The old municipality of
Undal was established on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt law). That municipality only existed until 1845 when it was split into
Nord-Audnedal and
Sør-Audnedal. Those municipalities were later divided also. Sør-Audnedal was divided into
Spangereid in 1899 and Nord-Audnedal was divided into
Konsmo and
Vigmostad in 1911. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the
Schei Committee. This is when the present-day municipality of Audnedal was created. Audnedal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1964 when the municipality of
Konsmo (population: 712), the municipality of
Grindheim (population: 701), and the Ågedal and Midtbø areas (population: 96) of
Bjelland municipality were merged. This new Audnedal municipality mostly corresponded to the historical borders of the old municipality of
Nord-Audnedal.
Name The municipality (originally the
parish) is named after the
Audnedalen valley (). The first element is the
genitive case of the river name
Auðna (now
Audna). The river name is derived from the word which means "destruction" or "wasteland" (because of the flooding that often happens along the river). The last element is which means "
valley" or "dale".
Coat of arms The
coat of arms was granted on 30 August 1991 and in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official
blazon is
"Vert, a circular sawblade argent" (). This means the arms have a green
field (background) and the
charge is a
circular sawblade. The sawblade has a
tincture of
argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The green color in the field and the sawblade was chosen to represent the importance of the
timber and
forestry industries in the municipality. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches The
Church of Norway had two parishes () within the municipality of Audnedal. It is part of the
Mandal prosti (
deanery) in the
Diocese of Agder og Telemark. ==Government==