Nord-Trøndelag

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Nord-Trøndelag fylke
—  County  —
Coat of arms
Nord-Trøndelag within Norway
Country	Norway
County	Nord-Trøndelag
Region	Trøndelag
County ID	NO-17
Official language form	Neutral
Demonym	Trønder
Administrative centre	Steinkjer
Government
- Governor	Oddbjørn Karmhus Nordset   (2008–present)
- County Mayor	Gunnar Viken   Høyre   (2007–present)
Area (#6 in Norway, 6.83% of Norway's land area)
- Total	22,412 km2 (8,653.3 sq mi)
- Land	20,777 km2 (8,022 sq mi)
Population (2008)
- Total	130,192
- Density	6/km2 (15.5/sq mi)
- Change (10 years)	0.2 %
- Rank in Norway	16 (2.80% of nation)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Income (per capita)	122,100 NOK
GDP (per capita)	194,803 NOK (2001)
National Rank:	17 (1.63% of nation)
Website	www.ntfk.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Nord-Trøndelag (help·info) is a county in the central Norwegian region called Trøndelag.

[edit] The name

Most of the county is lower than 600 m amsl, much of it covered by spruce forest. The mountains are mostly in the eastern, inland part.

The name Nord-Trøndelag was created in 1919. It means "(the) northern (part of) Trøndelag".

Until 1919 the name of the county was Nordre Trondhjems amt. The meaning of this was "(the) northern (part of) Trondhjems amt". The old Trondhjems amt, created in 1662, was divided in 1804. Trondhjem is the old form of Trondheim.

See also Sør-Trøndelag.

[edit] Geography

Nord-Trøndelag borders Nordland to the north, Sør-Trøndelag to the south, Sweden to the east and the Norwegian Sea to the west. The county seat is Steinkjer, with 20,527 inhabitants (2005). The largest lake is Snåsavatnet and the largest river is Namsen, one of the best salmon rivers in Europe. Other well known salmon rivers are as Verdalselva and Stjørdalselva. Salsvatnet is the second deepest lake in Europe, with a maximum depth of 482 m. Another lake in the area is Byavatnet. Stjørdal is the biggest town in the county. There are local hospitals in Levanger and Namsos.

Skrøyvstadfossen; the river enters the Skrøyvstad lake and then Salsvatnet

A large part of the population lives near the large Trondheimsfjord, which is a central feature of the southern part of this county. In the north are other fjords, mainly the Namsenfjord and Folda fjord. Areas on the eastern and northeastern shore of Trondheimsfjord (mainly in Stjørdal, Frosta, Levanger, Inderøy, Verdal and Steinkjer) are fertile agricultural lowland, with grain fields and vegetables. Together with the grain fields in the Namdalen lowland, this forms the most northern grain cultivation area in Norway today.

However, the spruce dominated forest (some birch) covers a much larger area, and Nord-Trøndelag is the second largest timber producing county in Norway (after Hedmark).

Seierstad in Fosnes.

The forest and highland in Nord-Trøndelag is one of few places in Norway with four species of deer (moose, roe deer, red deer and reindeer). There are mountains near the border with Sweden, and coastal mountains with bare rock at the northern coast. The spruce forests occurs even at the coast, where some areas are classified as temperate rainforest (boreal rainforest, see Scandinavian coastal conifer forests).

There are several national parks in the county, among them Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella National Park (one of the largest in Norway [1]), Børgefjell National Park (partly), Lierne National Park and Skarvan og Roltdalen National Park (partly).

[edit] Transport

Hell train station is located in Stjørdal. In Norwegian the word means "cave" in this case.

European Route E6 runs north–south throughout eastern part the county, partially as a motorway. This route runs from Stjørdal via Steinkjer to Grong and through Namskogan to Nordland. Other important routes in the county include E14 between Stjørdal via Meråker to Sweden and National Road 17 from Steinkjer via Namsos and Nærøy to Nordland. Private road transport is dominent, as the public transport is sparesly operated. The largest bus company is TrønderBilene.

The Nordland Line is a railway that runs from Trondheim to Bodø, and it runs north–south through the county. South of Steinkjer, the Trøndelag Commuter Rail operates to Trondheim. There are also two other lines; the Meråker Line, part of the line between Trondheim and Stockholm runs from Stjørdal to Meråker and onwards to Sweden. The Namsos Line is purely used for freight and goes from Grong to Namsos. None of the railways in Nord-Trøndelag are electrified.

The main airport for all of Trøndelag, Trondheim Airport, Værnes, is located in Stjørdal. It is the third largest in Norway, and has 25 daily flights to Oslo, as well Western and Northern Norway. The international airport also serves daily direct flights to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London and Stockholm and weekly flights to other European cities and many charter flights to Southern Europe. It also functions as a hub for Widerøe's regional flights to Namdal and Nordland, including the two regional airports in Nord-Trøndelag, Namsos Airport, Høknesøra and Rørvik Airport, Ryum.

Painting by Halfdan Egedius; Tore Hund spears Olav Haraldsson at the Battle of Stiklestad.

The Coastal Express calls at Rørvik.

[edit] History

Steinvikholmen (castle) in Stjørdal, the residence of the last catholic archbishop of Norway. He was driven from the country shortly after the Reformation.

People have lived in this region for thousands of years (see Rock carvings in Central Norway). The Trøndelag region was central in the Viking Age. The most famous battle in Norwegian history, the Battle of Stiklestad, took place at Stiklestad in Verdal.

[edit] Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1957) - but it has old roots: A golden cross on a white field was the coat-of-arms for Saint Olaf, killed in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030.

View towards Straumen in Inderøy, Innherred district

[edit] Districts

The county is conventionally divided into traditional districts. From south to north, these are Stjørdalen, Innherred and Namdalen.

[edit] Municipalities

Nord-Trøndelag has a total of 24 municipalities:

[edit] References

v • d • e Counties of Norway Akershus · Aust-Agder · Buskerud · Finnmark · Hedmark · Hordaland · Møre og Romsdal · Nordland · Nord-Trøndelag · Oppland · Oslo · Østfold · Rogaland · Sogn og Fjordane · Sør-Trøndelag · Telemark · Troms · Vest-Agder · Vestfold

Coordinates: 64°30′00″N 11°40′00″E / 64.5°N 11.6666667°E / 64.5; 11.6666667