Sogn is a traditional district in

Western Norway Western Norway (; ) is the Regions of Norway, region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the Counties of Norway, counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrative fu ...

(''Vestlandet''). It is located in the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

, surrounding the

Sognefjord The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, ), nicknamed the King of the Fjords (), is the list of Norwegian fjords, longest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the small village ...

, the largest/longest

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 ...

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 district of Sogn consists of the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Aurland Aurland () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The administrativ ...

, Balestrand,

Hyllestad Hyllestad is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the Hyllestad (village), vi ...

, Høyanger, Gulen, Leikanger, Luster, Lærdal, Sogndal,

Solund Solund is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. Solund is the westernmost island municipality in Norway. Hol ...

, Vik, and

Årdal Årdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Årdalsfjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Årdalstangen is ...

. The district covers . The largest urban area in Sogn is the village of Sogndalsfjøra (in Sogndal municipality), with 3,455 residents. The second largest urban area is the village Øvre Årdal (in Årdal municipality), with 3,397 people (this village used to be the largest, but recently it was passed by Sogndalsfjøra). The district of Sogn comprises the southern part of the former county Sogn og Fjordane. The districts of Sunnfjord and Nordfjord are the other two districts in the county.

Etymology

The name ''Sogn'' derived from the name of

. The name of the fjord is from the root of ''súga'' "to suck", referring to the strong tidal streams at the mouth of the fjord. An old name for the district is ''Sygnafylki''. The first element in this name is the genitive of ''sygnir'' which means "people from Sogn" and the last element is '' fylki'' "county".

History

Viking Age

Since early in the

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 ...

, Sogn 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 ...

called ''Sygnafylki''. Some notable Kings of Sogn were Harald Gullskjegg ("Goldbeard", father of Ragnhild, first wife of Halfdan the Black), Halfdan the Black, and Harald Fairhair.

1662-present

In 1662, ''Sogn fogderi'' was created as part of the Nordre Bergenhus amt (county). Sogn was further divided into ''Indre Sogn'' (Inner Sogn) and ''Ytre Sogn'' (Outer Sogn). *''Indre Sogn'' consisted of the inner half of the district which included the present day municipalities of

, Leikanger, Luster, Lærdal, Sogndal, and

. The village of Sogndalsfjøra was the administrative center. *''Ytre Sogn'' consisted of the present day municipalities of Balestrand, Gulen,

, Høyanger,

, and Vik. The village of Høyanger was the administrative center. In 1919, ''Nordre Bergenhus amt'' was renamed '' Sogn og Fjordane fylke''.

References

{{coord, 61, 11, N, 06, 48, E, display=title, region:NO Districts of Vestland Petty kingdoms of Norway