Southern Norway

"Sørlandet" redirects here. For the ship, see Sørlandet (ship). For the newspaper, see Sørlandet (newspaper).

Southern Norway Sørlandet
Region (landsdel)
Descending, from top: Lindesnes fyr, Bystranda in Kristiansand, Kardemommeby in Kristiansand Zoo, The Lista beaches, Downtown Kristiansand, Flekkerøy outside Kristiansand, Arendal, Risør, Brekkestø in Lillesand, Mandal. Collage of Sørlandet
Coordinates: 58.6°N 7.8°E / 58.6; 7.8
Country	Norway
Capital	Kristiansand, Arendal
Counties (fylker)	Aust-Agder Vest-Agder
Area
• Total	16,434 km2 (6,345 sq mi)
Population (2009)
• Total	277,250
• Density	17/km2 (44/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Southlendic people ("Sørlending")

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1951	172,753	—
1960	185,302	+7.3%
1970	215,874	+16.5%
1980	225,429	+4.4%
1990	240,906	+6.9%
2000	257,869	+7.0%
2010	279,024	+8.2%
Source: Statistics Norway [1][2].

Religion in Southern Norway
religion			percent
Christianity			86.41%
Islam			1.08%
Buddhism			0.30%
Other			12.21%

Southern Norway (Norwegian: Sørlandet) (lit. "south country") is the geographical region (landsdel) of the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway consisting of the two counties of Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder. The total combined area of Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder is 16,493 square kilometres (6,368 sq mi).

History

The name Agder is around 1500 years old and means edge, edge of the land towards the sea, but Agder (Vest and Aust) was never a region of its self. It was a border land between Eastern Norway and Western Norway. Western Norway started outside of Telemark and was an important place cause of the shore. The old main road from Oslo through Kristiansand to Stavanger was called Western Main Road and Skagerrak was often called Agdersiden.

Southern Norway is the youngest region of Norway, it was established short after Northern Norway. The first village builder was Vilhelm Krag who thought Southern Norway should have been bigger than it is today, from Egersund to Grenland, but even today it isn't entirely sure where the border goes. All the way back in 1865, it was talked about "the southern Norway boats". These boats were built in Lista and the invention was from a man from Lofoten, Northern Norway. So the expression "Sørlandet" first appeared in 1902.

The name and modern concept of this part of the country being considered as a separate region was introduced as late as 1902 by the local author Vilhelm Krag. Prior to this, the area was considered part of Western Norway. Southern Norway coincides roughly with the historic petty kingdom of Agder, which lends its name to the two constituent counties: Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder, as well as the University of Agder.

Occasionally, adjacent parts of the county of Rogaland and Telemark might be considered part of this region, as well.

If defined as an informal region, Southern Norway is perhaps more properly defined as the Skagerrak coastal belt, thus excluding the inland valleys to the north.

In the Middle Ages, the easternmost border of the Agder region was Rygjarbit right north or south of today's Risør.

List of cities and towns

About 80% of the population of the two counties live along the coast, which has the warmest climate as well as offering quick access to the rich fishing grounds and maritime roads of the Skagerrak. In Southern Norway there are also a number of smaller inland municipalities. Key industries are forestry, agriculture and tourism. There are also popular ski resorts like Hovden in the valley of Setesdal and Bortelid in Åseral municipality. The list of the cities and towns in Southern Norway are:

Coat of arms	City	Adm. center	Population (2015)	Region	Location	County	Photo	Map	Language
	Kristiansand	Kvadraturen	87,446	Kristiansandregionen	Coast City	Vest-Agder			Bokmål
	Arendal	Arendal	44,219	Østre Agder	Coast	Aust-Agder			Bokmål
	Grimstad	Grimstad	20,497	Østre Agder	Coast	Aust-Agder			Bokmål
	Mandal	Mandal	15,061	Lindesnesregionen	Coast	Vest-Agder			Bokmål
	Vennesla	Vennesla	14,095	Kristiansandregionen	Inland	Vest-Agder			Netrual
	Søgne	Tangvall	11,217	Kristiansandregionen	Coast	Vest-Agder			Bokmål
	Farsund	Farsund	9,433	Listerregionen	Coast	Vest-Agder			Bokmål
	Flekkefjord	Flekkefjord	9,069	Listerregionen	Coast	Vest-Agder			Bokmål
	Lillesand	Lillesand	9,040	Kristiansandregionen	Coast	Aust-Agder			Bokmål
	Lyngdal	Alleen	8,335	Listaregionen	Coast	Vest-Agder			Bokmål
	Risør	Risør	6,894	Østre Agder	Coast	Aust-Agder			Netrual
	Songdalen	Nodeland	6,354	Kristiansandregionen	Inland	Vest-Agder			Netrual
	Kvinesdal	Liknes	5,984	Listerregionen	Coast	Vest-Agder			Netrual
	Froland	Blakstad	5,532	Østre Agder	Inland	Aust-Agder			Netrual
	Lindesnes	Vigeland	4,880	Lindesnesregionen	Coast	Vest-Agder			Bokmål
	Birkenes	Birkeland	4,689	Kristiansandregionen	Inland	Aust-Agder			Netrual
	Evje og Hornnes	Evje	3,567	Setesdal	Inland	Aust-Agder			Netrual
	Gjerstad	Gjerstad	2,478	Østre Agder	Inland	Aust-Agder			Bokmål
	Marnardal	Heddeland	2,294	Lindesnesregionen	Inland	Vest-Agder			Netrual
	Vegårshei	Myra	2,018	Østre Agder	Inland	Aust-Agder			Netrual
	Sirdal	Tonstad	1,838	Listerregionen	Inland	Vest-Agder			Netrual
	Åmli	Åmli	1,832	Østre Agder	Inland	Aust-Agder			Nynorsk
	Audnedal	Konsmo	1,750	Lindesnesregionen	Inland	Vest-Agder			Netrual
	Hægebostad	Tingvatn	1,693	Lindesnesregionen	Inland	Vest-Agder			Nynorsk
	Iveland	Birketveit	1,315	Kristiansandregionen	Inland	Aust-Agder			Netrual
	Valle	Valle	1,251	Setesdal	Inland	Aust-Agder			Nynorsk
	Bygland	Bygland	1,189	Setesdal	Inland	Aust-Agder			Nynorsk
	Bykle	Bykle	933	Setesdal	Inland	Aust-Agder			Nynorsk
	Åseral	Kyrkjebygda	925	Lindesnesregionen	Inland	Vest-Agder			Nynorsk

