Fitjar Municipality

The parish of Fitje (later spelled Fitjar) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1863 when it was separated from the large Stord Municipality. Initially, the population of Fitje Municipality was 2,313. On 1 January 1868, a small area of Finnaas Municipality (population: 10) was transferred to Fitje Municipality. In 1900, the name was changed to Fitjar Municipality. The original municipality included all of the land surrounding the Selbjørnsfjorden (on the north side and south side of the fjord).^[8]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the area of Fitjar located north of the Selbjørnsfjorden on the islands of Huftarøy and Selbjørn (population: 696) was transferred to the neighboring Austevoll Municipality. On 1 January 1995, the islands of Aga, Agasystra, Gisøya, Vikøya, Selsøy, Risøya, and many smaller surrounding islands (population: 225) were transferred from Fitjar Municipality to the neighboring Bømlo Municipality. These islands had recently been connected to Bømlo by road bridges which precipitated the municipal transfer.^[8]

Historically, this municipality was part of the old Hordaland county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county (after Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged).^[9]

King Haakon I of Norway (Haakon the Good) maintained his residence at Fitjar. The Battle of Fitjar (Slaget ved Fitjar på Stord) took place in Fitjar on the island of Stord in the year 961 between the forces of King Haakon I and the sons of his half-brother, Eric Bloodaxe. Traditionally, important shipping routes have passed through the area, and the municipality contains several trading posts dating as far back as 1648.

Fitjar Municipality lies south of the Selbjørnsfjorden, west of the Langenuen strait, east of the island of Bømlo. The municipality includes over 350 islands, although most are uninhabited. The majority of the residents live on the island of Stord, the northern portion of which is in Fitjar Municipality. The southern portion of the island is part of Stord Municipality. Austevoll Municipality lies on islands to the north, across the fjord and Tysnes Municipality lies on islands across the Langenuen strait to the east, and Bømlo Municipality lies on islands to the west.^[5] The highest point in the municipality is the 678.62-metre (2,226.4 ft) tall mountain Fitjarhesten, located a short distance northwest of Mehammarsåta.^[1]

Fitjar Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[16] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Haugaland og Sunnhordland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Fitjar Church was built in 1867 over the site of the old medieval stone church which had been demolished. Stone blocks taken from the old stone church were used as foundations for the present-day church as well as for the walling enclosing the churchyard. Opposite Fitjar Church is Haakon's Park (Håkonarparken), the location of a sculpture of Haakon the Good sculpted by Anne Grimdalen. The statue was erected in 1961 at the one thousand year commemoration of the Battle of Fitjar.^[46]

• Andreas Fleischer (1878–1957), a theologian, missionary to China, Lutheran Bishop, and priest in Fitjar Church from 1912 to 1917
• Otto Hageberg (1936–2014), a literary historian and academic