Agder is a historical district of Norway in the southernmost region of Norway, corresponding to the two counties (fylker) Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder. Today, the term Sørlandet ("south country") is more commonly used. Norway may be divided into a number of traditional districts. ... Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties (fylker, singular - fylke, Nynorsk: singular and plural fylke; until 1918 known as singular and plural- amt), and 433 municipalities (kommuner - Nynorsk: kommunar). ... County NO-10 Region Sørlandet Administrative centre Kristiansand County mayor Thore Westermoen Area  - Total  - Percentage Ranked 15 7,276 km² 2. ... County NO-09 Region Sørlandet Administrative centre Arendal County mayor Oddvar Skaiaa Area  - Total  - Percentage Ranked 14 9,157 km² 2. ... Sørlandet is the geographical region (landsdel) of the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway. ...

The name of Agder

The name Agder is older than the Norwegian language. Its meaning is not known. Just as Norwegian derives from Old Norse, Agder derives from the Old Norse word Agðir. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Agðir was a petty kingdom inhabited by a people named after it, the Egðir. Norwegian is a Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... The Viking Age is the name of the period between 793 and 1066 AD in Scandinavia and Britain, following the Germanic Iron Age (and the Vendel Age in Sweden). ... Harald I (b. ... Petty kingdoms were prominent before the formation of many of todays nation states. ...

Nothing in Old Norse, however, gives any hint as to the meaning of the word; i.e., it was not produced (from known segments) in Old Norse, which means that the name is older still. The Egðir are believed to be the same etymologically as the Augandzi people mentioned in the Getica of Jordanes, who wrote of Scandza (Scandinavia) in the 6th century. If Jordanes' Scandza is a palatalized form of *Scandia, then Augandzi is likely to be a palatalized form of *Augandii, residents of *Augandia. The Origin and Deeds of the Goths (Latin: De origine actibusque Getarum), commonly referred to as Getica, was written by Jordanes, probably in Constantinople, and was published in AD 551. ... Scandza was the name given to Scandinavia by Jordanes, in his work Getica. ...

A name of that period would have to be closer to Proto-Germanic; in fact, a word of that period does present itself and fits the geographical lore of the times: *agwjo, "island", which Jordanes and all his predecessors writing of Scandinavia believed it to be. A simple metathesis produces a possibly late form, *augjo-; however, this derivation is speculative. There is no other evidence on Auganza and its connection to Egder also is hypothetical. Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC-50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture Proto-Germanic, the proto-language believed by scholars to be the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, includes among its descendants Dutch, Yiddish...

History

Norway of the Viking Age was divided into petty kingdoms ruled by chiefs who contended for land, maritime supremacy or political ascendance and sought alliances or control through marriage with other royal families, either voluntary or forced. These circumstances produced the generally turbulent and heroic lives recorded in the Heimskringla. The Viking Age is the name of the period between 793 and 1066 AD in Scandinavia and Britain, following the Germanic Iron Age (and the Vendel Age in Sweden). ... Heimskringla is the Old Norse name of a collection of sagas recorded in Iceland around 1225 by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1179-1242). ...

For example, the Ynglinga saga tells us that Harald Redbeard, chief of Agðir, refused his daughter Åsa to Gudröd Halvdanson, on which event Gudröd invaded Agðir, killed Harald and his son Gyrd, and took Åsa whether she would or no. She bore a son, Halvdan (the Black), obviously named after his deceased grandfather, and later arranged to have Gudröd assassinated. Among the royal families these events seem to have been rather ordinary. Her word was the last in the argument, as her grandson, Harald Fairhair, unified Norway. The Ynglinga saga was originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. ...

Kings of Agder:

• Kissa
• Harald, father of Åsa, mother of Halfdan the Black
• Halfdan the Black, father of Harald Fairhair, from 838.
• Kjotve the Rich, late 800s
• Harald Gudrødsson Grenske, 976-987

Prior to the Viking Age is a gap in the history of the region for a few hundred years, but in Jordanes we also find regions of the same but earlier forms of names, presumably also petty kingdoms under now unknown chiefs. The previous most credible source, Ptolemy, gives the briefest of sketches, only citing all of Norway as the Chaedini ("country people"). Perhaps the difference between kingdoms were not sufficiently important to cite them individually. Halfdan the Black Gudrødsson (820AD – 860AD) (Old Norse: Hálfdan svarti, Norwegian: Halvdan Svarte) was the father of the first King of Norway Harald I and of the House of Yngling. ... Harald I (b. ... Events At Hingston Down, Egbert of Wessex beats the Danish and the West Welsh. ... Kjotve the Rich (Kjotve den Rike / Kjötvi hinn auðgi) was a king of Agder, a county in the southernmost tip Norway, in the late 800s. ... Centuries: 8th century - 9th century - 10th century Decades: 750s 760s 770s 780s 790s - 800s - 810s 820s 830s 840s 850s Years: 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 Significant Events and Trends Swedish town of Birka founded as a centre of trade on the island of Björk... Harald Grenske (10th century) was the son of Gudrød Bjørnsson. ... Events January 10 - Basil II becomes Eastern Roman Emperor, see Byzantine Emperors. ... Events Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, crowned King of France Kukulcan conquers Chichen Itza Births Deaths May 21 King Louis V of France Categories: 987 ... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; c. ... The Chaedini (Latinized form) or Chaideinoi or Khaideinoi (Greek forms) are a Germanic people that are listed only in the Geography of Ptolemy. ...

Prior to then the most credible and respected source, Tacitus in Germania Chapter 44 described the Suiones, who were divided into civitates (kingdoms?) along the coast of Scandinavia and were unusual in owning fleets of a special type of ship. These were pointed on both ends and were driven by banks of oars that could be rearranged or shipped for river passage (What rivers? Fjords, perhaps.). They did not depend on sail (so Tacitus says) but other than that they do not differ from Viking ships. These civitates went all the way around Scandinavia to the arctic, or at least to regions of very long days, where they stopped. Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... Map of the Roman Empire and the free Germania, Magna Germania, in the early 2nd century. ... Sweden in the 12th century before the incorporation of Finland during the 13th century. ...

It seems clear that in the Roman Iron Age Norway was populated by people of the same identity as Sweden, who were called the Suiones by Latin sources. In settling the coast at some point in prehistory they had been divided into civitates by the terrain. These states took on mainly geographical names or names of individuals or mythological characters. Agder was one of them. Roman Bronze figurine, Öland, Sweden The Roman Iron Age (1-400) is the name that Swedish archaeologist Oscar Montelius gave to a part of the Iron Age in Scandinavia, Northern Germany and the Netherlands. ...

After the unification of Norway by Harold Fairhair and army and allies in the 10th century, all the civitates became provinces (fylker) and after their conversion to Christianity dioceses or parishes. The development of Old Norse into local dialects and the dissimilation of customs due to isolation added an ethnic flavor to the fylker, which is cherished today. Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ...