Audnedal

Infobox Kommune
name = Audnedal
idnumber = 1027
county = Vest-Agder
landscape = Sørlandet
capital = Byremo
demonym = Audnedøl
language = Neutral


munwebpage = www.audnedal.kommune.no
governor = Tønnes Seland (Bygdelista)
governor_as_of = 2003
arearank = 302
area = 251
arealand = 236
areapercent = 0.08
population_as_of = 2004
populationrank = 362
population = 1,568
populationpercent = 0.03
populationdensity = 7
populationincrease = -0.6
lat_deg = 58 | lat_min = 22 | lat_sec = 48 | lon_deg = 7 | lon_min = 22 | lon_sec = 12
utm_zone = 32V | utm_northing = 6472178 | utm_easting = 0404696 | geo_cat = adm2nd

Audnedal is a municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway. The new municipality of Audnedal was created on 1 January 1964 after the merger of Grindheim and Konsmo.

The old municipality (see Undal) had quite different borders: It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt) but in 1845 it was divided into Nord-Audnedal (divided in Konsmo and Vigmostad in 1911) and Sør-Audnedal (Spangereid separated in 1899).

It is an inland municipality, and Åseral municipality borders it to the north, Hægebostad to the west, Lyngdal and Lindesnes to the south, and Marnardal to the east. In the north-east it borders Evje og Hornnes in the county of Aust-Agder.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was "Auðnudalr". The first element is the genitive case of the river name "Auðna" (now Audnedalselva) and the last element is "dalr" which means "valley" or "dale". The river name is derived from the Norse word "auðn" which means "destruction" (because of flooding).

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 30 August 1991. It shows a blade of a circular saw to represent the timber and forestry industries in the municipality. [cite web|url=http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/a/audnedal.htm|author=Norske Kommunevåpen|date=1990|title=Nye kommunevåbener i Norden|accessdaymonth=27 September|accessyear=2008]

Attractions

*Recommended hiking trips, among other places in the area, are "Blomliknuten".

*The local museum located on Sveindal is also a noteworthy visit.

*If you enjoy the art of fishing, you should drop by the river "Mandalselva". Salmon weighing several kilograms can be caught here.

References