Editing Ballangen Municipality (section)

==General information==
[[File:Efjord1.jpg|thumb|left|Efjord in Ballangen July 2003. The bridge is part of the [[European route E6|E6]] road.]]
The municipality of Ballangen was established on 1 July 1925 when it was separated from the large [[Evenes Municipality]]. The new municipality encompassed all of the area of Evenes Municipality that was located south of the [[Ofotfjorden]]. Initially, Ballangen had 3,270 residents.<ref name="Dag" />

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1962, the southern part of [[Lødingen Municipality]] (the island of [[Barøya]] and the area surrounding the [[Efjorden]]; population: 433) was transferred from Lødingen Municipality to Ballangen Municipality.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |year=1999 |isbn=9788253746845 |language=no}}</ref>

On 1 January 2020, the municipality was merged with the neighboring [[Narvik Municipality]] and the eastern half of [[Tysfjord Municipality]] to form a new, larger [[Narvik Municipality]]. This decision had been reached in 2017 after national and local discussions involving municipal mergers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Karlsen |first=Tone Anita |date=2017-08-22 |title=Ny Narvik tar form |url=http://www.ht.no/nyheter/2017/08/22/Nye-Narvik-tar-form-15192004.ece |access-date=2017-09-10 |work=Harstad Tidende |language=no}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 18 July 1980 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], a hammer [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] [[Pale (heraldry)|in pale]]"'' ({{langx|no|På grønn bunn en gull opprett hammer}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is an upright [[hammer]]. The hammer has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The green color in the field symbolizes the importance of [[agriculture]] and the hammer was chosen to represent [[mining]] in the municipality. There used to be [[Copper extraction techniques|copper mines]] in the municipality. The arms were designed by [[Hallvard Trætteberg]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Ballangen |access-date=2023-01-29 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ballangen, Nordland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-18-54.html |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ballangen kommune, våpen |url=https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5003-Kommunev%C3%A5pen/Kart%20og%20tegninger%20og%20segl/he10081205031008.tif.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5003-Kommunev%25C3%25A5pen%2F%3Fq%3Dballangen |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=Digitalarkivet |publisher=Arkivverket |language=no}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality is named after the old ''[[Ballangen (village)|Ballangen]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Bagangr}}) which is located at the head of a small fjord with the same name. The first element is {{lang|non|bag}} which has an unknown meaning. The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|angr}} which means "[[fjord]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unger |first=Carl Rikard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5sQYYO_JIXMC |title=Sproglig-historiske studier |publisher=H. Aschehoug & Co. |year=1896 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=77 |language=no |access-date=18 November 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |author-link=Oluf Rygh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K21BAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt |date=1905 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=16 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=293 |language=no}}</ref><ref name="snl">{{Cite web |last=Store norske leksikon |author-link=Store norske leksikon |title=Ballangen |url=http://snl.no/Ballangen |access-date=2012-05-22 |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] had one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within Ballangen Municipality. It was part of the [[Ofoten prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Ballangen'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="3"|Ballangen||[[Ballangen Church]]||[[Ballangen (village)|Ballangen]]||1923
|-
|[[Efjord Chapel]]||[[Kobbvika]]||1985
|-
|[[Kjeldebotn Church]]||[[Kjeldebotn]]||1956
|}