Hafslo is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The 538-square-kilometre (208 sq mi) municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1963. It is located in the present-day Luster Municipality (in Vestland county) in the traditional district of Sogn. The former municipality included the villages of Kinsedalen, Ornes, and Kroken on the east side of the Lustrafjorden. It also included the villages of Solvorn, Hafslo, Joranger, and the whole Veitastrond valley on the west side of the Lustrafjorden. The municipality surrounded the lakes Hafslovatnet and Veitastrondvatnet. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Hafslo, where Hafslo Church was located.

History

Hafslo was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1963, the municipality of Hafslo (population: 2,384) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Luster (population: 2,674) and Jostedal (population: 796) to form the new, larger municipality of Luster.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hafslo farm (Old Norse: Hafrsló) since the first Hafslo Church was built there. The first element is the old male name Hafr, the name is identical with the word hafr which means "male goat". The last element is ló which means "clearing" or "meadow", probably due to the excellent farming areas nearby.

Government

During its existence, this municipality 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 Hafslo:

Municipal council

The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Hafslo was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Media gallery

• 
  The Hafslo village area in the central part of the municipality
• 
  The Ornes area in eastern Hafslo municipality
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  The Veitastrondsvatnet lake and the Jostedalsbreen glacier (northern end of the municipality
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  Hafslo Church

Notable people

• Sylfest Lomheim (born 1945), a Norwegian linguist
• Jens Sterri (born 1923), a civil servant
• Kjellfred Weum (born 1940), a hurdler

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway