Agder


Agder is a county and historical district of Norway in the southernmost region of Norway.
Before 1 January 2020, the region was divided in two counties, Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet has been more commonly used for this region, sometimes with the inclusion of neighbouring Rogaland. Prior to that time, the area was considered a part of Western Norway.
The area was a medieval petty kingdom, and after the unification of Norway, the area became known as Egdafylki and later yet called Agdesiden, a county within the kingdom of Norway. The name Agder was not used after 1662 when the area was split into smaller governmental units called Nedenæs, Råbyggelaget, Lister, and Mandal. The name was resurrected in 1919 when two counties of Norway that roughly corresponded to the old Agdesiden county were renamed as Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. Even before joining the two counties in 2020, there was significant cooperation between the two units, such as the University of Agder that had campuses in both Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder, and many other institutions such as the Diocese of Agder og Telemark, the Agder Court of Appeal, and the Agder Police District.

Name

The name Agder is older than the Norwegian language. Its meaning is not known. Just as the Norwegian language derives from Old Norse, Agder derives from the Old Norse word Agðir. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Agðir was a petty kingdom inhabited by a people named after it, the Egðir.
Nothing in Old Norse, however, gives any hint as to the meaning of the word; i.e., it was not produced in Old Norse, which means that the name is older still. The Egðir are believed to be the same etymologically as the Augandzi people mentioned in the Getica of Jordanes, who wrote of Scandza in the 6th century. If Jordanes' Scandza is a palatalized form of *Scandia, then Augandzi is likely to be a palatalized form of *Augandii, residents of *Augandia.
A name of that period would have to be closer to Proto-Germanic; in fact, a word of that period does present itself and fits the geographical lore of the times: *agwjō, which Jordanes and all his predecessors writing of Scandinavia believed it to be. A simple metathesis produces a possibly late form, *augjo-; however, this derivation is speculative. There is no other evidence on Auganza, and its connection to Egder is hypothetical, too.

Municipalities

Agder has a total of 25 municipalities.
No.Municipality No.NameCreatedFormer Municipality No.Former County
14201RisørJanuary 1, 20200901 RisørAust-Agder
24202GrimstadJanuary 1, 20200904 GrimstadAust-Agder
34203ArendalJanuary 1, 20200906 ArendalAust-Agder
44204KristiansandJanuary 1, 20201001 Kristiansand
1017 Songdalen
1018 Søgne		Vest-Agder
54205LindesnesJanuary 1, 20201002 Mandal
1021 Marnardal
1029 Lindesnes		Vest-Agder
64206FarsundJanuary 1, 20201003 FarsundVest-Agder
74207FlekkefjordJanuary 1, 20201004 FlekkefjordVest-Agder
84211GjerstadJanuary 1, 20200911 GjerstadAust-Agder
94212VegårsheiJanuary 1, 20200912 VegårsheiAust-Agder
104213TvedestrandJanuary 1, 20200914 TvedestrandAust-Agder
114214FrolandJanuary 1, 20200919 FrolandAust-Agder
124215LillesandJanuary 1, 20200926 LillesandAust-Agder
134216BirkenesJanuary 1, 20200928 BirkenesAust-Agder
144217ÅmliJanuary 1, 20200929 ÅmliAust-Agder
154218IvelandJanuary 1, 20200935 IvelandAust-Agder
164219Evje og HornnesJanuary 1, 20200937 Evje og HornnesAust-Agder
174220ByglandJanuary 1, 20200938 ByglandAust-Agder
184221ValleJanuary 1, 20200940 ValleAust-Agder
194222BykleJanuary 1, 20200941 BykleAust-Agder
204223VenneslaJanuary 1, 20201014 VenneslaVest-Agder
214224ÅseralJanuary 1, 20201026 ÅseralVest-Agder
224225LyngdalJanuary 1, 20201027 Audnedal
1032 Lyngdal		Vest-Agder
234226HægebostadJanuary 1, 20201034 HægebostadVest-Agder
244227KvinesdalJanuary 1, 20201037 KvinesdalVest-Agder
254228SirdalJanuary 1, 20201046 SirdalVest-Agder

History

of the Viking Age was divided into petty kingdoms ruled by chiefs who contended for land, maritime supremacy or political ascendance and sought alliances or control through marriage with other royal families, either voluntary or forced. These circumstances produced the generally turbulent and heroic lives recorded in the Heimskringla.
For example, the Ynglinga saga tells us that Harald Redbeard, chief of Agðir, refused his daughter Åsa to Gudröd Halvdanson, on which event Gudröd invaded Agðir, killed Harald and his son Gyrd, and took Åsa whether she would or no. She bore a son, Halvdan, obviously named after his deceased grandfather, and later arranged to have Gudröd assassinated. Among the royal families these events seem to have been rather ordinary. Her word was the last in the argument, as her grandson, Harald Fairhair, unified Norway.

Kings of Agder

Legendary Kings

Prior to the Viking Age is a gap in the history of the region for a few hundred years, but in Jordanes we also find regions of the same but earlier forms of names, presumably also petty kingdoms under now unknown chiefs. The previous most credible source, Ptolemy, gives the briefest of sketches, only citing all of Norway as the Chaedini. Perhaps the difference between kingdoms were not sufficiently important to cite them individually.
Prior to then the most credible and respected source, Tacitus in Germania Chapter 44 described the Suiones, who were divided into civitates along the coast of Scandinavia and were unusual in owning fleets of a special type of ship. These were pointed on both ends and were driven by banks of oars that could be rearranged or shipped for river passage. They did not depend on sail but other than that they do not differ from Viking ships. These civitates went all the way around Scandinavia to the Arctic, or at least to regions of very long days, where they stopped.
It seems clear that in the Roman Iron Age Norway was populated by people of the same identity as Sweden, who were called the Suiones by Latin sources. In settling the coast at some point in prehistory they had been divided into civitates by the terrain. These states took on mainly geographical names or names of individuals or mythological characters. Agder was one of them.
After the unification of Norway by Harold Fairhair and army and allies in the 10th century, all the civitates became provinces and after their conversion to Christianity they became dioceses or parishes. The development of Old Norse into local dialects and the dissimilation of customs due to isolation added an ethnic flavor to the area, which is cherished today.