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Agder Latitude and Longitude:
58°46′46.53″N 7°40′6.45″E / 58.7795917°N 7.6684583°E / 58.7795917; 7.6684583
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Southern Norway.
For the small town in Minnesota, see Agder Township, Minnesota.
Agder County
Agder fylke
County
Flag of Agder County
Flag
Coat of arms of Agder County
Coat of arms
Agder within Norway
Agder within Norway
Coordinates: 58°46′46.53″N 7°40′6.45″E / 58.7795917°N 7.6684583°E / 58.7795917; 7.6684583
Country Norway
CountyAgder
District Southern Norway
Established1 Jan 2020
 • Preceded by Aust-Agder and
Vest-Agder counties
Administrative centre Kristiansand
Government
 • Body Agder County Municipality
 •  Governor (2022) Gina Lund ( Ap)
 •  County mayor
   (2019)		 Arne Thomassen ( H)
Area
 • Total16,433.67 km2 (6,345.08 sq mi)
 • Land14,980.95 km2 (5,784.18 sq mi)
 • Water1,452.72 km2 (560.90 sq mi)  8.8%
 • Rank#8 in Norway
Population
 (2021)
 • Total308,843
 • Rank#8 in Norway
 • Density20.6/km2 (53/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
Increase +9.3%
DemonymEgde or Egd [1]
Official language
[2]
 •  Norwegian form Neutral
Time zone UTC+01:00 ( CET)
 • Summer ( DST) UTC+02:00 ( CEST)
ISO 3166 code NO-42 [3]
Website Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Agder is a county (fylke) and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. [4] The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. [5] Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south country, south land, southland") has been commonly used for this region, sometimes with the inclusion of neighbouring Rogaland. Before that time, the area was considered a part of Western Norway. [6]

The area was a medieval petty kingdom, and after Norway's unification became known as Egdafylki and later Agdesiden, a county within the kingdom of Norway. The name Agder was not used after 1662, when the area was split into smaller governmental units called Nedenæs, Råbyggelaget, Lister, and Mandal. The name was resurrected in 1919 when two counties of Norway that roughly corresponded to the old Agdesiden county were renamed Aust-Agder (East Agder) and Vest-Agder (West Agder). Even before the two counties joined in 2020, they cooperated in many ways; the University of Agder had sites in both Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder, as did many other institutions, such as the Diocese of Agder og Telemark, the Agder Court of Appeal, and the Agder Police District.

Name

The name Agder is older than the Norwegian language. Its meaning is not known. Just as the Norwegian language derives from Old Norse, Agder derives from the Old Norse word Agðir. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Agðir was a petty kingdom inhabited by a people named after it, the Egðir. [6]

Nothing in Old Norse gives any hint as to the word's meaning; it was not produced (from known segments) in Old Norse, which means the name is older still. The Egðir are believed to be the same etymologically as the Augandzi people mentioned in the Getica of Jordanes, who wrote of Scandza (Scandinavia) in the 6th century. If Jordanes's Scandza is a palatalized form of *Scandia, then Augandzi is likely a palatalized form of *Augandii, residents of *Augandia. [7]

A name of that period would have to be closer to Proto-Germanic; in fact, a word of that period does present itself and fits the geographical lore of the times: *agwjō (meaning "island"), [8] which Jordanes and all his predecessors writing of Scandinavia believed it to be. A simple metathesis produces a possibly late form, *augjo-, but this derivation is speculative. There is no other evidence on Auganza, and its connection to Egder is hypothetical too.

Municipalities

On 1 January 1838, the formannskapsdistrikt law went into effect, creating local municipalities all over Norway. The municipalities have changed over time through mergers and divisions as well as numerous boundary adjustments. When Agder county was established on 1 January 2020, it had 25 municipalities.

