Editing Brønnøy Municipality (section)

==General information==
The municipality of Brønnøy was established on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). On 1 October 1875 the eastern district (population: 1,162) was separated to become the new [[Velfjord Municipality]]. This left Brønnøy with 4,156 residents.

Then on 1 January 1901, the southwestern district (population: 2,731) was separated to become the new [[Sømna Municipality|Vik Municipality]] (which later changed its name to Sømna Municipality). Brønnøy Municipality was then left with 3,440 inhabitants. On 1 January 1923, the large village of [[Brønnøysund]] (population: 948) was separated from Brønnøy Municipality to become a town (''[[ladested]]'').

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, a major municipal merger took place. The following areas were merged to form a new, larger Brønnøy Municipality.
*the town of [[Brønnøysund]] (population: 2,064)
*[[Sømna Municipality]] (population: 2,347)
*Brønnøy Municipality (population: 2,635)
*[[Velfjord Municipality]] (population: 1,380)
*the part of [[Bindal Municipality]] located in the [[Lande, Norway|Lande]]-[[Tosbotn]] area around the inner [[Bindalsfjorden]] (population: 296)

Just thirteen years later on 1 January 1977, most of the former [[Sømna Municipality]] was separated from Brønnøy Municipality once again to become its own municipality. The Hongset area of the old Sømna Municipality remained in Brønnøy Municipality.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the small island of ''Brønnøya'' ({{langx|non|Brunnøy}}), since the first [[Brønnøy Church]] was built there. The first element is {{wikt-lang|non|brunnr}} which means "[[Water well|well]]" or "[[Spring (hydrology)|spring]]" and the last element is {{wikt-lang|no|øy}} which means "[[island]]". Islands with freshwater wells were important for seafarers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |author-link=Oluf Rygh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K21BAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |year=1905 |edition=16 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=15 |language=no}}</ref> Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Brønnø''. On 6 January 1908, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Brønnøy''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015110481021_001 |title=Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1908. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m |publisher=Fred T. Salicath |year=1908 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=24 |language=no}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 20 May 1988. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Or (heraldry)|Or]] a balisage signal [[Sable (heraldry)|sable]]"'' ({{langx|no|I gull en svart seilingsgrind}}). This means the arms have a [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) that 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 [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[Daymark|navigational marker]] which is used to signal directions for navigation within a harbour. The charge represents the importance of boating and harbours in this seaside municipality. The arms were designed by Rolf Tidemann, a graphic artist from Brønnøysund.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Brønnøy |access-date=2023-01-30 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Brønnøy, Nordland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-18-13.html |access-date=2023-01-30 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1988-05-08 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1988-05-20-376 |access-date=2023-01-30 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has two parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within Brønnøy Municipality. It is part of the [[Sør-Helgeland prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Brønnøy'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="3"|Brønnøy||[[Brønnøy Church]]||[[Brønnøysund]]||1870
|-
|[[Skogmo Chapel]]||[[Skomo]]||1979
|-
|[[Trælnes Chapel]]||[[Trælnes]]||1980
|-
|rowspan="2"|Velfjord og Tosen||[[Nøstvik Church]]||[[Hommelstø]]||1674
|-
|[[Tosen Chapel]]||[[Lande, Norway|Lande]]||1734
|}

[[File:Norway - Torget.png|thumb|Torget island. The larger, round island northwest of Torget is the main island of the Vega [[archipelago]].]]
[[File:Strandflate Brønnøy.jpg|thumb|View from inside the hole of Torghatten; the Strandflaten coastal lowland]]