Drangedal is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Vestfold og Telemark Vestfold og Telemark (; ) is a county under disestablishment in Norway. The county is the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consists of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. It is part of the

traditional region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing social ...

Grenland Grenland is a traditional district in the county of Vestfold og Telemark, in the south-east of Norway. Located in the southeastern part of the county, Grenland is composed of the municipalities Skien, Porsgrunn, Bamble, and Siljan. Sometimes the ...

. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Prestestranda. The municipality of Drangedal was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The district of Tørdal encompassed the northwestern part of the municipality. The administrative centre in Drangedal, Prestestranda, and is situated by Lake Toke. The municipal government is located there along with primary and secondary schools, shopping facilities, and a bank. Drangedal railway station is also located in Prestestranda and is served by the

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...

''Sørlandsbannen'' railway line. The newspaper '' Drangedalsposten'' is published in Drangedal. Alpine and cross-country skiing is possible in the area of Drangedal, at Telemark's largest

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

at Gautefall. Drangedal kirke

Name

The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

form of the name was ''Drangadalr''. The first element is probably the genitive plural of ''drangr'' m '

mountain peak A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

'. The last element is ''dalr'' m '

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

, dale'.

History

The Kragerø Line ceased in 1989.

Coat-of-arms

The

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...

is from modern times. They were granted 1989. The arms show two gold-colored

pine cone A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers an ...

s on a green background.

Notable natives

* Hallvard Graatop (early 15th century), rebel leader opposing the Crown and the bailiffs, may have lived at the Vraalstad farm in Drangedal * Andrew Gulickson (1856 in Drangedal – 1941)

Norwegian American Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...

politician, member of

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

Knud Wefald Knud Magnus Wefald (November 3, 1869 – October 25, 1936), was an American Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota's 9th congressional district from 1923 ...

(1869 in Yttre Vefald – 1936)

politician in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

* Abraham Aakre (1874 in Drangedal – 1948) a Norwegian teacher and politician, Mayor of Halden * Finn Støren (1893–1962) a Norwegian civil servant for

Nasjonal Samling Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such ...

, lived in Drangedal from 1933 * Knut T. Storbukås (born 1943 in Bostrak) a musician and truck driver, stage name ''Sputnik'' * Nils Tore Føreland (born 1957) a Norwegian politician, Mayor of Drangedal 2003-2011 * Vidar Sundstøl (born 1963) a Norwegian crime fiction writer.

Gallery

File:Toke ya Okt 2004.JPG, Toke, nedre. Kjendalsøya File:Blekavarden nonsåsheivarden.png, Blekavarden (Nonsåsheivarden) at Gautefall File:Himmelriket.jpg, Himmelriket in Gautefall File:26c411-ses26071.jpg, Vintage train near Drangedal in 1984

References

External links

* *
Municipal fact sheet
from Statistics Norway * {{Authority control Municipalities of Vestfold og Telemark