Bergen landdistrikt


Bergen landdistrikt is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1877. The area is now part of Bergen Municipality in the traditional district of Midhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was located in the city of Bergen, which was technically in a neighboring municipality. The municipality included the present-day neighborhoods of Møhlenpris, Nygård, Kalfaret, Sandviken, and Ytre Sandviken as well as the area around the mountains Fløyfjellet and Sandviksfjellet.

General information

The city of Bergen has been established for centuries, but the exact boundaries were not clear. From 1776 to 1789, the royal boundary surveying commission conducted a survey of the area to formally establish the boundaries of the city. The areas that were left outside the city boundaries were still part of the local Domkirken and Holy Cross Church parishes. The areas outside the city limits were referred to as the rural parishes of the city's churches. The area south of the city was called the Domkirken landsogn and the area east of the city was the Korskirkens landsokn.
On 1 January 1838, all parishes in Norway were established as civil municipalities under the new formannskapsdistrikt law. The city of Bergen was its own city-municipality. The two "rural parishes" of Bergen Cathedral and Holy Cross Church were merged to form the rural municipality called "Bergen landdistrikt". Initially, the new municipality had about 1500 residents.
In 1873, the city of Bergen requested that Parliament transfer the Bergen landdistrikt into the city since a large part of the inhabitants of the rural parish worked in the city, and many of the city's businesses were located in Bergen landdistrikt. The rural parish was against the merger, but the Parliament agreed with the city and Bergen landdistrikt was incorporated into the city of Bergen on 1 January 1877. There were 4,883 residents of the municipality at the time of its dissolution. Upon the merger, the municipality was transferred to the city, but it also switched from Søndre Bergenhus county to Bergen county.

Name

The municipality is named after the neighboring city of Bergen. The first element comes from the word which means "mountain" and the word which means "meadow" or "pasture". The last element of the name is the modern Norwegian word landdistrikt meaning "rural district" since it was the rural area surrounding the city.

Geography

The small municipality encompassed the rural suburbs around the city of Bergen on three sides. It was bordered by mountains to the north and a valley to the south. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Rundemanen, located along the northern border with Hammer Municipality. Hammer Municipality was located to the north, Aarstad Municipality was located to the east and south, and the city of Bergen was located to the west.

Government

During its existence, Bergen landdistrikt was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Mayors

The mayors of Bergen landdistrikt was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:
Term beganTerm endedName
18391839Jacob Ludvig Gerhard Pleym
18401845Ferdinand Valentinsen
18471854Rasmus Rolfsen
18561857Christian Mohn
18601867Rasmus Rolfsen
18681868W. Reehorst
18691869Lyder Nicolaisen
18701876Ditlef Bruland