Lavangen was established on 1 January 1907 when it was separated from
Ibestad Municipality. The initial population was 1,536. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the
Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Lavangen Municipality (population: 1,677) and
Salangen Municipality (population: 2,611) were merged into a new, larger Salangen Municipality. The merger was brief, however, because on 1 January 1977, the old Lavangen Municipality (except for the Lavangsnes area) was made a separate municipality once again. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed
Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old
Troms county. On 1 January 2024, the
Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of
Troms county.
Name The municipality is named after the local
Lavangen fjord () since it is a central geographical feature of the area. The first element is which means "
leaf" (here in the sense of '
birchwood'). The last element is which means "
fjord" or "
bay". On 19 December 2015, the national government approved the municipality's request to add as a co-equal, official name of the municipality in the
Northern Sami language. Both and can be used interchangeably for the municipality. The spelling of the Sami language name changes depending on how it is used. It is called when it is spelled alone, but it is when using the Sami language equivalent to "Lavangen Municipality".
Coat of arms The
coat of arms was granted on 18 December 1987. The official
blazon is
"Gules, three birch leaves Or in pall stems conjoined" (). This means the arms have a red
field (background) and the
charge is three
birch leaves that are connected and in a Y-shape design. The leaves have a
tincture of
Or which means they are commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms are a
canting of the name of the municipality (which means leaf). The three leaves represent how the municipality was settled by
Norwegians,
Samis, and
Kvens. The arms were designed by Øystein Hermod Skaugvolldal.
Churches The
Church of Norway has one parish () within Lavangen Municipality. It is part of the
Indre Troms prosti (
deanery) in the
Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. ==Geography==