Aust-Agder

Last updated
Aust-Agder County
Aust-Agder fylke
Former County
Vegar.jpg
The lake Vegår in 2001
Flag of Aust-Agder.svg
Flag
Aust-Agder vapen.svg
Coat of arms
Norway Counties Aust-Agder Position.svg
Aust-Agder within Norway
Norway Aust-Agder adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Aust-Agder County
Norway location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Aust-Agder County
Coordinates: 58°34′00″N08°34′00″E / 58.56667°N 8.56667°E / 58.56667; 8.56667
Country Norway
County Aust-Agder
District Southern Norway
Established1685
 • Preceded by Agdesiden
Disestablished1 Jan 2020
 • Succeeded by Agder county
Administrative centre Arendal
Government
 • Body Aust-Agder County Municipality
 •  Governor (2016-2019) Svein Ytterdahl (Ap)
 •  County mayor
   (2017-2019)		Gro Bråten (Ap)
Area
 (upon dissolution)
 • Total
9,158 km2 (3,536 sq mi)
 • Land8,353 km2 (3,225 sq mi)
 • Water805 km2 (311 sq mi)
Population
 (30 September 2019)
 • Total
118,127
 • Density14.14/km2 (36.63/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
Increase2.svg +4.3%
Demonym Austegde [1]
Official language
[2]
 •  Norwegian form Neutral
Time zone UTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code NO-09 [3]
Income (per capita)135,700  kr (2001)
GDP (per capita)208,275  kr (2001)
GDP national rank#18 in Norway
(1.4% of country)
Data from Statistics Norway

Aust-Agder (Norwegian: [ˈæ̂ʉstˌɑɡdər] ⓘ , English: "East Agder") was a county (fylke) in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was 9,212 square kilometres (3,557 sq mi). The county's administrative center was the town of Arendal.

Contents

The county, located along the Skagerrak coast, extended from Gjernestangen at Risør to the Kvåsefjorden in Lillesand. The inner parts of the area included Setesdalsheiene and Austheiene. Most of the population lives near the coast; about 78% of the county's inhabitants live in the five coastal municipalities of Arendal, Grimstad, Lillesand, Tvedestrand, and Risør. The rest of the county is sparsely populated. Tourism is important, as Arendal and the other coastal towns are popular attractions.

The county includes the larger islands of Tromøya, Hisøya, Justøya, and Sandøya. The interior of the county encompasses the traditional district of Setesdal, through which the river Otra flows to the coast.

In 2017, the Parliament of Norway voted to merge Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder counties into one large region, Agder, effective 1 January 2020. [4]

The county was part of the Aust-Agder District Court and the Church of Norway Diocese of Agder og Telemark. [5]

Name

The meaning of the name is "(the) eastern (part of) Agder", since the word aust is the Nynorsk form of "east".

Until 1919, the name of the county was Nedenes amt. The amt was named after the old Nedenes farm (Norse Niðarnes), since this was the seat of the amtmann (County Governor). The first element is the genitive case of the river name Nið (now called Nidelva) and the last element is nes which means "headland". The meaning of the river name is unknown. [6]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 12 December 1958. It shows two horizontal golden bars on a red background. They symbolize the lumber trade and the recovery of iron ore that was important for Aust-Agder's growth. There are two bars to represent the two areas of the county: inland and coastal. [7] [8]

Municipalities

The system of municipalities, or kommuner, was established in Norway in 1837, based on previously existing parishes (see formannskapsdistrikt). Norway had been ceded to Sweden by Denmark in 1814, at which it promptly rebelled and won the right of self-rule, though nominally part of Sweden. In 1905, Norway declared total independence. Meanwhile, as the years progressed, the municipalities did not remain the same, but new ones were formed, old ones broken up, and land was transferred. Since the 1990s, Aust-Agder has been divided into 15 municipalities:

Map of the municipalities in the county Aust-Agder-kommuner.png
Map of the municipalities in the county
No.NameAdm. CenterPopulationArea (km2)
0901 Risor komm.svg Risør Risør 6,936193
0904 Grimstad komm.svg Grimstad Grimstad 22,692304
0906 Arendal komm.svg Arendal Arendal 44,576270
0911 Gjerstad komm.svg Gjerstad Gjerstad 2,511322
0912 Vegarshei komm.svg Vegårshei Myra 2,104356
0914 Tvedestrand komm.svg Tvedestrand Tvedestrand 6,051215
0919 Froland komm.svg Froland Blakstad 5,713645
0926 Lillesand komm.svg Lillesand Lillesand 10,702190
0928 Birkenes komm.svg Birkenes Birkeland 5,178674
0929 Amli komm.svg Åmli Åmli 1,8561,131
0935 Iveland komm.svg Iveland Birketveit 1,342262
0937 Evje og Hornnes komm.svg Evje og Hornnes Evje 3,614550
0938 Bygland komm.svg Bygland Bygland 1,2001,312
0940 Valle komm.svg Valle Valle 1,2461,265
0941 Bykle komm.svg Bykle Bykle 9521,467
Total Aust-Agder vapen.svg Aust-Agder Arendal 116,6739,158

Cities

Parishes

Villages

Former Municipalities

Main article: list of former municipalities of Norway § Aust-Agder

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
195175,811—    
196177,066+1.7%
197180,839+4.9%
198190,629+12.1%
199197,314+7.4%
2001102,714+5.5%
2011110,048+7.1%
2021?126,092+14.6%
2031?139,982+11.0%
Source: Statistics Norway. [9]
Religion in Aust-Agder [10] [11]
religionpercent
Christianity
 
87.57%
Islam
 
0.75%
Buddhism
 
0.24%
Other
 
11.44%

Since the census of 1769, Aust-Agder has experienced a steady population growth: from 29,633 to 79,927 in 1900, and to 102,848 in 2001. There was significant emigration to the United States in the 19th century and early 20th century.

See also

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. (2024-01-09). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Foreningen Store norske leksikon.
  4. ↑ "Om sammenslåingen" (in Norwegian). Agder fylkeskommune. Archived from the original on 2018-01-07. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  5. ↑ "Agder og Telemark bispedømme". Agder og Telemark bispedømme (in Norwegian Bokmål). 2025-10-28. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  6. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nedenes amt (in Norwegian) (8 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 110.
  7. ↑ "Fylkesvåpenet" (in Norwegian). Aust-Agder fylkeskommune. Archived from the original on 2007-11-26. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  8. ↑ "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  9. ↑ Projected population - Statistics Norway
  10. ↑ Statistics Norway - Church of Norway.
  11. ↑ Statistics Norway - Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance. County. 2006-2010
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.