Telemark

For other uses, see Telemark (disambiguation).
Telemark fylke
County

Coat of arms

Telemark within Norway
Country Norway
County Telemark
Region Austlandet
County ID NO-08
Administrative centre Skien
Government
 • Governor Sven Tore Løkslid
  Arbeiderpartiet
  (2015–present)
 • County mayor Gunn Marit Helgesen
  Høyre
  (2003–present)
Area
 • Total 15,299 km2 (5,907 sq mi)
 • Land 13,854 km2 (5,349 sq mi)
Area rank #10 in Norway, 4.55% of Norway's land area
Population (2014)
 • Total 171.333
 • Rank 13 (3.63% of country)
 • Density 12/km2 (30/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 1.8 %
Demonym(s) Teledøl or Telemarking
Time zone CET (UTC+01)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+02)
Official language form Neutral
Income (per capita) 139,900 NOK
GDP (per capita) 219,404 NOK (2001)
GDP national rank 12 (2.38% of country)
Website www.telemark.no
Data from Statistics Norway
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1951136,519—    
1961149,943+9.8%
1971156,778+4.6%
1981162,050+3.4%
1991162,869+0.5%
2001165,595+1.7%
2011169,185+2.2%
2021?180,966+7.0%
2031?191,552+5.8%
Source: Statistics Norway.[1]
Religion in Telemark[2][3]
religion percent
Christianity
  
 86.60%
Islam
  
 1.50%
Buddhism
  
 0.24%
Other
  
 11.66%

Telemark [ˈteːləˈmɑrk]  ( listen) is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.

Location

The county is located in southeastern Norway, extending from Hardangervidda to the Skagerrak coast. The coastline extends from Langesundsfjorden to Gjernestangen at the border with Aust-Agder. Telemark has a very broken and heterogeneous landscape, including many hills and valleys.

Infrastructure

The international road E18 goes through the southern parts of Telemark, namely Grenland and the municipality of Kragerø. E134, another important motorway and the fastest route between Oslo and Bergen, goes through the municipalities of Vinje, Tokke, Kviteseid, Seljord, Hjartdal and Notodden. RV36, stretching from Porsgrunn to Seljord, links the E18 and E134 motorways.

Telemark is well served by railways. Sørlandsbanen runs through the traditional districts of Vestmar and Midt-Telemark, serving the municipalities of Drangedal, Nome, Bø and Sauherad. Grenland is primarily served by Vestfoldbanen, but also has connections through Bratsbergbanen which runs between Skien and Notodden.

Geiteryggen Airport in Skien offers flights to Bergen and Stavanger.

From Langesund, Fjordline operates ferry services to Sweden and Denmark.

The main bus lines in the county are operated by Telemark Bilruter, serving western and middle parts of the county, and Nettbuss which serves the middle, eastern and southern parts of the county. Drangedal Bilruter serves the Vestmar region.

Population

The largest population centres are Skien, Porsgrunn, Notodden, Rjukan and Kragerø. Other important places are Bø, Seljord, Fyresdal and Vinje.

The name

The Norse form of the name was Þelamǫrk. The first element is the genitive plural case of þelir, the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is mǫrk "woodland, borderland, march". (See also Denmark, Hedmark and Finnmark.) The term originally was applied to Upper Telemark.

Until 1919, the county was called Bratsberg amt. The amt was named after the farm Bratsberg (Norse Brattsberg), since this was the seat of the amtmann ('governor'). The first element is the genitive case of brattr m "steep mountain", the last element is berg n "mountain". (The name is referring to a steep mountainside behind the farm.)

Telemark lent its name to Telemark skiing, a style invented by Sondre Norheim, and the characteristic Telemark landing of ski jumping.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1970). It shows an old type of battle axe, significant for the county.

History

The film The Heroes of Telemark is loosely based on the Norwegian heavy water sabotage, a raid on a heavy water plant at Rjukan during World War II. Ray Mears made a documentary titled The Real Heroes of Telemark as a response to the inaccuracies of the film, giving an account more focused on the outdoor skills that were required for the operation (spending months in the mountains and remote cabins).

Notable people born in Telemark

Districts

Municipalities in Telemark

The county is conventionally divided into traditional districts. The most common district divisions today are Grenland, Vest-Telemark, Aust-Telemark. An older, larger division is Upper Telemark (or Telemark proper) and Lower Telemark (traditionally comprising the coastal area of Grenland). Today, the provostship Upper Telemark comprises 12 municipalities and more than 80% of Telemark, also including Midt-Telemark.

An additional district, Vestmar is disputed. Others like Bø, Nome and Sauherad might also be considered as the district of Midt-Telemark. The district borders of this County is highly undefined and disputed.

Rank Name Inhabitants[4] Area km2 District
1 Skien 63,962 722 Grenland
2 Porsgrunn 35,177 161 Grenland
3 Bamble 14,107 282 Grenland
4 Notodden 12,390 856 Aust-Telemark
5 Kragerø 10,620 289 Grenland
6 Nome 6,527 389 Aust-Telemark
7 Tinn 6,022 1,858 Vest-Telemark
8 Bø 5,595 260 Aust-Telemark
9 Sauherad 4,666 292 Aust-Telemark
10 Drangedal 4,159 998 Grenland
11 Vinje 3,641 2,740 Vest-Telemark
12 Seljord 2,966 672 Vest-Telemark
13 Kviteseid 2,522 626 Vest-Telemark
14 Siljan 2,412 203 Grenland
15 Tokke 2,337 907 Vest-Telemark
16 Hjartdal 1,587 741 Aust-Telemark
17 Nissedal 1,404 789 Vest-Telemark
18 Fyresdal 1,381 1,110 Vest-Telemark
Total Telemark 168,231 13,173

References

  1. ↑ Projected population - Statistics Norway
  2. ↑ Statistics Norway - Church of Norway.
  3. ↑ Statistics Norway - Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance. County. 2006-2010
  4. ↑ "Statistics Norway". 1 January 2010.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Telemark.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Telemark.

Coordinates: 59°20′00″N 08°30′00″E / 59.33333°N 8.50000°E / 59.33333; 8.50000

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.