- published: 27 Apr 2012
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Hareid is a village and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Hareid. The other main population centers are Brandal and Hjørungavåg.
It is situated on the coast of Sunnmøre, on an island named Hareidlandet, which it shared with the municipality of Ulstein and of which it is regarded by many as the commercial capital. Hareid is regarded as the cultural capital with its annual 'Hareidsstemne' and many choirs. It is also an important traffic hub in Sunnmøre and is connected by ferry to Ålesund and Valderøy. The municipality is connected to the mainland via the Eiksund Bridge and Eiksund Tunnel through Ulstein.
The municipality of Hareid was established on 1 January 1917 when it was separated from Ulstein to form a municipality of its own. The initial population was 2,310. On 1 July 1958, the western part of the island of Sula (population: 68) was transferred from Hareid to the municipality of Borgund.
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hareid farm (Old Norse: Haðareið), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the island Hǫð (now Hareidlandet) and the last element is eið which means "isthmus". The meaning of the name of the island is unknown.