Songdalen

Infobox_Kommune
name = Songdalen
idnumber = 1017
county = Vest-Agder
landscape = Sørlandet
capital = Nodeland
demonym = Songdøl
language = Neutral


munwebpage = www.songdalen.kommune.no
governor = Johnny Greibesland (Sp)
governor_as_of = 2003
arearank = 323
area = 216
arealand = 206
areapercent = 0.07
population_as_of = 2004
populationrank = 178
population = 5,483
populationpercent = 0.12
populationdensity = 27
populationincrease = 5.2
lat_deg = 58 | lat_min = 11 | lat_sec = 19 | lon_deg = 7 | lon_min = 48 | lon_sec = 6
utm_zone = 32V | utm_northing = 6450351 | utm_easting = 0429543 | geo_cat = adm2nd

Songdalen is a municipality in the Vest-Agder county, Norway. Songdalen was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 after the merger of the old municipalities of Finsland and Greipstad. The administrative center is the village of Nodeland. The central market area is located at Brennåsen.

General information

Name

The Old 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" which means "valley" or "dale".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 20 December 1985. The arms show three oak leaves, each for one of the three former municipalities of Greipstad, Finsland, and Øvrebø, which now form the municipality of Songdalen. The oak was chosen, as the area is heavily forested.

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 and evergreen (heavily forested with oak and pine), and become more pine woods as one moves inland. Elk and beaver are common in the area. [cite book|title=South Norway|first=Frank Noel|last=Stagg|publisher=George Allen & Unwin, Ltd.|date=1958]

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. [cite book|title=Adventure Roads in Norway|first=Erling|last=Welle-Strand|publisher=Nortrabooks|date=1996|isbn=82-90103-71-9]

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

References