Ringerike

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Ringerike kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms
Buskerud within
Norway
Ringerike within Buskerud
Coordinates: 60°12′19″N 10°9′9″E / 60.20528°N 10.15250°E / 60.20528; 10.15250Coordinates: 60°12′19″N 10°9′9″E / 60.20528°N 10.15250°E / 60.20528; 10.15250
Country Norway
County Buskerud
District Ringerike
Administrative centre Hønefoss
Government
 • Mayor (2007) Kjell B. Hansen (Ap)
Area
 • Total 1,552 km2 (599 sq mi)
 • Land 1,423 km2 (549 sq mi)
Area rank 47 in Norway
Population (2004)
 • Total 28,060
 • Rank 26 in Norway
 • Density 20/km2 (50/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 2.4 %
Demonym Ringeriking[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-0605
Official language form Bokmål
Website www.ringerike.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Ringerike is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Ringerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hønefoss.

The municipality of Ringerike was created on 1 January 1964 after the merger of the town of Hønefoss and the rural municipalities of Hole, Norderhov, Tyristrand, and Ådal. However, the area of Hole was removed from the municipality of Ringerike on 1 January 1977 to become a separate municipality once again. The historic area of Ringerike included not just the modern municipality of Ringerike but also Hole and (sometimes) the eastern parts of Modum and Krødsherad.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of this name (in Norraen Tunga) was Hringaríki. The first element is (probably) the genitive plural of hringir, the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is ríki n 'kingdom, reich'. (See also Romerike.)[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 16 June 1967. The arms show a gold ring on a red background. The colours red and gold represent royalty and are the royal colors of Norway. The ring is a canting symbol and at the same time symbolises the unity of the area, which has been a separate entity (even considered a petty kingdom) since medieval times.[2][3]

History

There are many archaeological remains in the area, dating from the earliest times as well as from the medieval period. Ringerike has been mentioned in Norwegian history since the earliest times. Ringerike style, a historic Scandinavian animal art form, was first discovered on the rune stone in Ringerike, including the Alstad stone (Alstadsteinen), a rune stone was found on the farm Nedre Alstad in Østre Toten. Both Ulvøya an island near Oslo and Ringerike are mentioned in the text. Probably also Dynna rock (Dynnasteinen), a rune stone was found on Nordre Dynna in the traditional region of Hadeland at Gran and are of the same type of red sandstone, typical of Ringerike.

Dagling or Dögling was a legendary clan of the petty kingdom Ringerike. It was descended from a Dag the Great. One of the sons of Dag the Great according to Hversu Noregr Byggðist was Óli, who was the father of Dag, the father of Óleif the father of Hring (the old king Ring of Frithiof's Saga), the father of Olaf, the father of Helgi, the father of Sigurd Hjort, the father of Ragnhild, who was the mother of Harald Fairhair(Harald Hafdi).

In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair became the first king of Norway, Ringerike was a petty kingdom. Sigurd Hjort, king of Ringerike, was the father of Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter, the mother of Harald Fairhair. Following Harald's consolidation of Norway in the late 800s, the kingdom appears to have been ruled by a series of local jarls and client kings. One, Harald's son Halfdan Haleg, met his end in Orkney at the hands of Jarl Torf-Einarr. This was an act of revenge !..

A later sub-king of Ringerike, Sigurd Syr, was the father of Harald Hardråde and the step father of Olav den hellige, both kings of Norway. According to the Heimskringla, "(When) King Olaf Tryggvason came to Ringerike to spread Christianity, Sigurd Syr and his wife allowed themselves to be baptized".[4]

Geography

The municipality of Ringerike is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Sør-Aurdal and Søndre Land; on the east by Gran, Jevnaker, Lunner, and Oslo; in the south by Bærum, Hole, and Modum; and in the west by Krødsherad and Flå.

Lakes in the region include:

Hønefoss, largest town and the administrative centre of Ringerike

Economy

Ringerike is famous for two agriculture products; Ringerike potato (Ringerikspotet) and Ringerike pea (Ringeriksert). Jens Aabel first started production of Ringerike potato around 1867. Ringerike pea has obtained PDO (protected designation of origin). The Ringerike potato has applied for the same protection, and is waiting for the result from the Agriculture department (2003). In June 2007, the potato got "protected geographical indication" (PGI) under the name Ringerikspotet fra Ringerike. Six farmers are now producing and packing this special potato at Ask in Ringerike. Most of the potatoes are sold in the Oslo area.

Notable residents

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Norway

Twin towns — Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Ringerike:[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Kommunevåpen". Ringerike kommune. Retrieved 2009-01-11.  (Norwegian)
  3. ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2009-01-11. 
  4. ↑ Wikisource text King Olaf Trygvason's Saga, Part II, "Section 24, Olaf Haraldson Baptized"
  5. ↑ "Vennskapskommuner". Norden.no. Retrieved 2009-01-11.  (Norwegian)
  6. ↑ "Internationale betrekkingen". Retrieved 2009-01-11.  (Dutch)
  7. ↑ "Terraza Carmona Eventos".  (Spanish)
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