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Buskerud fylke
—  County  —
Coat of arms of Buskerud fylke
Coat of arms
Buskerud within Norway
Country Norway
County Buskerud
Region Østlandet
County ID NO-06
Official language form Neutral
Demonym Buskerudfolk [1]
Administrative centre Drammen
Government
 • Governor Kirsti Kolle Grøndahl
  Arbeiderpartiet
  (since 1999)
 • County Mayor Roger Ryberg
  Arbeiderpartiet
  (since 2007)
Area(#12 in Norway, 4.53% of Norway's land area)
 • Total 14,910 km2 (5,760 sq mi)
 • Land 13,797 km2 (5,327 sq mi)
Population (2008)
 • Total 253,006
 • Density 18/km2 (50/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 6.7 %
 • Rank in Norway 8 (5.29% of nation)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Income (per capita) 155,400 NOK
GDP (per capita) 227,626 NOK (2001)
National Rank: 7 (3.57% of nation)
Website www.bfk.no
Data from Statistics Norway


About this sound Buskerud  is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.


Vinter

Winter in Buskerud. (Blefjell, Norway)


Geography[]

Buskerud extends from Hurum at the Oslofjord to the Halling mountains and Hardanger. The county is conventionally divided into traditional districts. These are Eiker, Ringerike, Numedal and Hallingdal. Hønefoss is the district capital of Ringerike. Its western part is a mountainous plateau with forested valleys and high, grassy pastures; its eastern part contains a lowland basin with many lakes and streams. Tyrifjorden and Krøderen are the biggest lakes. Numedalslågen, the third longest river in Norway, starting in Hordaland, runs through Buskerud unto Vestfold where it reaches the sea, while river Begna sweeps into lake Sperillen.

History[]

Buskerud was separated from Akershus as an amt of its own in 1685, but the area of this one it was smaller than today. (It then consisted of the present municipalities of Flå, Gol, Hemsedal, Hol, Hole, Krødsherad, Modum, Nedre Eiker, Nes, Ringerike, Sigdal, Øvre Eiker and Ål.) The area of the present municipalities of Flesberg, Hurum, Kongsberg, Lier, Nore og Uvdal, Rollag and Røyken were transferred from Akershus amt to Buskerud amt in 1760. The name Buskeruds amt was changed to Buskerud fylke in 1919. The municipality of Skoger was transferred from Vestfold to Buskerud in 1964.

The area Ringerike may once have been a small kingdom. During the 10th century, Norway's kings Olav Trygvason and Olav Haraldsson grew up at Bønsnes in Ringerike. In the Numedal valley, silver has been mined in Kongsberg from the 17th century but was discontinued in 1957. Weapons industry had been developed in Kongsberg from 1814, and various high tech industry companies now represent the town's major employers. At Modum there once was a Cobalt pigment production works (Blaafarveværket, "The Blue-Color Works").

Economy[]

Today, agriculture, lumbering, wood-pulp mills, and industry are the county's main economic activities; ample hydroelectric power is produced by Begna and Rands rivers.

The name[]

The county is named after the old farm Buskerud (Norse Biskupsruð) in Modum, since this was the seat of the bailiffs in old time (until 1668). The first element is the genitive case of biskup m 'bishop', the last element is ruð n 'clearing, farm'. (The farm originally belonged to the bishop of Oslo.)

Coat of arms[]

Buskerud's coat of arms (created in April, 1966) features a blue bear whose coloring is symbolic of the Blue-Color Works. The silver background of Buskerud's coat of arms represents the silver industry in Kongsberg.

Municipalities[]

Location of Buskerud Municipalities

Buskerud County has a total of 21 municipalities:

  1. Ål
  2. Drammen
  3. Flesberg
  4. Flå
  5. Gol
  6. Hemsedal
  7. Hol
  8. Hole
  9. Hurum
  10. Kongsberg
  11. Krødsherad
  1. Lier
  2. Modum
  3. Nedre Eiker
  4. Nes
  5. Nore og Uvdal
  6. Øvre Eiker
  7. Ringerike
  8. Rollag
  9. Røyken
  10. Sigdal

External links[]


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Buskerud. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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