Grenland is a traditional district in

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

county, in the south-east of

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 ...

. "Grenland" has referred to varying locations throughout history. In modern times, Grenland refers to the areas of the municipalities of

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

Porsgrunn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...

Bamble Bamble is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Langesund ...

, and Siljan. Sometimes the municipalities Kragerø and Drangedal are also considered to be part of the area. The region encompasses and has 122,978 inhabitants (2004), which translates as 12% of the area and 64% of the population of Telemark. Grenland is the core area of a slightly larger traditional district known as Nedre Telemark ("Lower Telemark") which includes all of Grenland plus

Midt-Telemark Municipality Midt-Telemark is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Midt-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the villag ...

and the Heddal area of Notodden Municipality. Grenland is also used as the name of an

urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

consisting of the cities of

and

History

In the early

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

, before

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

, Grenland was a

petty kingdom A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into t ...

. Originally ''Grenland'' was probably the name of the region surrounding the lake Norsjø in Nedre Telemark. Grenland was located within the old ''Grænafylket'' (or Grenafylket) county which contained all of Grenland plus the coastal region known as '' Vestmar''. ''Vestmar'' is assumed to signify the land to the west of the sea (''mar''), however ''sea'' in this case should be interpreted as

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

, i.e. Langesundsfjorden. Vestmar was described as a county already in the 8th century AD. The name ''Grenland'' is derived from a people, the ''Grener'', i.e. "the land of the Grener". It is mentioned as a Gothic nation by

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

in his work

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

from about 551 AD: "Sunt quamquam et horum positura ''Granii'', Agadii, Eunixi, Thelae, Rugi, Harothi, Ranii." (Getica, III:24)

20th century

During the period of the municipality mergers in Norway, the chief administrative officer (''fylkesmann'') in Telemark proposed that the municipalities

, Solum, Gjerpen,

Eidanger Eidanger is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Porsgrunn Municipality. The administrative centre wa ...

and Brevik be merged to form a large urban municipality centered on Skien. The municipalities had been closely integrated since the establishment of the

Hydro Hydro (from ) may refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains electricity in parts of Canada * Micro hydro, a type of hydroelect ...

factory at Herøya, and

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

between the settlements was also significant. However, the idea was opposed by Solum as well as Porsgrunn, Eidanger and Brevik and soon fell out of grace. Eidanger proposed a merger with Brevik and Porsgrunn, and the enlarged Porsgrunn municipality was finally created on 1 January 1964. Brevik lost its city status in the process. In light of this merger, the central authorities saw only one possible solution; a similar merger between Solum, Gjerpen and Skien. Unlike the first proposal, this was met by protests from Gjerpen - to no avail, as the case went to the Norwegian Parliament. The result was a significantly enlarged Skien municipality. On 1 January 1968 an area from the old Gjerpen and Solum municipalities with 3,554 inhabitants was moved to Porsgrunn. In addition, the urban municipalities of Langesund and Stathelle were incorporated into the rural municipality of

. Like Brevik, both Langesund and Stathelle lost their city status. Siljan municipality remained unaffected by the mergers, contrary to the initial expectations.

References

{{coord, 59, 0, N, 9, 40, E, display=title Districts of Telemark Metropolitan regions of Norway Petty kingdoms of Norway