Transportation

Air

Arendal Airport, Gullknapp is a general aviation airport located outside of Arendal city. The airport was founded in 1984 with a 500 meters long runway.

Arendal Airport, Rådhuskaien is a former water airport in the cove of downtown Arendal.

Farsund Airport, Lista is a former public airport located with Lista. It opened in 1941 and closed in 1999. The airport is located at Lista.

Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik is the only public airport in Southern Norway, in 2014 there were over 1 million travelers from the airport. Kjevik Airport has destinations to charter places, European cities and some of the largest Norwegian cities. The Airport opened in 1918 and is located at Tveit, 16 kilometers from downtown Kristiansand, Kvadraturen. The IATA code is KRS and ICAO is ENCN. It is owned by Avinor.

Kristiansand Airport, Kongsgårdbukta is a former water-airport located at Lund from 1934 to 1939.

Kristiansand Naval Air Station is also a former water-airport located at Tangen from 1919 to 1949.

Mandal Airfield is a former military owned airport.

Bus

All bus lines and buses in Southern Norway is owned by AKT (Agder Kollektiv Transport).

Nettbuss serves the Kristiansand Region with local blue buses. In Kristiansand, the city buses goes all days from 04 AM to 01 AM, extra night buses during the weekend and direct/extra buses during the rush hours. The lines are 01, A1, M1, M2, M3, 05, 07, 09, 12, 13, 15, 19, 32, 17,18, 22, 23 and 30, 31, 35, 36, 37, 40, 42, 50 and 45, 46.

Setesdal Bilruter serves Setesdal, Østre Agder and Lillesand. Line 100 goes from Arendal - Grimstad - Lillesand to Kristiansand. Bus lines from Setesdal goes to both Arendal and Kristiansand. Line 150 goes from Arendal to Tvedestrand and Risør.

Sørlandsruta serves the coastal cities and towns of Vest-Agder. Line 900 is the main serving line from Kristiansand to Mandal, Vigeland, Lyngdal and Farsund (-Lista). Some of the bus collaborate with local bus from Lyngdal to Flekkefjord and Kvinesdal.

Roads

European Route E18 goes through Aust-Agder and Kristiansand east. E18 goes with the shore and coastal cities. European Route E39 starts in Kristiansand west from Denmark, and through Vest-Agder E39 also goes with the shore and coastal cities. Norwegian National Road 9 starts in Kristiansand and up to Evje and through Setesdal. Norwegian National Road 41 starts in Tveit in Kristiansand, and goes past the Airport, it continues to Birkenes and Åmli in Aust-Agder and continues to Telemark. Norwegian County Road 43 goes from Farsund and Lista to Lyngdal and Eiken in Hægebostad.

Sea

From Kristiansand Harbour, there are daily ferries from Kristiansand to Hirtshals, Denmark three times in the day. In Arendal, there are local ferries to the island Tromøy.

Train

Trains from Oslo to Stavanger goes through the entire Southern Norway. There are also trains from Oslo S - Kristiansand and Stavanger S - Kristiansand S. From Nelaug Station there is a local train going to Arendal Station, since the main railroad goes in the inland and not by the coast. In Kristiansand, the trains turn direction if they're continuing.

Image gallery

• 

  Kirkehavn on Hidra, Vest-Agder, Norway

• 

  Lighthouse on Cape Lindesnes

• 

  Arendal

• 

  Risør

• 

  Brekkestø

• 

  Kristiansand harbor

See also

• Demographics of Southern Norway
• Kashubian vetch - Sørlandsvikke (Kasjubiasvikke)

External links

• South Norway travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Southern Norway www.visitnorway.com
• Getting to Southern Norway and around
• Agder
• Visit Sørlandet
• University of Agder
• Tonal characteristics of some varieties of spoken South Norwegian.