Lødingen (Northern Sami: Lodegak) is a municipality in Nordland county in Norway. Lødingen is located on the southeastern corner of the island of Hinnøya, and is part of the traditional district of Ofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lødingen. Other villages in the municipality include Våge and Ytterstad. Lødingen has the nickname "Biketown" because it hosts several annual bicycle races, including "Lofoten Insomnia" and Vestbygd-rittet.
The 527-square-kilometre (203sqmi) municipality is by area the 201st largest out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Lødingen Municipality is the 279th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,060. The municipality's population density is 3.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (10/sqmi) and its population has decreased by 8.4% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
General information
View north into Tjeldsundet from just north of Lødingen villageSaami family near Kanstad, Lødingen, 1896. Some of the descendants of the children in the photograph are reindeer herders in the area to this date.Lødingen Church
The municipality of Lødingen was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1869, the southern district of Lødingen surrounding the Tysfjorden on the mainland (population: 1,402) was separated to form the new Tysfjord Municipality. This left 2,064 residents in Lødingen. Then on 1 January 1909, the northeastern district of Lødingen (population: 1,404) was separated to form the new Tjeldsund Municipality. This left 3,034 residents in Lødingen.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, the southern mainland part of Lødingen surrounding the Efjorden and the island of Barøya (population: 433) were transferred to Ballangen Municipality. Then on 1 January 1964, the eastern part of Lødingen on the island of Tjeldøya (population: 297) was transferred to Tjeldsund Municipality.[7]