Counties_of_norway

Norway This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Norway Constitution Constitution Monarchy King Harald V Crown Prince Haakon Government Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg Government Red-Green Coalition Parliament Storting Political parties Politicians (category) Elections 2007 local 2005 parliamentary 2003 county Local Gov\'t Counties (Fylker) Municipalities (Kommuner) Sámi Parliament Foreign policy Foreign relations European Union relations Other countries · Atlas  Politics Portal view • talk • edit

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties (Norwegian: singular fylke, plural fylker (Bokmål) / fylke (Nynorsk); until 1918 known as amt, pl. amter / amt). The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities (kommune, pl. kommuner / kommunar). The capital Oslo is considered as both a county and a municipality.

There is some political disagreement on whether counties are a practical, economical or even necessary level of administration. See politics of Norway for more information.

Contents 1 List of counties 2 History 2.1 Fylke 2.2 Syssel 2.3 Len 2.3.1 Len in 1536 2.3.2 Len in 1660 2.4 Amt 2.4.1 Amt in 1671 2.4.2 Amt in 1730 2.5 Fylke 3 References & notes 4 See also 5 External links

List of counties

Below is a list of the Norwegian counties as they have been since 1919, with their current administrative centres. The county numbers are from the official numbering system ISO 3166-2:NO, which follows the coastline from the Swedish border in the southeast to the Russian border in the northeast. The number 13 was dropped from the system when the city of Bergen (county no. 13) was merged into Hordaland (county no. 12) in 1972.

1. Østfold – Sarpsborg
2. Akershus – Oslo
3. City and county of Oslo
4. Hedmark – Hamar
5. Oppland – Lillehammer
6. Buskerud – Drammen
7. Vestfold – Tønsberg
8. Telemark – Skien
9. Aust-Agder – Arendal
10. Vest-Agder – Kristiansand
11. Rogaland – Stavanger
12. Hordaland – Bergen
14. Sogn og Fjordane – Leikanger
15. Møre og Romsdal – Aalesund
16. Sør-Trøndelag – Trondheim
17. Nord-Trøndelag – Steinkjer
18. Nordland – Bodø
19. Troms – Tromsø
20. Finnmark – Vadsø

History

Fylke

From the consolidation to a single kingdom, Norway was divided into a number of geographic regions that had its own legislative assembly or Thing, such as Gulating (Western Norway) and Frostating (Trøndelag). The second-order subdivision of these regions was into fylker, such as Egdafylke and Hordafylke. In 1914, the historical term fylke was brought into use again to replace the term amt introduced during the union with Denmark. Current day counties (fylker) often, but not necessarily correspond, to the historical areas.

Syssel

Len

Formerly the term len (plural len) in Norway signified an administrative region roughly equivalent to today\'s counties. The historic len was an important administrative entity during the period of Dano-Norwegian unification after their amalgamation as one state, which lasted for the period 1536Christian III, king of Denmark-Norway, carried out the Protestant Reformation in Norway in 1536.–1814.

At the beginning of the 1500s the political divisions were variable, but consistently included four main len and approximately 30 smaller sub-regions with varying connections to a main len. Up to 1660 the four principle len were headquartered at the major fortresses Bohus Fortress, Akershus Fortress, Bergenhus Fortress and the fortified city of TrondheimKavli, Guthorm (1987). Norges festninger. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 82-00-18430-7. . The sub-regions corresponded to the church districts for the Lutheran church in Norway.

Len in 1536

• Båhus len (later termed Bohuslän after Denmark-Norway ceded it to Sweden by the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658)
• Akershus len
• Trondheim len
• Bergenhus len (which included Northern Norway)

These four principal len were in the 1530s divided into approximately 30 smaller regions. From that point forward through the beginning of the 1600s the number of subsidiary len was reduced, while the composition of the principle len became more stable.Len on Norwegian Wiki site

Len in 1660

From 1660 Norway had nine principle len comprising 17 subsidiary len:

• Akershus len
• Tunsberg len
• Bratsberg len
• Agdesiden len
• Stavanger len
• Bergenhus len
• Trondheim len
• Nordlandene len
• Vardøhus len

Len written as län continues to be used as the administrative equivalent of county in Sweden to this day. Each len was governed by a lenman. Jesperson, Leon (Ed.) (2000). A Revolution from Above? The Power State of 16th and 17th Century Scandinavia. Odense University Press. ISBN 87-7838-407-9. 

Amt

With the royal decree of February 19, 1662, each len was designated an amt (plural amt) and the lenmann was titled amtmann, from German Amt (office), reflecting the bias of the Danish court of that period.Amt at Norwegian Wiki site

Amt in 1671

After 1671 Norway was divided into four principle amt or stiftsamt and there were nine subordinate amt:

• Stiftsamt: Akershus amt (headquarter: Christiania)
  • Amt: Smålenene amt, Brunla amt
• Stiftsamt: Agdesiden amt (headquarter: Kristiansand)
  • Amt: Bratsberg amt, Stavanger amt
• Stiftsamt: Bergenhus amt (headquarter: Bergen)
  • Amt: Halsnøy klostergods, Hardanger amt, Nordlandene amt
• Stiftsamt: Trondheim amt (headquarter: Trondheim)
  • Amt: Romsdalen amt, Vardøhus amt

Amt in 1730

From 1730 Norway had the following amt:

• Vardøhus amt (now: Finnmark county)
• Tromsø amt (now: Troms county)
• Nordlands amt (now: Nordland county)
• Nordre Trondhjems amt (now: Nord-Trøndelag county)
• Søndre Trondhjems amt (now: Sør-Trøndelag county)
• Romsdalen amt (now: Møre og Romsdal county)
• Nordre Bergenhus amt (now: Sogn og Fjordane county)
• Søndre Bergenhus amt (now: Hordaland county)
• Stavanger amt (now: Rogaland county)
• Lister og Mandals amt (now: Vest-Agder county)
• Nedenes amt (now: Aust-Agder county)
• Bratsberg amt (now: Telemark county)
• Buskerud amt (now: Buskerud county)
• Oplandenes amt (now: Oppland county)
• Hedemarkens amt (now: Hedmark county)
• Akershus amt (now: Akershus county)
• Smaalenenes amt (now: Østfold county)

At this time there were also two counties controlled by counts, together forming what is now Vestfold county:

• Laurvigen grevskap (now: Larvik city)
• Jarlsberg grevskap

Fylke

A geopolitical map of Norway, exhibiting its 19 first-order subnational divisions (fylker or "counties") with Svalbard and Jan Mayen

From 1919 each amt was renamed a fylke (plural fylker) (county) and the amtmann was now titled fylkesmann (county governor).

References & notes

See also

• Ranked list of Norwegian counties
• Municipalities of Norway
• Regions of Norway
• Traditional districts of Norway
• Metropolitan regions of Norway
• Subdivisions of Norden
• Lists of County Governors of Norway

v • d • e Counties of Norway
Akershus · Aust-Agder · Buskerud · Finnmark · Hedmark · Hordaland · Møre og Romsdal · Nordland · Nord-Trøndelag · Oppland · Oslo · Østfold · Rogaland · Sogn og Fjordane · Sør-Trøndelag · Telemark · Troms · Vest-Agder · Vestfold

v • d • e First-level administrative divisions of Europe
Albania · Andorra · Armenia2 · Austria · Azerbaijan3 · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus2 · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France1 · Georgia3 · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan1 · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Republic of Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia1 · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey1 · Ukraine · United Kingdom
1 Has part of its territory outside Europe. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border.

External links

• Regionalization and devolution: Proposed new regions of Norway (powerpoint slide show)

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