Editing Leka Municipality (section)

==General information==
The municipality of Leka was established on 1 October 1860 when it was separated from the large [[Kolvereid Municipality]]. Initially, the population of Leka Municipality was 1,702. On 1 January 1909, the southern mainland district of Leka (population: 881) was separated to form the new [[Gravvik Municipality]]. This left Leka Municipality with 1,209 residents. The borders of Leka have not changed since then.<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> On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old [[Nord-Trøndelag]] county to the new [[Trøndelag]] county.

On 8 June 2017, the Norwegian Parliament, the [[Storting]], voted to merge Leka Municipality with [[Vikna Municipality]], [[Nærøy Municipality]], and [[Bindal Municipality]] to form one, large municipality effective 1 January 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-08-21 |title=Kommunesammenslåing Nærøy, Vikna, Leka, og Bindal |url=http://www.leka.kommune.no/getfile.php/3611/Innkalling%20K.styre%2011%20-%2021.08.17.pdf |access-date=2017-09-26 |publisher=Leka kommune |language=no}}</ref> Both Leka and Bindal municipalities rejected the merger, but Vikna and Nærøy merged on that date to form the new [[Nærøysund Municipality]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-02-05 |title=Navn på ny kommune |url=http://www.vikna.kommune.no/Vikna/Web.nsf/ShowNews?OpenForm&ID=EECE940943CAD9D8C125822B0067EB73 |access-date=2018-04-29 |publisher=Vikna kommune |language=no}}</ref>

===Toponymy===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the [[Leka (island)|island of Leka]] ({{langx|non|Leka}}) since the island makes up a large portion of the parish and municipality. The meaning of the name is unknown, but it may come from the word {{lang|non|lekke}} which can mean "gravelly ground".<ref name="snl">{{Cite web |last=Store norske leksikon |author-link=Store norske leksikon |title=Leka |url=http://snl.no/Leka |access-date=2011-10-10 |language=no}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |author-link=Oluf Rygh |url=http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/navnegransking/rygh_ng/rygh_bla.prl?enhid=252075&avid=55909 |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Trondhjems amt |date=1903 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=15 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=369 |language=no}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 21 April 1989. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Gules]], a winged claw [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]"'' ({{langx|no|I rødt en vinget gull klo}}). This means the arms have a red [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[wing]] and [[claw]] of an [[Aquila (genus)|eagle]]. The wing and claw design 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. This is a reference to an incident which supposedly occurred in 1932, in which a three-year-old girl disappeared on the [[island]], and was subsequently discovered beneath the nest of a [[White-tailed eagle]], high up on a cliff where no three-year-old could possibly have climbed. The arms were designed by Einar H. Skjervold.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Leka |access-date=2023-02-13 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Leka, Nord-Trøndelag (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-17-55.html |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1989-06-09 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1989-04-21-241 |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref><ref name="snl" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nord-Trøndelag fylke |url=http://home.no.net/~thuridcs/Kommvpn/N-Trondelag/beskr-n-trondelag.htm |access-date=2008-11-02 |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within Leka Municipality. It is part of the [[Namdal prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Nidaros]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Leka'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|Leka||[[Leka Church]]||[[Leknes]]||1867
|}