Vestby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Vestby kommune | |||
| — Municipality — | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Akershus | ||
| District | Follo | ||
| Municipality ID | NO-0211 | ||
| Administrative centre | Vestby | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor (2007) | John Ødbehr (H) | ||
| Area (Nr. 367 in Norway) | |||
| - Total | 134 km² (51.7 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 134 km² (51.7 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| - Total | 13 159 | ||
| - Density | 96/km² (248.6/sq mi) | ||
| - Change (10 years) | 13.9 % | ||
| - Rank in Norway | 84 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Official language form | Bokmål | ||
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| Website: www.vestby.kommune.no | |||
Vestby is a municipality in the county of Akershus, Norway.
Vestby was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The municipality and lading place of Hølen was merged with Vestby July 1, 1943 - and the municipality and lading place of Son was merged with Vestby January 1, 1964. (The lading place of Hvitsten in Vestby has never been a municipality of its own.)
The main villages in Vestby are Pepperstad Skog, Hølen, Hvitsten, Garder, and Son. Son was, from the Renaissance until the 1700s, an important harbour. On some Dutch maps from that time, the Oslofjord is called Zoon Water. Vestby Town has 5424 inhabitants (2006).
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[edit] History
Archaeological research in Hølen has confirmed that the area has been populated since about 2400 BC.
Many Norwegian emigrants went to America during the 1840s and later settled in the area of the present city of Westby, Wisconsin (named after general store owner and civil war Union soldier Ole T. Westby); a city which still has a mostly Norwegian-American population. Vestby is also known for an infamous urban legend called Schtoopen from the Schtoopenraut family.
[edit] The name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Vestby (Norse Vestbýr), since the first church was built here. The first element is vestr 'west', the last element is býr 'farm'. The neighbouring farms have the names Østby ('eastern farm'), Sunnby ('southern farm') and Nordby ('northern farm') - and they must all four be the parts of a bigger an older farm, which name is now unknown.
[edit] Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1982). It shows three crosses. The number of three is meant to represent the three parishes of the municipality: Vestby, Garder and Såner.
[edit] Famous residents
- Johan Herman Wessel, 1742-1785, poet
- Caspar Wessel, 1745-1818, mathematician
- Erik Bodom, 1829-1879, painter
- Ola Abrahamsson, (1883-1980), painter
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