Aurskog is a former municipality in

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The administrative centre was

Aursmoen Aursmoen is a village in the municipality of Aurskog-Høland, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan M ...

. Aurskog was the location of the

Battle of Toverud The Battle of Toverud or the Battles of Rakkestad and Toverud were several skirmishes fought around Toverud in Aurskog and Rakkestad in Østfold, on 19 and 20 April 1808, as a part of the Dano-Swedish War of 1808-1809. Christian August sent a ...

. The parish of ''Urskog'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

). On 1 July 1919 the district of

Blaker Blaker is a village and a former municipality of Akershus county, Norway. History The municipality was established on 1 July 1919, when Aurskog was split in two. At the time of establishment, Blaker had a population of 2,533. On 1 January 1962, ...

was separated to form a municipality of its own. The split left Aurskog with a population of 3.102. On 1 January 1966 Aurskog was merged with

Nordre Høland Nordre Høland is a former municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It was created when Høland municipality was split in two on 1 July 1924. At that time Nordre Høland had a population of 3.188. On 1 January 1966 Nordre Høland was merged with ...

Søndre Høland Søndre Høland is a former municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It was created when Høland municipality was split in two on 1 July 1924. At that time Søndre Høland had a population of 2,106. On 1 January 1964 Søndre Høland was merged wi ...

and

Setskog Setskog is a village and a former municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It bordered Østfold county to the south, Hedmark county to the north and Sweden to the east. History Setskog was created by a split from Høland municipality on 1 Janua ...

to form the new municipality

Aurskog-Høland Aurskog-Høland is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjørkelangen. The municipality of Rømskog, in Østfold county was m ...

. Prior to the merger Aurskog had a population of 3.129.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Ør ( Norse ''Aurr'' 'gravel'), since the first church was built here. The last element is ''skog'' (Norse ''skógr'') 'woods' - and the meaning of the full name is 'the woods around the farm Aurr'. Until 1918 the name was written "Urskog".

Bird Hunt of 1938

On the eve of World War II a sudden explosion in the population of Black Throated Divers caused the Trout population to decrease significantly. As a result the municipality deemed the birds "destructive to the regional stability" and initiated a hunt that restored the trout population. In 1939 the town sold a large portion of the excess of the meat to neighboring

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. It is thought that this is possibly the reason for Aurskog's colloquial name in the region as "fugleherren" or in English "The Bird Master".

References

* *The town websit
http://aurskog.no/
Former municipalities of Norway Aurskog-Høland Populated places disestablished in 1966 {{Akershus-geo-stub