Aust-Agder


Aust-Agder was one 18 counties in Norway up to 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of the total population in Norway. Its area was. The administrative center of the county was the town of Arendal.
The county, which is located at the Skagerrak coast, extended from Gjernestangen at Risør to the Kvåsefjorden in Lillesand. The inner parts of the area included Setesdalsheiene and Austheiene. The majority of the population live 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 called Agder, effective 1 January 2020.
The county was part of the Aust-Agder District Court and the Church of Norway Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

Name

The meaning of the name is " eastern 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, since this was the seat of the amtmann. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Nið and the last element is nes which means "headland". The meaning of the river name is unknown.

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.

Municipalities

The system of municipalities, or kommuner, was established in Norway in 1837, based on previously existing parishes. 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:
No.NameAdm. CenterPopulationArea
0901 RisørRisør6936193
0904 GrimstadGrimstad22692304
0906 ArendalArendal44576270
0911 GjerstadGjerstad2511322
0912 VegårsheiMyra2104356
0914 TvedestrandTvedestrand6051215
0919 FrolandBlakstad5713645
0926 LillesandLillesand10702190
0928 BirkenesBirkeland5178674
0929 ÅmliÅmli18561131
0935 IvelandBirketveit1342262
0937 Evje og HornnesEvje3614550
0938 ByglandBygland12001312
0940 ValleValle12461265
0941 BykleBykle9521467
Total Aust-AgderArendal1166739158

Cities

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.