Åseral

Åseral kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms

Vest-Agder within
Norway

Åseral within Vest-Agder
Coordinates: 58°42′7″N 7°23′37″E / 58.70194°N 7.39361°E / 58.70194; 7.39361Coordinates: 58°42′7″N 7°23′37″E / 58.70194°N 7.39361°E / 58.70194; 7.39361
Country Norway
County Vest-Agder
District Sørlandet
Administrative centre Kyrkjebygda
Government
  Mayor (2007) Oddmund Ljosland (Sp)
Area
  Total 887 km2 (342 sq mi)
  Land 798 km2 (308 sq mi)
Area rank 126 in Norway
Population (2008)
  Total 905
  Rank 412 in Norway
  Density 1/km2 (3/sq mi)
  Change (10 years) 10.0 %
Demonym(s) Åsdøl[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1026
Official language form Nynorsk
Website www.aseral.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Åseral is a municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. The administrative center is the village of Kyrkjebygda.

The parish of Bjelland had to be divided into two formannskapsdistrikts on January 1, 1838. This is because the main part of Bjelland belonged to the county of Vest-Agder, while the annex Aaseral belonged to the county of Aust-Agder. Åseral was transferred from the county of Aust-Agder to the county of Vest-Agder on 1 September 1880.

It is an inland municipality, bordering on the county of Aust-Agder in the east and north. In the south, it borders on the municipality of Audnedal, in the south-east on Hægebostad, and in the west on Kvinesdal.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Ásaráll. The first part of the word is probably the genitive case of áss (m.), meaning "mountain ridge". The last part, áll (m.) means "long strip", probably referring to the long and narrow lake Øre.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1989). It shows a horseshoe (to represent agriculture, forestry, and good luck).

Attractions

Åseral is a popular tourist destination with three ski resorts: Bortelid, Ljosland, and Eikerapen. Eikerapen is also the site of the annual Eikerapen Roots Festival, an international music festival attracting thousands of people from all over Europe.

References

  1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.