Fylke (1st period) From the consolidation to a single kingdom,
Norway was divided into a number of geographic regions that each had its own legislative assembly or
Thing, such as
Gulating (
Western Norway) and
Frostating (
Trøndelag). The second-order subdivision of these regions was into
fylker, such as
Egdafylke and
Hordafylke. In 1914, the historical term
fylke was brought into use again to replace the term
amt introduced during the
union with
Denmark. Current day counties (fylker) often, but not necessarily, correspond to the historical areas.
Fylke in the 10th–13th centuries Counties (
folkland) under the
Borgarting, located in
Viken with the seat at
Sarpsborg: •
Rånrike •
Vingulmark •
Vestfold •
Grenland Counties (first three
fylke, last two
bilandskap) under the
Eidsivating, located in
Oplandene with the seat at
Eidsvoll: •
Sunnmærafylke •
Firdafylke (
Nordfjord,
Sunnfjord) •
Sygnafylke •
Valdres and Hallingdal •
Hordafylke •
Rygjafylke •
Setesdal •
Egdafylke Counties under the
Frostating, located in
Trøndelag with the seat at
Frosta: •
Eynafylke •
Sparbyggjafylke •
Verdælafylke •
Skeynafylke •
Orkdælafylke •
Gauldælafylke •
Stjordælafylke •
Strindafylke •
Naumdælafylke •
Nordmærafylke •
Romsdælafylke Counties not attached to a
thing: •
Jamtaland •
Herjedalen •
Håløygjafylke •
Helgeland •
Salten •
Lofoten and
Vesterålen •
Trondenes Finnmark (including northern
Troms), the
Faroe Islands, the
Orkney Islands,
Shetland (the
Shetland Islands), the
Hebrides, the
Isle of Man,
Iceland and
Greenland were Norwegian
skattland ("taxed countries"), and did not belong to any known counties or assembly areas.
Syssel Syssel in 1300 From the end of the 12th century, Norway was divided into several
syssel. The head of the
syssel was the
syslemann, who represented the king locally. The following shows a reconstruction of the different
syssel in Norway c. 1300, including sub-
syssel where these seem established. •
Elvesysle •
Rånrike •
Borgarsysle (two parts) •
Romerike (two parts, "northern" and "southern") •
Hedmark (two parts, "northern" and "southern") •
Østerdalen •
"north of Åmot" •
"south of Åmot" •
Gudbrandsdalen •
"north of Ruste" •
"south of Ruste" •
Hadeland (later
Ringerike, two parts, "northern" and "outer") •
Valdres and
Hallingdal (two parts) •
Numedal and
Telemark? •
Tverrdalane and
Modum? •
Oslosysle (northern
lut and western
lut) •
Tønsbergsysle •
Skiensysle •
Eastern part (later
Nedenes) •
Robyggjelag •
Agder Midtsysla •
Lista •
Rygjafylke •
"north of the fjord" •
"south of the fjord" •
Hordaland (
Nordhordland? and
Sunnhordland?) •
Hardanger •
Voss •
Sogn (two parts?) •
Sunnfjord •
Nordfjord •
Sunnmøre •
Romsdal •
Nordmøre? •
Nordmørafylke •
Orkdalen •
Gauldalen •
Strinda •
Herjedalen •
Jemtland •
Stjørdal •
Skogn •
Verdalen •
Sparbu •
Eynafylke •
Northern part? (later
Fosen) •
Namdalen •
"upper half" (
Overhalla) •
"lower half (later
Njardøy) •
Hålogaland (two parts) •
Troms? •
Finnmark?
Len From 1308, the term
len (plural
len) in
Norway signified an administrative region roughly equivalent to today's counties. The historic
len was an important administrative entity during the period of
Dano-Norwegian unification after their
amalgamation as one state, which lasted for the period 1536–1814. At the beginning of the 16th century the political divisions were variable, but consistently included four main
len and approximately 30 smaller sub-regions with varying connections to a main
len. Up to 1660 the four principal
len were headquartered at the major fortresses
Bohus Fortress,
Akershus Fortress,
Bergenhus Fortress and the fortified city of
Trondheim. The sub-regions corresponded to the church districts for the
Lutheran church in Norway.
Len in 1536 •
Båhus len (later termed
Bohuslän after Denmark-Norway ceded it to
Sweden by the
Treaty of Roskilde in 1658) •
Akershus len •
Trondheim len •
Bergenhus len (which included
Northern Norway) These four principal
len were in the 1530s divided into approximately 30 smaller regions. From that point forward through the beginning of the 17th century the number of subsidiary
len was reduced, while the composition of the principal
len became more stable.
Len in 1660 From 1660 Norway had nine principal
len comprising 17 subsidiary
len: • • • • • •
Bergenhus len • • •
Len written as
län continues to be used as the administrative equivalent of county in Sweden to this day. Each
len was governed by a
lenman.
Amt With the royal decree of 19 February 1662, each
len was designated an
amt (plural
amt) and the
lenmann was titled
amtmann, from German
Amt (office), reflecting the bias of the Danish court of that period.
Amt in 1671 After 1671 Norway was divided into four principal
amt or
stiftsamt and there were nine subordinate
amt: •
Akershus amt •
Smålenene amt •
Brunla amt •
Agdesiden amt •
Bratsberg amt •
Stavanger amt •
Bergenhus amt •
Halsnøy klostergods •
Hardanger amt •
Nordlandene amt •
Trondheim amt •
Romsdalen amt •
Vardøhus amt Amt in 1730 From 1730 Norway had the following
amt: •
Vardøhus amt •
Tromsø amt •
Nordlands amt •
Nordre Trondhjems amt •
Søndre Trondhjems amt •
Romsdalen amt •
Nordre Bergenhus amt •
Søndre Bergenhus amt •
Stavanger amt •
Lister og Mandals amt •
Nedenes amt •
Bratsberg amt •
Buskerud amt •
Oplandenes amt •
Hedemarkens amt •
Akershus amt •
Smaalenenes amt At this time there were also two counties () controlled by actual
counts, together forming what is now
Vestfold county: •
Laurvigen county •
Jarlsberg county Amt in 1760 In 1760 Norway had the following
stiftamt and
amt: •
Akershus stiftamt •
Opplands amt •
Akershus amt •
Smålenenes amt •
Laurvigen county •
Jarlsberg county •
Bratsberg amt (eastern half) •
Agdesiden stiftamt • Bratsberg amt (western half) •
Nedenes amt •
Lister and Mandal amt •
Stavanger amt •
Bergenhus stiftamt •
Romsdal amt (southern half) •
Trondheim stiftamt • Romsdal amt (northern half) •
Nordlands amt •
Vardøhus amt Fylke (2nd period) From 1919 each
amt was renamed a
fylke (plural
fylke(r)) (county) and the
amtmann was now titled
fylkesmann (county governor). The county numbers are from the official numbering system
ISO 3166-2:NO, which originally was set up to follow the coastline from the Swedish border in the southeast to the Russian border in the northeast, but the numbering has changed with county mergers. The number 13, 16 and 17 were dropped, and the number 50 was added to account for changes over the years. The lack of a county number 13 is due to the city of
Bergen no longer being its own county, and is unrelated to
fear of the number 13. In 2018,
Sør-Trøndelag was merged with
Nord-Trøndelag into the new county of
Trøndelag, and several followed.
Fylke (3rd period) In 2017, the Norwegian government announced the merge of the existing 19 fylker into 11 new fylker by 2020. As a result, several government responsibilities were transferred to the new regions. ; New counties •
Troms og Finnmark, by merging Finnmark and Troms counties in 2020. Disestablished in 2023, split into Finnmark and Troms counties. •
Nordland, no change, same as Nordland county. •
Trøndelag, by merging Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag counties in 2018. •
Møre og Romsdal, no change, same as Møre og Romsdal county. •
Vestland, by merging Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties in 2020. •
Rogaland, no change, same as Rogaland county. •
Agder, by merging Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder counties in 2020. •
Vestfold og Telemark, by merging Telemark and Vestfold counties in 2020. Disestablished in 2023, split into Telemark and Vestfold counties. •
Innlandet, by merging Hedmark and Oppland counties in 2020. •
Viken, by merging Akershus, Buskerud, and Østfold counties in 2020. Disestablished in 2023, split into Akershus, Buskerud, and Østfold counties. •
Oslo, no change, same as Oslo county. == See also ==