Aurskog-Høland

Aurskog-Høland is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjørkelangen. The municipality of Rømskog, in Østfold county was merged into Aurskog-Høland on 1 January 2020.

Aurskog-Høland kommune
Municipality
Flag of Aurskog-Høland kommune
Flag
Coat of arms of Aurskog-Høland kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Aurskog-Høland kommune
Viken within
Norway
Aurskog-Høland within Viken
Aurskog-Høland within Viken
Coordinates: 59°50′24″N 11°34′6″E
CountryNorway
CountyViken
DistrictRomerike
Administrative centreBjørkelangen
Government
 • Mayor (2019)Gudbrand Kvaal (Sp)
Area
 • Total962 km2 (371 sq mi)
 • Land894 km2 (345 sq mi)
 • Rank#111 in Norway
Population
 (2004)
 • Total13,199
 • Rank#79 in Norway
 • Density15/km2 (40/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
Increase +7.3%
DemonymsAurskoging/Urskæving
Hølending[1]
Official language
[2]
 • Norwegian formBokmål
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-3026
WebsiteOfficial website
Data from Statistics Norway

General information

Name

The new municipality of Aurskog-Høland was created on 1 January 1966 after the merger of the four old municipalities of Aurskog, Nordre Høland, Søndre Høland, and Setskog.

The name Aurskog comes from the old Ør farm (Old Norse: Aurr which means "gravel"). The last element is skog (Old Norse: skógr which means "wood" therefore the meaning of the full name is "the woods around the farm Aurr". Prior to 1918, the name was written "Urskog".[3]

The name Høland is an old district name. The first element is høy which means "hay" and the last element is land which means "land".[3]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 4 February 1983. The arms show a black European crayfish (Astacus astacus) on a gold background. It was derived from an older logo of the municipality. The logo showed a typical landscape of the area, a lake surrounded by woods and a crayfish in the lake. To place the whole composition in a shield to create the arms was not allowed according to Norwegian heraldic rules, so the crayfish was chosen as a symbol.[4][5]

Demographics
Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Aurskog-Høland by country of origin in 2021[6]
Country background Number
 Poland736
 Lithuania259
 Sweden148
 Germany107
 Syria 107
 Thailand91
 Eritrea88
 Philippines86
 Romania82
 Pakistan79
 Denmark64
 Russia 55
 Netherlands 54

Geography

It is the biggest municipality in Akershus, covering 967 square kilometres (373.4 sq mi). Main villages are Aurskog and Bjørkelangen, of which the latter one is the administrative center. Forests cover much of the area, but there is very good farmland as well. The rivers of Haldenvassdraget and Hølandselva run through the district.

Economy

An important printing office, PDC Tangen AS and a crushing mill are situated here. Oslo is less than one hour's drive to the west.

The Think electric car was manufactured in Aurskog.

Notable people
Christian Christensen Kollerud, 1814

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Aurskog-Høland:[8]

See also

References
  1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  3. "Historie om Aurskog-Høland" (in Norwegian). Aurskog-Høland kommune. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  4. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  5. "Om Aurskog-Høland" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on July 9, 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  6. "09817: Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by immigration category, country background and percentages of the population (M) 2010 - 2021". PX-Web SSB. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  7. IMDb Database retrieved 14 November 2020
  8. "Vennskaps kommuner" (in Norwegian). Aurskog-Høland kommune. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
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