Songdalen

Songdalen is a municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway. The Administrative Center is at Nodeland. The central market area is located at Brennåsen.

1 The name
2 Coat-of-arms
3 Geography
4 History
5 References
6 External links

[edit] The name

The Norse form of the name is uncertain. The first element is related to the rivername Sygna (see Søgne), but the exact form and meaning is unknown. The last element is the finite form of dal m 'valley, dale'.

[edit] Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1985). It shows three leaves and nuts of oak.

[edit] Geography

It is an inland municipality, bordering on the municipalities of Kristiansand and Vennesla in the east, Marnardal in the west, and Søgne in the south. Songdalen municipality lies a short 10-minute drive from the city at Kristiansand.

The Songdalselva is a river flowing through the valley of Songdalen. The landscape of the municipality is heavily shaped by the last ice age. The river passes through a kilometer long, 100 meter deep scenic narrow gorge (Juve) at Underåsen. It is recognized for fishing, canoeing and other recreation opportunities.

The climate is coastal, with temperature swings tempered by the sea in the southern portion of the municipality, but becomes an inland climate as one travels north.

The forests are mixed deciduous & evergreen (heavily forested with oak and pine), and become more pine woods as one moves inland. The coat of arms show three oak leaves, one for each of the three former municipalities.

Elk and beaver are common in the area.

[edit] History

In 1964, Finsland and Greipstad municipalities, along with Eikeland in Øvrebø, were merged into Sogndalen municipality.

Greipstad is mentioned in histories as early as 1344. Through the Middle Ages records indicate that Greipstad, a small farm community with 34 farms, was continuously inhabited. Greipstad became an independent municipality in 1913; split from the municipality of Søgne.

Finsland, which lies further from the coast, has few preserved written records, but there are indications in the records of farms there in the year 1000.

An eight-kilometers long section of the old Vestlandske Hovedvei (Westland Highway) passes through the municipality from Farvannet to Kvislevann. The highway was built in the 1790s and the section exists today in much the same way as it did for ordinary traffic in 1881.

The fortifications at Rossevann were built in 1916/17 for the Stavanger Battalion. The municipality also has visible evidence of Second World War fortifications.

[edit] References

South Norway by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1958.
Adventure Roads in Norway by Erling Welle-Strand; Nortrabooks, 1996. ISBN 82-90103-71-9

[edit] External links

sogndalen.com (in Norwegian)

Municipalities of Vest-Agder
Audnedal \| Farsund \| Flekkefjord \| Hægebostad \| Kristiansand \| Kvinesdal \| Lindesnes \| Lyngdal \| Mandal \| Marnardal \| Sirdal \| Songdalen \| Søgne \| Vennesla \| Åseral