The municipality of
Akerø was established on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1840, most of Akerø on the
Romsdal peninsula was separated to form the new
Frænen Municipality. On 1 January 1867, the islands that are located to the west of
Gossa (population: 601) were separated to become the new
Sandøy Municipality. On 1 January 1924, the southern part of the municipality (
Otrøya and several other islands) were separated to form the new
Sør-Aukra Municipality, and the remainder of the municipality was renamed
Nord-Aukra Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the
Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Mordal area of Nord-Aukra (population: 77) was transferred to the neighboring
Molde Municipality. On 1 January 1965, prefix
Nord- was dropped from the name of the municipality, so it was then just called
Aukra Municipality.
Name The municipality (originally the
parish) is named after the old
Aukra farm () since the first
Aukra Church was built there. The first element is which means "
field" or "
acre". The last element is which means "
field" or "
acre". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled
Agerø or
Akerø. On 3 November 1917, a
royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to
Aukra. On 1 January 1924, the municipality was renamed as
Nord-Aukra Municipality (adding the prefix
nord- which means "north") to distinguish it from the newly created
Sør-Aukra Municipality (the prefix of that municipality was
sør- meaning "south"). On 1 January 1965, the prefix
nord- was dropped, bringing back the old name
Aukra Municipality (the neighboring
Sør-Aukra Municipality was merged with other areas and renamed
Midsund Municipality so there was no need for the prefix in the name anymore).
Coat of arms The
coat of arms was granted on 22 May 1987. The official
blazon is
"Azure, two bracelets Or" (). This means the arms have a blue
field (background) and the
charge is two
Bronze Age bracelets. The charge has a
tincture of
Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The bracelets are based on an
archaeological finding of two bracelets in Aukra in 1936. The rings date back to the year 1000 BC, during the
Bronze Age. There are no other such pairs found in Norway and only one somewhat similar in southern Sweden. The rings are in diameter and each one is made of of gold. The rings thus symbolize the long tradition of habitation in the area. The fact that there are two, also symbolizes one for the island part of the municipality and the other for the mainland part. The blue and gold colors symbolize the sunset over the ocean. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth who based it off an idea by Knut Rød. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches The
Church of Norway has one parish () within Aukra Municipality. It is part of the
Molde domprosti (arch-
deanery) in the
Diocese of Møre. ==History==