Aurskog-Høland

Aurskog-Høland kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms
Akershus within
Norway

Aurskog-Høland within Akershus
Coordinates: 59°50′24″N 11°34′6″E / 59.84000°N 11.56833°E / 59.84000; 11.56833Coordinates: 59°50′24″N 11°34′6″E / 59.84000°N 11.56833°E / 59.84000; 11.56833
Country Norway
County Akershus
District Romerike
Administrative centre Bjørkelangen
Government
 • Mayor (2007) Jan Mærli (Ap)
Area
 • Total 962 km2 (371 sq mi)
 • Land 894 km2 (345 sq mi)
Area rank 111 in Norway
Population (2004)
 • Total 13,199
 • Rank 79 in Norway
 • Density 15/km2 (40/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 7.3 %
Demonym(s) Aurskoging/Urskæving
Hølending[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-0221
Official language form Bokmål
Website www.aurskog-holand.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Aurskog-Høland is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjørkelangen.

General information

Name

The new municipality of Aurskog-Høland was created on 1 January 1966 after the merger of the four old municipalities of Aurskog, Nordre Høland, Søndre Høland, and Setskog.

The name Aurskog comes from the old Ør farm (Old Norse: Aurr which means "gravel"). The last element is skog (Old Norse: skógr which means "wood" therefore the meaning of the full name is "the woods around the farm Aurr". Prior to 1918, the name was written "Urskog".[2]

The name Høland is an old district name. The first element is høy which means "hay" and the last element is land which means "land".[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 4 February 1983. The arms show a black European crayfish (Astacus astacus) on a gold background. It was derived from an older logo of the municipality. The logo showed a typical landscape of the area, a lake surrounded by woods and a crayfish in the lake. To place the whole composition in a shield to create the arms was not allowed according to Norwegian heraldic rules, so the crayfish was chosen as a symbol.[3][4]

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Aurskog-Høland by country of origin in 2015[5]
Ancestry Number
 Poland472
 Lithuania219
 Sweden127
 Germany104
 Thailand77
 Denmark53
 Romania49
 Pakistan41

Geography

It is the biggest municipality in Akershus, covering 967 square kilometres (373.4 sq mi). Main villages are Aurskog and Bjørkelangen, of which the latter one is the administrative center. Forests cover much of the area, but there is very good farmland as well. The rivers of Haldenvassdraget and Hølandselva run through the district.

Economy

An important printing office, PDC Tangen AS and a crushing mill are situated here. Oslo is less than one hour's drive to the west.

The Think electric car was manufactured in Aurskog.

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Aurskog-Høland:[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. 1 2 "Historie om Aurskog-Høland". Aurskog-Høland kommune. Retrieved 2008-12-17. (Norwegian)
  3. ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  4. ↑ "Om Aurskog-Høland". Archived from the original on July 9, 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-17. (Norwegian)
  5. ↑ "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by immigration category, country background and percentages of the population". ssb.no. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Vennskaps kommuner". Aurskog-Høland kommune. Retrieved 2008-12-17. (Norwegian)

External links

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