Number Municipal
number		 Arms Name Establishment Former municipal number
(pre-2020 mergers)		 Former county
1 4201 Risør 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0901 Risør Aust-Agder
2 4202 Grimstad 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0904 Grimstad
3 4203 Arendal 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0906 Arendal
4 4204 Kristiansand 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 1001 Kristiansand
1017 Songdalen
1018 Søgne		 Vest-Agder
5 4205 Lindesnes 1 January 1964 (1964-01-01) 1002 Mandal
1021 Marnardal
1029 Lindesnes
6 4206 Farsund 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 1003 Farsund
7 4207 Flekkefjord 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 1004 Flekkefjord
8 4211 Gjerstad 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0911 Gjerstad Aust-Agder
9 4212 Vegårshei 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0912 Vegårshei
10 4213 Tvedestrand 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0914 Tvedestrand
11 4214 Froland 1 January 1850 (1850-01-01) 0919 Froland
12 4215 Lillesand 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0926 Lillesand
13 4216 Birkenes 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0928 Birkenes
14 4217 Åmli 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0929 Åmli
15 4218 Iveland 1 January 1886 (1886-01-01) 0935 Iveland
16 4219 Evje og Hornnes 1 January 1960 (1960-01-01) 0937 Evje og Hornnes
17 4220 Bygland 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0938 Bygland
18 4221 Valle 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 0940 Valle
19 4222 Bykle 1 January 1902 (1902-01-01) 0941 Bykle
20 4223 Vennesla 1 January 1864 (1864-01-01) 1014 Vennesla Vest-Agder
21 4224 Åseral 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 1026 Åseral
22 4225 Lyngdal 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 1027 Audnedal
1032 Lyngdal
23 4226 Hægebostad 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 1034 Hægebostad
24 4227 Kvinesdal 1 January 1838 (1838-01-01) 1037 Kvinesdal
25 4228 Sirdal 1 January 1849 (1849-01-01) 1046 Sirdal

History

Norway of the Viking Age was divided into petty kingdoms ruled by chiefs who contended for land, maritime supremacy, or political ascendance and sought alliances or control through marriage with other royal families, either voluntary or forced. These circumstances produced the generally turbulent and heroic lives recorded in the Heimskringla.

For example, the Ynglinga saga tells us that Harald Redbeard, chief of Agðir, refused his daughter Åsa to Gudröd Halvdanson, on which event Gudröd invaded Agðir, killed Harald and his son Gyrd, and took Åsa whether she would or no. She bore a son, Halvdan (the Black), and later arranged to have Gudröd assassinated. Among the royal families, these events seem to have been rather ordinary. Her word was the last in the argument, as her grandson, Harald Fairhair, unified Norway.

Kings of Agder
Legendary Kings
Monarchs of Agder (790–987)

Prior to the Viking Age is a gap in the region's history for a few hundred years, but in Jordanes we also find regions of the same but earlier forms of names, presumably also petty kingdoms under now unknown chiefs. The previous most credible source, Ptolemy, gives the briefest of sketches, only citing all of Norway as the Chaedini ("country people"). Perhaps the difference between kingdoms was not sufficiently important to cite them individually.

Prior to then the most credible and respected source, Tacitus in Germania Chapter 44 described the Suiones, who were divided into civitates (kingdoms?) along the coast of Scandinavia and were unusual in owning fleets of a special type of ship. These were pointed on both ends and were driven by banks of oars that could be rearranged or shipped for river passage. They did not depend on sail (so Tacitus says) but other than that they do not differ from Viking ships. These civitates went all the way around Scandinavia to the Arctic, or at least to regions of very long days, where they stopped.

It seems clear that in the Roman Iron Age Norway was populated by people of the same identity as Sweden, who were called the Suiones by Latin sources. In settling the coast at some point in prehistory they had been divided into civitates by the terrain. These states took on mainly geographical names or names of individuals or mythological characters. Agder was one of them.

After the unification of Norway by Harold Fairhair and army and allies in the 10th century, all the civitates became provinces (fylker) and after their conversion to Christianity, they became dioceses or parishes. The development of Old Norse into local dialects and the dissimilation of customs due to isolation added an ethnic flavor to the area, which is cherished today.

References

  1. ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  3. ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (2023-01-26). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  4. ^ "Arealstatistikk for Norge". Kartverket (in Norwegian Bokmål). 2013-03-08. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
  5. ^ "Dette er Norges nye regioner". www.vg.no. 21 February 2017.
  6. ^ a b Store norske leksikon. "Agder" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2016-12-31.
  7. ^ Völundarhúsins, Freyia. "Augandzi (The Tribe and Kingdom of Agder, Norway)". Retrieved 2016-12-31.
  8. ^ "Indo-European Roots Appendix". The American Heritage Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
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