Sokndal is a municipality in the county of Rogaland.

The parish of Soggendal was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The small lading place of Sogndalstrand was separated from Sokndal as a municipality of its own in 1858, but again merged with Sokndal in 1944.

Sogndalstrand is a picturesque, old fishing village, which may have inspired the municipality in becoming Norway's first member of Cittaslow.

At Tellnes near Hauge i Dalane, there is an ilmenite mine run by Titania AS, supplying 10% of the world production of ilmenite. It's also the world's largest opencast ilmenite mine.

The fjord Jøssingfjord, known for the Altmark Incident, is also located in Sokndal.

The lake Eiavatnet borders on the municipality.

The name

The Norse form of the name was Sóknardalr. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Sókn (now Sokna), the last element is dalr m 'valley, dale'. The river name is derived from the verb sœkja 'seek', and the meaning is 'the river which seeks (finds/forces) its way'.

Until 1918 the name was written "Sogndal".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1988). It shows three pickaxes (to represent mining and agriculture).

External links

• Sokndal (in Norwegian (bokmål))
• A presentation of Sokndal Municipality
• cittaslow.no
• Google map satellite views:
• Hauge i Dalane, also clearly visible is the large rock quarry on both sites of the Rekefjord.
• The Titania open pit mine (top right) and the Jøssingfjord (bottom left)