Sortland

General information
Sortland was separated from the municipality of Hadsel in 1841. The area of Godfjorden was transferred from Kvæfjord (and Troms county) to Sortland (and Nordland county) on 1 January 2000.

Sortland is located on Langøya island and is the largest town and commercial centre in Vesterålen. Sortland is located close to the Sortland Bridge, connecting Langøya to Hinnøya by road. The Norwegian Coast Guard has its northern base in this town (Kystvaktskvadron Nord).

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sortland farm (Old Norse: Svortuland), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of a river name Svorta and the last element is land which means "land" or "farm". The river name is derived from svartr which meands "black" and so the meaning is "the black/dark one".