Øyer is a
municipality|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
in
Opplandis a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The county administration is in Lillehammer. Oppland is, together with Hedmark, one of the only two landlocked counties of Norway.- Geography :...
county||-|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. It is part of the
traditional regionNorway is divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords, plains, or coastlines,...
of
GudbrandsdalGudbrandsdalen is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian fylke of Oppland. The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer at Lake Mjøsa, extending 230 km toward Romsdal...
. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tingberg.
The parish of
Øier was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistriktFormannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...
). It is one of very few municipalities in Norway with unchanged borders since that date.
The
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
form of the name was
Øyja (
accusative caseThe accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
and
dative caseThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave Mary a book"....
) which comes from the word
Øyi (
nominative caseThe nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
).
Øyer is a
municipality|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
in
Opplandis a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The county administration is in Lillehammer. Oppland is, together with Hedmark, one of the only two landlocked counties of Norway.- Geography :...
county||-|Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 431 municipalities...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. It is part of the
traditional regionNorway is divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords, plains, or coastlines,...
of
GudbrandsdalGudbrandsdalen is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian fylke of Oppland. The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer at Lake Mjøsa, extending 230 km toward Romsdal...
. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tingberg.
The parish of
Øier was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistriktFormannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...
). It is one of very few municipalities in Norway with unchanged borders since that date.
Name
The
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
form of the name was
Øyja (
accusative caseThe accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
and
dative caseThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave Mary a book"....
) which comes from the word
Øyi (
nominative caseThe nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
). Two lakes in Norway had the name
Øyi(r) in Norse times (now called
ØymarkØymark is a former municipality in Østfold county, Norway. It was originally a part of Aremark formannskapsdistrikt , but on 1 July 1903 Øymark was separated from Aremark to form a separate municipality. At that point Øymark had a population of 1,832....
and
ØyerenØyeren is a lake in the Glomma river watershed, southeast of Lillestrøm. It is located within the municipalities of Enebakk, Skedsmo, Fet and Rælingen in Akershus county and Spydeberg and Trøgstad municipalities in Østfold county....
), and these names are derived from the word
øy which means "flat and fertile land along the edge of the water". This name is probably given to this area because the Lågen river widens out in the central part of the municipality and creates two river-lakes (called the
Jemnefjorden and
Gildbusfjorden).
Øyi was probably the old name of one (or both) of these "
fjordGeologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a v-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age...
s". Prior to 1918, the name was spelled
"Øier".
Coat-of-arms
The
coat-of-armsA coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways. Historically, they were used by knights to identify them apart from enemy...
is from modern times. They were granted on 29 April 1983. The arms show a silver-colored wooden ring, or
hærder, on a green background. It was made of wood and was used to fasten a tree trunk to a rope in order to haul it over the land. Similar devices were used all over Norway, but this shape is typical for the area.
History
The
Black DeathThe Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but this view has recently been challenged...
reached Norway in the winter of 1349/50. Øyer was one of the parishes most severely impacted; estimates based on tax payments suggest that between 2/3 and 3/4 of all residents died. Many of the farms there became deserted (
øygarder), which remained vacant until the late 1600s. The parish of
TrettenTretten is a small village in the northern part of the Øyer municipality, Norway. Its population is 849....
was merged into Øyer after the Black Death, because the decimated population of Tretten no longer could maintain their own priest.
Geography
In Oppland, Øyer is bordered by
Ringebuis a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vålebru.The municipality of Ringebu was established on 1 January 1838...
municipality to the north,
Ringsakeris a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Brumunddal.The municipality of Ringsaker was established on 1 January 1838...
to the southeast, and
Lillehammeris a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal...
to the south. To the east lies
Stor-ElvdalStor-Elvdal is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Koppang....
municipality (located in
Hedmark° is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Akershus. The county administration is in Hamar.Hedmark makes up the northeastern part of Østlandet, the southeastern part of the country. It includes a long part of the borderline with Sweden, Dalarna County and Värmland County. The...
county). The municipality is divided in two parishes: Øyer in the south and Tretten in the north.
Economy
Øyer has traditionally been a
farmingAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
and
loggingLogging is the process in which certain trees are cut down for forest management and timber.In forestry the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard. In common usage...
municipality.
Recreation is increasingly important economically. Since it opened in 1989, Øyer's
HafjellHafjell is a village and a ski resort in Norway, in the Øyer municipality in the county of Oppland.Hafjell hosted the alpine skiing techincal events at the 1994 Winter Olympics; the speed events were held at Kvitfjell. Hafjell occasionally hosts World Cup races, usually in March.-External links:*...
Alpine Ski Center has grown to include over 14 lifts and 28 runs as wells as extensive
cross-country skiingCross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles. It is popular in many countries with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe, Canada, Alaska and the upper midwest United States...
runs. It is 15 kilometers from Lillehammer, making it very accessible.
TobogganA toboggan is a simple sled that is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites...
ing,
lugeA luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine and feet-first. Steering is done by flexing the sled's runners with the calf of each leg or exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Luge is also the name of the sport which involves racing with such sleds...
, and
bobsledBobsleigh, bobsled or bobsledge is a winter sport invented by Englishmen in the late 1860s in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled...
racing (on the 1994 Olympic course) are also found in the area.
Sister cities
The following cities are
twinnedSister cities, also known as town twinning, is an agreement between towns, cities and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties...
with Øyer: -
FärgelandaFärgelanda Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Färgelanda....
,
Västra Götaland CountyVästra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
-
MuhosMuhos is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Oulu half an hour drive on route 22 from the city of Oulu, the capital of Northern Finland and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...
,
Oulu ProvinceThe Province of Oulu is a province of Finland. It borders the provinces of Lapland, Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia and Russia.- Historical Province :For History, Geography and Culture see: Ostrobothnia...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
External links
- Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway releases more than 800 Norwegian statistical publications every year on its web site...
- Church Records for those with ancestors from Øyer. Baptisms and deaths between 1671 and 1857.