Vestland

This article is about the county in Norway. For the traditional region Vestlandet, see Western Norway. For the coaster, see MV Vestland (1921).

Vestland kommune
Municipality
Country	Norway
County	Vestland
District	Western Norway
Administrative centre	Bergen
Government
• Mayor (2023)	Liv Signe Navarsete
Area
• Total	33,871 km2 (13,078 sq mi)
• Land	31,969 km2 (12,343 sq mi)
• Water	1,902 km2 (734 sq mi)  5.6%
Area rank	5 in Norway
Population (2021)
• Total	638,821
• Rank	3 in Norway
• Density	20/km2 (50/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	8.1 %
Demonym(s)	Vestlending
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-46
Official language form	Nynorsk
Data from Statistics Norway

Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based, but the County Governor is based in Hermansverk. The county is one of two counties in Norway that have Nynorsk as their official written language form (the others are neutral as to which form people use).

Vestland was created in 2020 when the former counties of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane (with the exception of Hornindal municipality, which became part of Volda municipality in Møre og Romsdal county) were merged.

History

Vestland county is a newly created county, but it has been inhabited for millennia. The area was made up of many petty kingdoms under the Gulating during the Middle Ages. The northern part was the known as Firdafylke (now the Fjordane region; Nordfjord-Sunnfjord), the central are was known as Sygnafylke (now the Sogn region), and the southern part was known as Hordafylke.

In the early 16th century, Norway was divided into four len. The Bergenhus len was headquartered in Bergen and encompassed much of western and northern Norway including Firdafylke, Sygnafylke, Hordafylke, and Sunnmørafylke (in the present day Møre og Romsdal county). The new Bergenhus len was administered from the Bergenhus Fortress in the city of Bergen.

In 1662, the lens were replaced by amts. On 19 February 1662, a royal decree changed the name to Bergenhus amt. The new Bergenhus amt originally consisted of the present-day areas of Vestland and the Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal, plus the far northern Nordlandene amt was subordinate to Bergenhus amt. The Sunnmøre region was transferred to Romsdalen amt in 1689 and the Nordlandene amt was separated around that time as well.

In 1763, the amt was divided into northern and southern parts: Nordre Bergenhus amt and Søndre Bergenhus amt. When the amt was split, the present day municipality of Gulen was split with the southern part ending up in Søndre Bergenhus amt. In 1773, the border was re-drawn so that all of Gulen was located in the northern part.

On 1 January 1919, Nordre Bergenhus amt was renamed Sogn og Fjordane fylke and Søndre Bergenhus amt was renamed Hordaland fylke during a period of time when many location names in Norway were changed.

The city of Bergen was removed from the Bergenhus amt in 1831 and it was classified as a city-county (byamt) from 1831 to 1972. During that time in 1915, the municipality of Årstad was annexed into Bergen. In 1972, the neighbouring municipalities of Arna, Fana, Laksevåg and Åsane were annexed into the city of Bergen. Also at that same time, the city of Bergen lost its county status, and became a part of Hordaland county once again.

On 1 January 2020, Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged back together once again, forming Vestland county.

Geography

File:Lofthus1.jpg

Hardanger is one of Norway's most important sources of fruit, providing about 40% of Norway's fruit production, including apples, plums, pears, cherries, and redcurrants.

Vestland is located on the western coast of Norway. It is split up by several long, deep fjords including the Nordfjorden, Sognefjorden, and Hardangerfjorden, some of Norway's most notable fjords and great tourist attractions. About half of the Hardangervidda National Park is in the county. It also includes the Jostedal, Folgefonna, and Hardangerjøkulen glaciers. The county also includes many well-known waterfalls, such as Vøringsfossen, Brudesløret and Stykkjedalsfossen. Ramnefjellsfossen (previously called Utigardfossen) is the tallest in Norway and third tallest in the world and Vettisfossen is one of Norway's highest waterfalls with a vertical drop of 275 m (902 ft). Both are located in the Jotunheim mountains.

Outside of the Bergen metropolitan area, the county is mostly a rural area with a scattered population. Cruise ships visit Vestland all summer because of the unique vistas of high mountains and deep blue fjords. The famous Nærøyfjord is located in the south of the county. This is a UNESCO listed fjord area. There are several archipelagos, including Øygarden, Austevoll, Bulandet, Bremangerlandet, and Kinn. The westernmost point in Norway proper is Holmebåen in Solund municipality. The island of Unst, part of Shetland Islands is around 300 km (190 mi) west of Holmebåen.

The terrain changes quite rapidly with mostly smaller mountains on the coastline, gradually increasing to mountains reaching more than 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Because of the steep rise in elevation and fjords cutting through the terrain, the amount of precipitation is very high. Low pressure systems come in from the west and meet the mountains (a phenomenon known as orographic lifting) and cause rain and snowfall.

Government

Main article: Vestland County Municipality

A county (fylke) is the chief local administrative area in Norway. The whole country is divided into 11 counties. A county is also an election area, with popular votes taking place every 4 years. In Vestland, the government of the county is the Vestland County Municipality. It includes 65 members who are elected to form a county council (Fylkesting). Heading the Fylkesting is the county mayor (fylkesordførar). Since 2020, the Vestland County Municipality has been led by Jon Askeland, the county mayor.

The county also has a County Governor (fylkesmann) who is the representative of the King and Government of Norway. Lars Sponheim is the current County Governor of Vestland and this office is based in Hermansverk.

