FinnÃÂ¥s is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1916. The area is now part of the present-day Bømlo Municipality in the traditional district of Sunnhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Mosterhamn.
The Kulleseid Canal is a canal that was built in the 1800s on a small isthmus on the island of Bømlo. It enabled boats to journey between the east and west sides of Bømlo island. Today the channel is surrounded by a small trading center and tourist center, and it is a popular guest harbor.
The parish of Finnaas (later spelled FinnÃÂ¥s) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1865, Finnaas Municipality was divided into two parts as follows:
On 1 January 1868, a small part of Finnaas Municipality (population: 10) was transferred to the neighboring Fitje Municipality. On 1 April 1870, the ÃÂklandsgrend area (population: 247) was transferred from Finnaas Municipality to the neighboring Valestrand Municipality.
On 1 July 1916, Finnaas Municipality was dissolved and its lands were divided to create three new (smaller) municipalities as follows:
On 1 January 1963, the three municipalities were merged back together again to for a new, larger Bømlo Municipality.
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Finnaas farm since the Old Moster Church was built there. The name is relative new name with very little historical record. The first element is which is the local name for a type of grass known as Nardus stricta. The last element is which means "hill". Thus it means a hill with "finn" grass.
During its time as a municipality, it was always spelled as Findaas or Finnaas. On 21 December 1917 (after the municipality had been dissolved and merged into Bømlo), a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Finnaas with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled FinnÃÂ¥s, using the letter ÃÂ¥ instead. Since then, when referring to the old municipality, the new spelling is usually used, but the letter "ÃÂ¥" was never used while the municipality existed.
The Church of Norway had three parishes () within Finnaas Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Finnaas prestegjeld and the Søndre Sunnhordland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
Originally, the municipality encompassed all of the island of Bømlo, the island of Moster, the small surrounding islands, and the mainland located south of the Bømlafjorden. In 1865, the mainland parts of Finnaas Municipality were removed, leaving a municipality of islands. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Siggjo on the island of Bømlo.
Fitjar Municipality was located to the north, Stord Municipality was located to the east, Valestrand Municipality was located to the southeast, Sveio Municipality was located to the south, and the North Sea was located to the west.
While it existed, Finnaas Municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Gulating Court of Appeal.
The mayor () of Finnaas Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position: