Møre og Romsdal


Møre og Romsdal is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the largest town. The county is governed by the Møre og Romsdal County Municipality which includes an elected county council and a county mayor. The national government is represented by the county governor.

Name

The name Møre og Romsdal was created in 1936. The first element refers to the districts of Nordmøre and Sunnmøre, and the last element refers to Romsdal. Until 1919, the county was called "Romsdalens amt", and from 1919-1935 "Møre fylke".
For hundreds of years, the region was called Romsdalen amt, after the Romsdalen valley in the present-day Rauma Municipality. The Old Norse form of the name was Raumsdalr. The first element is the genitive case of a name Raumr derived from the name of the river Rauma, i.e. "The Dale of Rauma". Raumr may refer to stream or current, or to booming or thundering waterfalls like Sletta waterfall. The name may also refer to Raum the Old, one of the sons of Nór, the eponymous Saga King of Norway. Since the majority of the residents of the county lived in the Sunnmøre region, there was some controversy over the name. In 1919, many of the old county names were changed and this county was renamed Møre fylke.
The name Møre was chosen to represent the region where the majority of the county residents lived. That name is dative of Old Norse: Mǿrr and it is probably derived from the word marr referring to something wet like bog or the sea itself. The name is interpreted as "coastland" or "bogland". Møre was originally the name of the coastal area from Stad and north including most of Fosen. The change in name from Romsdalen to Møre was controversial and it did not sit well with the residents of the Romsdal region. Finally in 1936, the name was changed again to a compromise name: Møre og Romsdal.
The ambiguous designation møring—"person from Møre"—is used strictly about people from Nordmøre, excluding the people from Romsdal.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 15 March 1978. It shows three gold-colored Viking ships on a blue background. Shipping and shipbuilding were historically very important to the region, so boats were chosen as the symbol on the arms. The masts on the Viking ships form crosses, which symbolize the strong Christian and religious beliefs as well as the strong religious organisations in the county. There are three boats to represent the three districts of the county: Sunnmøre, Romsdal and Nordmøre.

Geography

Traditionally, the county has been divided into three districts. From north to south, these are Nordmøre, Romsdal, and Sunnmøre. Although the districts do not have separate governments and despite modern road, sea and air connections throughout the county, the three districts still have their own identities in many ways. Historically speaking, connections have been stronger between Nordmøre and Sør-Trøndelag to the north, Romsdal and Oppland to the east, and Sunnmøre and Sogn og Fjordane to the south, than internally. Differences in dialects between the three districts bear clear evidence of this. Due to geographical features, the county has many populated islands and is intersected by several deep fjords. Due to its difficult terrain, Møre og Romsdal has been very dependent on boat traffic, and its main car ferry company, MRF, has existed since 1921.

Settlements

Møre og Romsdal has six settlements with town status. The largest three were towns long before 1993 when municipalities were given the legal authority to grant town status rather than just the King. This change in law led to an increase in the number of towns. The county contains many other urban settlements without town status, every municipality except for Halsa and Smøla contain at least one. As of 1 January 2018, there were 192,331 people living in densely populated areas in the county while only 73,946 people lived in sparsely populated areas. The population density is highest near the coast, with all of the county's towns located on saltwater.
The largest town in the county is Ålesund, with a population of 52,626 in the agglomeration which it forms together with parts of Sula.
RankTown/Urban AreaMunicipalityRegionPopulation
1ÅlesundÅlesund, SulaSunnmøre52,626
2MoldeMoldeRomsdal20,957
3KristiansundKristiansundNordmøre18,292
4ØrstaØrstaSunnmøre7,308
5VoldaVoldaSunnmøre6,433
6UlsteinvikUlsteinSunnmøre5,788
7AureSykkylvenSunnmøre4,330
8NordstrandGiskeSunnmøre4,134
9SunndalsøraSunndalNordmøre4,054
10FosnavågHerøySunnmøre3,621

Municipalities

Møre og Romsdal has a total of 26 municipalities.
Municipal
Number		NameAdm. CentreLocation in
the county		EstablishedIncludes
1505 KristiansundKristiansund1 Jan 20081554 Bremsnes
1555 Grip
1556 Frei
1506 MoldeMolde1 Jan 20201542 Eresfjord og Vistdal
1543 Nesset
1544 Bolsøy
1545 Midsund
1545 Sør-Aukra
1507 ÅlesundÅlesund1 Jan 20201523 Ørskog
1529 Skodje
1530 Vatne
1531 Borgund
1534 Haram
1546 Sandøy
1511 VanylvenFiskåbygd1 Jan 18381512 Syvde
1513 Rovde
1514 SandeLarsnes1 Jan 18671513 Rovde
1515 HerøyFosnavåg1 Jan 1838
1516 UlsteinUlsteinvik1 Jan 1838
1517 HareidHareid1 Jan 1917
1520 ØrstaØrsta1 Aug 18831521 Vartdal
1522 Hjørundfjord
1525 StrandaStranda1 Jan 18381523 Sunnylven
1528 SykkylvenAure1 Aug 1883
1531 SulaLangevåg1 Jan 1977
1532 GiskeValderhaugstrand1 Jan 19081533 Vigra
1535 VestnesVestnes1 Jan 18381536 Tresfjord
1539 RaumaÅndalsnes1 Jan 19641537 Voll
1537 Eid og Voll
1538 Eid
1539 Grytten
1540 Hen
1541 Veøy
1547 AukraFalkhytta1 Jan 18381546 Sandøy
1554 AverøyBruhagen1 Jan 19641552 Kornstad
1553 Kvernes
1554 Bremsnes
1557 GjemnesBatnfjordsøra1 Sep 18931553 Kvernes
1558 Øre
1560 TingvollTingvollvågen1 Jan 18381559 Straumsnes
1564 Stangvik
1563 SunndalSunndalsøra1 Jan 18381561 Øksendal
1562 Ålvundeid
1564 Stangvik
1566 SurnadalSkei1 Jan 18381564 Stangvik
1565 Åsskard
1573 SmølaHopen1 Jan 19601573 Edøy
1574 Brattvær
1575 Hopen
1576 AureAure1 Jan 18381568 Stemshaug
1570 Valsøyfjord
1572 Tustna
1577 VoldaVolda1 Jan 18381444 Hornindal
1518 Dalsfjord
1578 FjordStordal1 Jan 20201524 Norddal
1526 Stordal
1579 HustadvikaElnesvågen1 Jan 20201548 Fræna
1549 Bud
1550 Hustad
1551 Eide

Infrastructure

Møre og Romsdal is served by nine airports, of which only the four airports located near the four largest centres have regular domestic flights. The largest airport in the county is Ålesund Airport, Vigra, which offers the only scheduled international routes from any airport in Møre og Romsdal. Ålesund Airport had 732,614 passengers in 2006. Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget had 364,350 passengers in 2007, while Molde Airport, Årø had 401,292, down from 444,677 in 2006. Ørsta-Volda Airport, Hovden had 49,842 passengers in 2006. None of the airports in Møre og Romsdal offer regular flights to each other.
In 2007, Møre og Romsdal had of public roads, an increase of since the previous year, as well as of private roads, more than in 2006.
There is one railway, the Rauma Line, which starts at Åndalsnes and connects to the main railway network of Norway. Public buses are operated by the county, using the brand name Fram.

History

The county was established in 1671 - but after just four years it was divided into two amts : Romsdal and Sunnmøre. In 1680, Sunnmøre was merged into Bergenhus amt. Then in 1689, the three regions of Romsdal, Sunnmøre and Nordmøre were again merged into one amt/county: Romsdalen. Then in 1701 Romsdalen amt was split and divided between Trondhjems amt and Bergenhus amt. In 1704, the three regions of Romsdal, Sunnmøre and Nordmøre were again merged into one county. The borders of the county have not been changed much since 1704. The annex parish of Vinje within the larger Hemne parish was transferred from Romsdalens amt to Søndre Trondhjems amt in 1838. On 1 January 2019, the municipality of Rindal was transferred from Møre og Romsdal county to the neighboring Trøndelag county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality of Halsa will become part of the new municipality of Heim in Trøndelag county.
In 2019, archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, using large-scale high-resolution georadar technology, determined that a 17 meter long Viking ship was buried on the island of Edøya near Edøy Church. They estimate the ship's age as over 1,000 years: from the Merovingian or Viking period; the group planned to conduct additional searches in the area. A similar burial was found previously by a NIKU team in 2018, in Gjellestad.

Parishes