Sør-Audnedal


Sør-Audnedal is a former municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality was in the central part of the present-day municipality of Lindesnes. The administrative centre was the village of Vigeland where Valle Church is.

Name

The municipality was named Sør-Audnedal, which means "southern Audnedal", since it is the southern part of the old Audnedal municipality, which encompassed the Audnedalen valley. The name Audnedal is from the Audna river, which runs through the valley and empties into the Snigsfjorden. The river name means "destruction". Historically, the municipality was named Sør-Undal or Søndre Undal, which uses an older version of the valley name.

History

The municipality of Søndre Undal was established in 1845 when the old Undal municipality was divided into Nordre Undal and Søndre Undal. The name was later changed to Sør-Audnedal. On 1 January 1899, the western part of Sør-Audnedal was separated to become the new municipality of Spangereid. The split left Sør-Audnedal with 2,958 inhabitants. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Sør-Audnedal municipality was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Vigmostad and Spangereid to create the new municipality of Lindesnes.