Randesund (municipality)


Randesund is a former municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1893 until its dissolution in 1965. The administrative centre was the village of Randesund where Randesund Church is located. The municipality was located in the southeastern part of the present-day municipality of Kristiansand, east of the Topdalsfjorden and south of the old municipality of Tveit. Since 1965, the area of Randesund has been the district of Randesund within the city of Kristiansand.

History

The municipality was established on 31 December 1893 when it was split off from the large municipality of Oddernes to form a separate municipality of its own. Initially, Randesund had a population of 1,133. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Randesund was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Tveit and Oddernes and with the town of Kristiansand to form a new, much larger municipality of Kristiansand.

Name

The municipality is named after the island, Randøen. The first part of the name is rand which means "boundary" or "edge" and the last part of the name is sund which means "strait". The name was previously spelled Randøsund.