Akershus is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo and ultimately after the medieval farm Aker in Oslo. From the Middle Ages to 1919, Akershus was a main fief and main county that included most of Eastern Norway, and from the 17th century until 2020 and again from 2024, Akershus also has a more narrow meaning as a smaller central county in the Greater Oslo Region. Akershus is Norway's largest county by population with over 716,000 inhabitants.
Buskerud is a county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardangervidda mountain range in the northwest. The county administration was in modern times located in Drammen. Buskerud was merged with Akershus and Østfold into the newly created Viken County on 1 January 2020. On the 23 February 2022 Viken County Council voted in a 49 against 38 decision to submit an application to the Norwegian government for a county demerger. Due to this, Buskerud was re-established in 2024.
Østfold is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden, while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side of Oslofjord. The county's administrative seat is Sarpsborg. The county controversially became part of the newly established Viken County on 1 January 2020. On 1 January 2024, Østfold was re-established as an independent county, however without the former municipality of Rømskog, which was amalgamated with the Akershus municipality Aurskog-Høland in 2020.
Røyken is a district and village (bygd) and a former municipality in Buskerud in Viken County, Norway. In 2020 Røyken was merged with the municipalities of Hurum and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality located in the newly formed Viken county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Midtbygda. The parish of Røken was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838.
Hurum was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. As of 1 January 2020 Hurum has merged with the municipalities of Røyken and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality located in the newly formed Viken county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village Sætre. The municipality of Hurum was established on 1 January 1838. The small village of Holmsbu was granted town status in 1847, but it did not become a municipality of its own. It lost its town status on 1 January 1964.
Norway is divided into 15 administrative regions, called counties which until 1918 were known as amter. The counties form the first-level administrative divisions of Norway and are further subdivided into 356 municipalities. The island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are outside the county division and ruled directly at the national level. The capital Oslo is both a county and a municipality.
Viken, or Vika, was the historical name during the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages for an area of Scandinavia that originally surrounded the Oslofjord and included the coast of Bohuslän. Its definition changed over time, and from the Middle Ages, Viken included only Bohuslän.
Eastern Norway is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet.
Oslo bishopric is the Church of Norway's bishopric for the municipalities of Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is one of Norway's five traditional bishoprics and was founded around the year 1070.
The following are lists of county governors of the various counties of Norway. The Norwegian counties are under the supervision of county governors, appointed by the Norwegian government. Historically, there were larger diocesan counties that supervised smaller subordinate counties as well. This distinction was abolished on 1 January 1919. On 1 January 2020, there was a major reorganization and reduction of counties in Norway.
The Borgarting Court of Appeal is one of six intermediate courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Oslo. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Oslo and western Viken. These areas constitute the Borgarting judicial district. This court can rule on both civil and criminal cases that are appealed from one of its subordinate district courts. Court decisions can be, to a limited extent, appealed to the Supreme Court of Norway. The court has 62 judges and 45 administrative staff. The chief judicial officer of the court is currently Marianne Vollan. The court is administered by the Norwegian National Courts Administration.
Indre Østfold is a mostly rural countryside region north in the former county of Østfold county in Norway, noted for its mostly unspoilt nature and for its agriculture.
Østfold County Municipality was the regional governing administration of the old Østfold county in Norway. The county municipality was established in its most recent form on 1 January 1976 when the law was changed to allow elected county councils in Norway. The county municipality was dissolved on 1 January 2020, when Østfold was merged with the neighboring counties of Akershus and Buskerud, creating the new Viken county which is led by the Viken County Municipality. The administrative seat is located in Sarpsborg and the county mayor was Ole Haabeth.
Vestfold og Telemark was a county in Norway, which existed from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023. The county was the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consisted of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and Vestfold. The capital was located in the town of Skien, which was also the county's largest city. While Skien was the seat of the county municipality, the seat of the County Governor was Tønsberg. It bordered the counties of Viken, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder until its dissolution.
Local elections were held in Norway on 9 September 2019. Voters elected representatives to municipal and county councils, which are responsible for education, public transport, health, and elderly care, and for the levy of certain taxes.
Road tolling to finance bridges, tunnels and roads has a long history in Norway. The cities Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim introduced toll rings between 1986 and 1991 as a means to discourage urban traffic and to finance infrastructure projects around those cities. Today toll rings circumscribe Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Askøy, Bodø, Harstad, Grenland, Førde and Trondheim. Besides toll rings, road tolls are installed to finance certain road projects, and often also on the existing road to discourage people from using it. Some tolls use congestion pricing and/or environmentally differentiated toll rates.
The 2023 Norwegian local elections were held on 11 September 2023. Voters elected representatives to municipal and county councils, which are responsible for education, public transportation, healthcare, elderly care, waste disposal, the levy of certain taxes, and more. All council seats were up for election across the 15 counties and 357 municipalities of Norway.
is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The 58-square-kilometre (22 sq mi) municipality existed from 1845 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Drammen Municipality in Buskerud county. The administrative centre was the town of Svelvik. The other population centres in Svelvik included Nesbygda and Berger.
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