Tovdal
Tovdal (historic: Lille Topdal) is a former municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. The 377-square-kilometre (146 sq mi) municipality existed from 1908 until its dissolution in 1967. Tovdal municipality was made up of the valley surrounding the river Tovdalselva and since 1967 it has been a part of the present-day municipality of Åmli. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Hillestad where the Tovdal Church is located.[1]
Tovdal kommune | |
|---|---|
 View of Tovdal Church and the river Tovdalselva | |
  Tovdal kommune Location of the municipality  Tovdal kommune Tovdal kommune (Norway) | |
| Coordinates: 58°48′24″N 08°10′30″E | |
| Country | Norway |
| Region | Southern Norway |
| County | Aust-Agder |
| District | Østre Agder |
| Municipality ID | NO-0931 |
| Adm. Center | Hillestad |
| Area | |
| • Total | 377 km2 (146 sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Created from | Åmli in 1908 |
| Merged into | Åmli in 1967 |
History
The parish of Lille Topdal was a part of the municipality of Åmli starting on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1908, the municipality of Åmli was split into three separate municipalities: Lille Topdal (population: 389), Gjevedal (population: 590), and Åmli (population: 2,024). In 1922, the name was changed from Lille Topdal to Tovdal. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1967, Tovdal (population: 161) was merged back into the municipality of Åmli. At the time of its dissolution, Tovdal was the smallest municipality in Norway by population.[1][2]
Name
The name of the municipality comes from the Old Norse word Þofnardalr. The first element Þofn is the old river name, now the Tovdalselva. The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".[3]
References
- Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (2017-12-08). "Tovdal". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
- Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nedenes amt (in Norwegian) (8 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 52.
External links
