Vestland county is a newly created county, but it has been inhabited for millennia. The area was made up of many
petty kingdoms under the
Gulating during the
Middle Ages. The northern part was then known as
Firdafylke (now the
Fjordane region;
Nordfjord-
Sunnfjord), the central area was known as
Sygnafylke (now the
Sogn region), and the southern part was known as
Hordafylke. In the early 16th century, Norway was divided into four
len. The
Bergenhus len was headquartered in
Bergen and encompassed much of western and northern Norway including
Firdafylke,
Sygnafylke,
Hordafylke, and
Sunnmørafylke (in the present day
Møre og Romsdal county). The new
Bergenhus len was administered from the
Bergenhus Fortress in the city of
Bergen. In 1662, the
lens were replaced by
amts. On 19 February 1662, a royal decree changed the name to
Bergenhus amt. The new
Bergenhus amt originally consisted of the present-day areas of Vestland and the
Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal, plus the far northern
Nordlandene amt was subordinate to Bergenhus amt. The
Sunnmøre region was transferred to
Romsdalen amt in 1689 and the Nordlandene amt was separated around that time as well. In 1763, the
amt was divided into northern and southern parts:
Nordre Bergenhus amt and
Søndre Bergenhus amt. When the amt was split, the present day
Gulen Municipality was split with the southern part ending up in Søndre Bergenhus amt. In 1773, the border was re-drawn so that all of Gulen was located in the northern part. On 1 January 1919,
Nordre Bergenhus amt was renamed
Sogn og Fjordane fylke and
Søndre Bergenhus amt was renamed
Hordaland fylke during a period of time when many location names in Norway were changed. The city of
Bergen was removed from the
Bergenhus amt in 1831 and it was classified as a city-county
(byamt) from 1831 to 1972. During that time in 1915,
Årstad Municipality was annexed into Bergen. In 1972, the neighbouring
Arna Municipality,
Fana Municipality,
Laksevåg Municipality and
Åsane Municipality were annexed into the city of Bergen to create a large
Bergen Municipality. Also at that same time, the city of Bergen lost its county status, and became a part of
Hordaland county once again. On 1 January 2020, Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged back together once again, forming Vestland county. ==Geography==