Aurskog-Høland


Aurskog-Høland is a municipality in Akershus in Viken 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 merged into Aurskog-Høland on January 1, 2020.

General information

Name

The new municipality of Aurskog-Høland was created on 1 January 1966 after the merger of the four old municipalities of Aurskog, Nordre Høland, Søndre Høland, and Setskog.
The name Aurskog comes from the old Ør farm. The last element is skog (Old Norse: skógr which means "wood" therefore the meaning of the full name is "the woods around the farm Aurr". Prior to 1918, the name was written "Urskog".
The name Høland is an old district name. The first element is høy which means "hay" and the last element is land which means "land".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 4 February 1983. The arms show a black European crayfish on a gold background. It was derived from an older logo of the municipality. The logo showed a typical landscape of the area, a lake surrounded by woods and a crayfish in the lake. To place the whole composition in a shield to create the arms was not allowed according to Norwegian heraldic rules, so the crayfish was chosen as a symbol.
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Geography

It is the biggest municipality in Akershus, covering. Main villages are Aurskog and Bjørkelangen, of which the latter one is the administrative center. Forests cover much of the area, but there is very good farmland as well. The rivers of Haldenvassdraget and Hølandselva run through the district.

Economy

An important printing office, and a crushing mill are situated here. Oslo is less than one hour's drive to the west.
The Think electric car was manufactured in Aurskog.

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Aurskog-Høland: