the parish of "nærstrand" was established as a municipality on 1 january 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). originally, it encompassed the two "sokn" (districts) of "hinderaa" and "sjærnerø", located on the northern (mainland) part of the municipality and the southern (islands) in the nedstrandfjorden, respectively. on 1 january 1868, the municipality was divided into two separate municipalities, named after the two "sokn" that made up nærstrand: hinderaa (population: 1,680) and sjærnerø (population: 922). on 10 august 1881 the name of hinderaa municipality was changed by royal resolution to "nerstrand". later, between 1910 and 1920 the spelling was changed slightly to "nedstrand" to better match the local pronunciation. on 1 january 1965, the municipality of nedstrand (population: 1,200) was merged with the neighboring municipality of tysvær and parts of the municipalities of avaldsnes, skjold, vats, and vikedal. the new municipality was named "tysvær".