail shops of most kinds and is used by the neighbouring municipalities appreciating the service and wide range of selections. Sandnes is known as Norway's bicycle city, mainly due to the fact that the bicycle manufacturer Øglænd DBS was situated here for decades. The city offers a variety of routes for everyday riders and tourists. Since 1996 a public bicycle rental programme has been in operation in the city.
The city holds a vibrant industry mainly in the Ganddal area in the south and the Lura and Forus area in the north towards the Stavanger boundary. There is a significant activity towards the oil exploration in the North Sea and also some IT related companies. In this suburban region between Stavanger and Sandnes malls and department stores have also been established. Among these malls is one of Norway's biggest malls, Kvadrat meaning "square" (although it is not square shaped anymore as it has expanded several times since it opened in 1984).
Around 30% are employed in Stavanger (Q4 2004).[3]
Sandnes was formerly known as the pottery town of Norway - due to the important ceramics industry based on the extensive occurrence of clay in the surroundings.
Culture
The primary football team (Sandnes Ulf) is currently competing in the second highest division of Norwegian professional football, Adeccoligaen.
Sandnes is the only city in Norway which is a member of the World Health Organisation’s network of Healthy Cities.
Sandnes is the home of professional poker player Annette Obrestad, who was born in Stavanger, just 9.3 miles away. Annette became the youngest ever winner of a WSOP bracelet when winning the Betfair World Series of Poker Europe title in September 2007 at the age of 18.
Sandnes and its neighbor city Stavanger has been chosen along with Liverpool, United Kingdom, to be a European Capital of Culture for 2008.
Thomas Dybdahl, famous Norwegian singer/songwriter is from Sandnes.
The winner of Norwegian Idol 2004 was Kjartan Salvesen from Sandnes, whose first album sold 40.000 copies in Norway (double platinum).
See also
References
- ^ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskriving_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn.
- ^ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/s/sandnes.htm. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
- ^ "Fakta om næringslivet i Sandnes". Sandnes Kommune. http://www.sandnes.kommune.no/index.asp?topExpand=1000097&subExpand=1000096&menuid=1000586&strurl=1007368i&context=0.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sandnes |
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Look up Sandnes in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
- Rogaland travel guide from Wikitravel
- Sandnes travel guide from Wikitravel
- Municipality website (Norwegian)
- City map
- The official tourism site of the Stavanger region
- Website about the city of Sandnes-Norway
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