The municipalities in Vestland are divided among several district courts (tingrett): Nordhordland District Court, Sunnhordland District Court, Bergen District Court, Hardanger District Court, and Sogn og Fjordane District Court. All of these courts are subordinate to the Gulating Court of Appeal district based in Bergen.

Media gallery

• 

  Myklebustdalen valley east of Byrkjelo

• 

  The village of Hoddevik on the Stad peninsula in Selje

• Laerdalsoyri03.jpg

  Some old houses in Lærdalsøyri, Lærdal

• 

  View from Aurland

• 

  Finse is the highest point of the Norwegian Railway System, located at 1,222 m (4,009 ft) above sea level

Panorama over the island of Sotra.

Municipalities

Vestland County has a total of 43 municipalities:

Municipal Number	Name	Adm. Centre	Location in the county	Established	Old Municipal No. (before 2020)	Former County (before 2020)
4601	30px Bergen	Bergen	50px	1 Jan 1972	1201 Bergen	Hordaland
4602	30px Kinn	Florø	50px	1 Jan 2020	1401 Flora 1439 Vågsøy (part)	Sogn og Fjordane
4611	Etne	Etnesjøen	50px	1 Jan 1838	1211 Etne	Hordaland
4612	30px Sveio	Sveio	50px	1 Jan 1865	1216 Sveio
4613	Bømlo	Svortland	50px	1 Jan 1916	1219 Bømlo
4614	Stord	Leirvik	50px	1 Jan 1838	1221 Stord
4615	Fitjar	Fitjar	50px	1 Jan 1863	1222 Fitjar
4616	30px Tysnes	Uggdal	50px	1 Jan 1838	1223 Tysnes
4617	Kvinnherad	Rosendal	50px	1 Jan 1838	1224 Kvinnherad
4618	30px Ullensvang	Odda	50px	1 Jan 1838	1227 Jondal 1228 Odda 1230 Ullensvang
4619	30px Eidfjord	Eidfjord	50px	1 Jan 1977	1232 Eidfjord
4620	Ulvik	Ulvik	50px	1 Jan 1838	1233 Ulvik
4621	30px Voss	Vossevangen	50px	1 Jan 1838	1234 Granvin 1235 Voss
4622	Kvam	Norheimsund	50px	1 Jan 1838	1238 Kvam
4623	30px Samnanger	Tysse	50px	1 Jan 1907	1242 Samnanger
4624	30px Bjørnafjorden	Osøyro	50px	1 Jan 2020	1241 Fusa 1243 Os
4625	Austevoll	Storebø	50px	1 Jan 1886	1244 Austevoll
4626	Øygarden	Straume	50px	1 Jan 1964	1245 Sund 1246 Fjell 1259 Øygarden
4627	Askøy	Kleppestø	50px	1 Jan 1838	1247 Askøy
4628	30px Vaksdal	Dale	50px	1 Jan 1964	1251 Vaksdal
4629	Modalen	Mo	50px	1 Jan 1910	1252 Modalen
4630	Osterøy	Lonevåg	50px	1 Jan 1964	1253 Osterøy
4631	30px Alver	Knarvik	50px	1 Jan 2020	1256 Meland 1260 Radøy 1263 Lindås
4632	30px Austrheim	Årås	50px	1 Jan 1910	1264 Austrheim
4633	Fedje	Fedje	50px	1 Jan 1947	1265 Fedje
4634	Masfjorden	Masfjordnes	50px	1 Mar 1879	1266 Masfjorden
4635	Gulen	Eivindvik	50px	1 Jan 1838	1411 Gulen	Sogn og Fjordane
4636	Solund	Hardbakke	50px	1 Jan 1858	1412 Solund
4637	30px Hyllestad	Hyllestad	50px	1 Jan 1862	1413 Hyllestad
4638	30px Høyanger	Høyanger	50px	1 Jan 1964	1416 Høyanger
4639	Vik	Vikøyri	50px	1 Jan 1838	1417 Vik
4640	30px Sogndal	Hermansverk	50px	1 Jan 1838	1418 Balestrand 1419 Leikanger 1420 Sogndal
4641	Aurland	Aurlandsvangen	50px	1 Jan 1838	1421 Aurland
4642	Lærdal	Lærdalsøyri	50px	1 Jan 1838	1422 Lærdal
4643	Årdal	Årdalstangen	50px	1 Jan 1863	1424 Årdal
4644	30px Luster	Gaupne	50px	1 Jan 1838	1426 Luster
4645	Askvoll	Askvoll	50px	1 Jan 1838	1428 Askvoll
4646	Fjaler	Dale	50px	1 Jan 1838	1429 Fjaler
4647	30px Sunnfjord	Førde	50px	1 Jan 2020	1430 Gaular 1431 Jølster 1432 Førde 1433 Naustdal
4648	Bremanger	Svelgen	50px	1 Jan 1866	1438 Bremanger
4649	30px Stad	Nordfjordeid	50px	1 Jan 2020	1439 Vågsøy (part) 1441 Selje 1443 Eid
4650	30px Gloppen	Sandane	50px	1 Jan 1838	1445 Gloppen
4651	Stryn	Stryn	50px	1 Jan 1843	1449 Stryn

See also

• List of villages in Vestland
• List of churches in Bjørgvin
• Søråsen