Øksnes

	Øksnes
	Øksnes
Basic data
Commune number :	1868
Province (county) :	North country
Coordinates :	68 ° 55 ' N , 15 ° 5' E Coordinates: 68 ° 55 ' N , 15 ° 5' E
Surface:	319.57 km²
Residents:	4,410 (Feb 27, 2020)
Population density :	14 inhabitants per km²
Language form :	neutral
Postal code :	8439 (Myre)
Website:	Øksnes
politics
Mayor :	John Danielsen ( Sp ) (2019)
Location in the province of Nordland

Øksnes is a municipality in the Norwegian Fylke Nordland on the Vesterålen archipelago .

The community

Idyll at the Auenfjord

The municipality's territory includes the island of Skogsøya and part of the island of Langøya in the north. It borders the municipalities of Sortland and Bø in the south and south-west .

The administrative center of the municipality is located in the village of Myre, where almost 2/3 of the population live.

The main employers are the local fishing and fish processing industries, which employ 38% of the workforce.

Origin of name

Øksnes takes its name from a small town on the south side of the island of Skogsøya with the same name. The old Norse Yxnes is the pre-form of today's Øksnes and means something like “ox peninsula ”, an area where the cattle could be kept separate from the others.

The center of the small village is the cruciform church Øksnes kirke , which was built in 1703 with timber from the 16th century.