Place:Vestfold, Norway

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NameVestfold
Alt namesJarlsberg och Larviks amtsource: Family History Library Catalog
Jarlsberg og Larvik amtsource: Wikipedia
TypeCounty
Coordinates59.25°N 10.167°E
Located inNorway
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered the previous Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration was located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the largest city is Sandefjord. With the exception of the city-county of Oslo, Vestfold was the smallest county in Norway by area. Vestfold was the only county in which all municipalities had declared Bokmål to be their sole official written form of the Norwegian language.

Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten; these towns run from Oslo in an almost constant belt of urban areas along the coast, ending in Grenland in neighbouring region Telemark. The river Numedalslågen runs through the county. Many islands are located at the coast. Vestfold is mostly dominated by lowland and is among the best agricultural areas of Norway. Winters last about three months, while pleasant summer temperatures last from May to September, with a July average high of 17 °C (63 °F).

Vestfold is traditionally known for shipping and sailing. Sandefjord was formerly a headquarters for the Norwegian whaling fleet, and Horten used to be Norway's main naval port. The coastal towns of Vestfold now engage in fishing and shipbuilding. Some lumbering is carried on in the interior. The area also includes some of the best farmland in Norway.

Vestfold merged with neighboring Telemark County on 1 January 2020 as part of a nationwide municipal reform. The new county name is Vestfold og Telemark. Vestfold as a county is expected to be re-established by 1 January 2024, following a vote of the county council of Vestfold og Telemark on 15 February 2022 to split the newly established county into its respective counties that existed before the merger took place; Telemark and Vestfold.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Viking history

Vestfold is mentioned for the first time in a written source in 813, when Danish kings were in Vestfold to quell an uprising amongst the Fürsts . There may have been as many as six political centers in Vestfold. At that time Kaupang, which was located in Tjølling near Larvik, had been functioning for decades and had a chieftain. Kaupang, which dates from the Viking Era, is believed to be the first town in Norway, although Tønsberg (which dates from ca. 900) is the oldest town in Norway still in existence. At Borre, there was a site for another chieftain. That site held chieftains for more than one hundred years prior to 813.

The stone mounds at Mølen have been dated to the Viking Age. The mounds at in present-day Tønsberg's town centre have been dated to the Viking period. At Farmannshaugen in Sem there seems to have been activity at the time, while activity at Oseberghaugen and Gokstadhaugen dates from a few decades later.

An English source from around 890 retells the voyage of Ottar (Ottar fra Hålogaland) "from the farthest North, along Norvegr via Kaupang and Hedeby to England", where Ottar places Kaupang in the land of the Dane - danenes land.[1] Bjørn Brandlien says that "To the degree that Harald Hårfagre gathered a kingdom after the Battle of Hafrsfjord at the end of the 9th century - that especially is connected to Avaldsnes - it does not seem to have made such a great impression on Ottar".[1] Kaupang is mentioned under the name of (Kaupangen i Skiringssal) in Ottar's tales.

By the 10th century, the local kings had established themselves. The king or his ombudsman resided in the old Royal Court at Sæheim i Sem, today the (Jarlsberg Hovedgård) in Tønsberg. The farm (from Old Norse haugr meaning hill or mound) became the seat for Haugating, the Thing for Vestfold and one of Norway's most important place for the proclamation of kings.

The family of Harald Fairhair, who was most likely the first king of Norway, is said to have come from this area.

The Danish kings seem to have been weak in Vestfold from around the middle of the 9th century until the middle of the 10th century, but their rule was strengthened there at the end of the 10th century.[1] The Danish kings seem to have tried to control the region until the 13th century.[1]

Kings ruling some or all of Vestfold

Whaling

Whaling was an important 19th century industry in coastal cities such as Larvik, Tønsberg, and Sandefjord, which was the world centre for the world's modern whaling industry. Not only did men from Vestfold County make up practically all the crew on the Norwegian whaling fleet, but many were also involved in the whaling industry in other nations. As an example, the first phase of modern Australian whaling was almost entirely based on workers from Larvik. While the first whaling station in the Faroe Islands was established by Sandefjordians, Larvik played a similar role for the Shetland Islands. Tønsberg initiated much of the whaling industry in Iceland and the Hebrides.

The largest settlement in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Grytviken, was established by Carl Anton Larsen of Sandefjord on 16 November 1904. Sandefjordian Nils Larsen's expeditions to Antarctica in the early 20th century led to the Norwegian annexation of Bouvet Island (1927) and Peter I Island (1929). A cove on Peter I Island is named Sandefjord Cove in honor of Nils Larsen's hometown.

Sandefjord Harbor is now home to Southern Actor, the only whale-catcher from the Modern Whaling Epoch still to be in its original order. The museum ship is owned by Sandefjord Whaling Museum, Europe's only museum dedicated to whaling. Sandefjord has been named the centre of the Modern Whaling Epoch, and has been nicknamed "the whaling capital of the world."

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Vestfold. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.