Lista


Lista is a former municipality in Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. The administrative centre was the village of Vanse where Vanse Church is located. Lista municipality was historically known as the municipality of Vanse until 1911. The former municipality's land is now located in the present-day municipality of Farsund.
Farsund Airport, Lista is located here, but it has not had any regularly scheduled commercial flights since 1999; however, there are discussions to use it as a base for offshore operations. Lista is located on a large peninsula along the Listafjorden and is home to the villages of Vestbygd and Vanse and the town of Farsund.

Name

The municipality was named "Vanse" from its creation in 1838 until 1911 when the name was changed to Lista. The original name of the municipality was originally named after the old Vanse farm, where the first Vanse Church was built. This name was changed in 1911 to bring back the historic name of Lista for this region of Vest-Agder county. Lista is the name of the peninsula where the municipality is located.
The name Lista is derived from the Norwegian word lista which means "edge" or "rim". From 1662 until 1919, Vest-Agder county was named "Lister og Mandals amt", signifying the significance of the area.

History

The municipality of Vanse was established on 1 January 1838. According to the 1835 census, the municipality had a population of 4,213. On 1 January 1903, an area with 99 inhabitants was transferred from Vanse to the neighboring town of Farsund. Again in 1948, another area with 64 inhabitants was transferred from Lista to the town of Farsund. During the 1960s, there were many major municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the municipalities of Lista, Herad, and Spind were merged with the town of Farsund to create a new, larger municipality of Farsund. Prior to the merger, Lista had a population of 4,544.

Notable people