Tovdal


Tovdal is a former municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1908 until its dissolution in 1967. Tovdal municipality was made up of the valley surrounding the river Tovdalselva and since 1967 it has been a part of the present-day municipality of Åmli. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Hillestad where the Tovdal Church is located.

History

The parish of Lille Topdal was a part of the municipality of Åmli starting on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1908, the municipality of Åmli was split into three separate municipalities: Lille Topdal, Gjevedal, and Åmli. In 1922, the name was changed from Lille Topdal to Tovdal. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1967, Tovdal was merged back into the municipality of Åmli. At the time of its dissolution, Tovdal was the smallest municipality in Norway by population.

Name

The name of the municipality comes from the Old Norse word Þofnardalr. The first element Þofn is the old river name, now the Tovdalselva. The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".