Romsdal is the name of a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal. It is located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre districts. Fljótsdalur in East-Iceland A valley is a landform, which can range from a few square miles (square kilometers) to hundreds or even thousands of square miles (square kilometers) in area. ... Norway may be divided into a number of traditional districts. ... Møre og Romsdal is a county in the northernmost part of the Vestlandet region of Norway, and borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. ... Nordmøre (lit. ... Sunnmøre (lit. ...

Romsdal's central city is Molde, which hosts the central administration of the overall county. The district of Romsdal comprises Aukra, Eide, Fræna, Gjemnes, Midsund, Molde, Nesset, Rauma, Sandøy, and Vestnes. County Møre og Romsdal District Romsdal Municipality NO-1502 Administrative centre Molde Mayor (2005) Jan Petter Hammerø (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 254 363 km² 355 km² 0. ... Aukra is a municipality in the county of Norway. ... County Møre og Romsdal Landscape Nordmøre Municipality NO-1551 Administrative centre Eide Mayor (2003) Arnfinn Storvik (H) Official language form BokmÃ¥l Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 356 152 km² 146 km² 0. ... :) ... Gjemnes is a municipality in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. ... Midsund is a municipality in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. ... County Møre og Romsdal District Romsdal Municipality NO-1502 Administrative centre Molde Mayor (2005) Jan Petter Hammerø (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 254 363 km² 355 km² 0. ... County Møre og Romsdal Landscape Romsdal Municipality NO-1543 Administrative centre EidsvÃ¥g Mayor (2005) Kasper Mittet (Sp) Official language form Nynorsk Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 98 1,046 km² 986 km² 0. ... Rauma is a municipality in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. ... County Møre og Romsdal Landscape Romsdal Municipality NO-1546 Administrative centre Steinshamn Mayor (2005) Nils Magne Abelseth Official language form Nynorsk Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 427 20 km² 20 km² 0. ... Vestnes is a municipality in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. ...

Åndalsnes is a Norwegian town at the mouth of the river Rauma in the municipality of Rauma. The railroad Raumabanen comes from Dombås and terminates at Åndalsnes. Rauma is a river in Oppland and Møre og Romsdal counties in Norway. ... Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties (fylker, singular - fylke), and 433 municipalities (kommuner). ... Rauma is a municipality in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Norway. ... Raumabanen is the 114. ... The village of DombÃ¥s lies in the Dovre municipality and serves as an administrative center in the upper Gudbrandsdalen, Norway. ...

Geography

The Romsdal Valley, through which the Rauma river passes to the Romsdalfjord, has been described as a worthy rival for Yosemite. The 1550 meter tall Romsdalhorn has been compared to the Matterhorn, while the Trolltindane peaks, according to legend a bridal procession of trolls turned to stone by the morning light, stands opposite across the Rauma. The North Face of Trollryggen peak (1740 m), Trollveggen (Troll Wall), is the tallest vertical cliff in Europe. Norway's most famous switch-backed road (in a country with many switch-backs) is the Trollstigen, or troll's path, which leads to the south out of Åndalsnes to the beautiful Geirangerfjord. Rauma is: A town in Finland, see Rauma, Finland. ... Yosemite National Park (pron. ... The Matterhorn (Fr. ... The Troll Wall (Norwegian: Trollveggen) is part of the mountain massif Trolltindene in the Romsdal valley on the Norwegian west coast. ... The Troll Wall (Norwegian: Trollveggen) is part of the mountain massif Trolltindene in the Romsdal valley on the Norwegian west coast. ... Cliffs on the banks of the River Severn, near Bristol, England In geography, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. ... Trollstigen, August 2004 Trollstigen is a road in Rauma, Norway. ... Ã…ndalsnes is a Norwegian town in the municipality of Rauma, of which it is also the administrative center. ... The Geirangerfjord (Geirangerfjorden) is a fjord in the region Sunnmøre which is located southernmost in the county Møre og Romsdal in Norway. ...

The Rauma river begins in lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in the adjacent mountain municipality of Lesja, which has outlets at both ends. A dam that was constructed by the Lesja Iron Works in the 1660s to improve transportation obstructued the Rauma and caused the water to flow both west to the Rauma and eastward into the river Lågen. Lesjaskogsvatnet (literally the Lesja woods lake) is a large lake which serves as the headwaters for Gudbrandsdalslågen (literally the Gudbrands valley water course). ... County Oppland Landscape Gudbrandsdalen Municipality NO-0512 Administrative centre Lesja Mayor (2003) Per Dag Hole (Sp) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 22 2,259 km² 2,168 km² 0. ... Lesjaverk (Lesja Iron Works) operated from 1659 to 1812 in the municipality of Lesja, and was an important Dano-Norwegian iron works. ... Events and Trends Samuel Pepys begins his famous diary in 1660 and ends it, due to failing eyesight in 1669. ... The GudbrandsdalslÃ¥gen river flows through Norways Gudbrandsdal valley, starting in Lesja municipality. ...

History

In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Romsdal was a petty kingdom, prehaps being named after an early king, Raum the Old. The Laxdæla Saga shows that Raumsdal was the home of Ketill Flatnose. Under extreme pressure from Harald Fairhair (either become a vassal to Harald, or leave), he and his family left Norway and fled West-over-the-sea, to Scotland, then Ireland, where he married off his daughter, Aud, the Deep-Minded, to Olaf, the White, king of Dublin. Aud went eventually to Iceland where she began that country's shift to Christianity. The crosses she had erected to mark her places of prayer are still to be seen in their original locations. 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. ... Raum the Old (Old Norse Raumr inn gamli) is a legendary king in Norway in the Hversu Noregr byggdist and in Thorsteins saga Víkingssonar. ...

The 12th Century

In 1122, while a guest at Hustad in Romsdal, king Eystein I was taken ill and died. His body was taken in impressive funeral procession to burial at Nidaros. Øystein I (1088?-1123) was king of Norway 1103-1123. ... Nidaros was the old name of Trondheim, Norway, in the middle ages. ...

At Veøy, an island in the middle of the Romsdalfjord which had been in time immemorial a religious place, a church dedicated to St. Peter was constructed directly over an ancient site of heathen sacrifice at the close of the 12th century.

The 17th Century

In 1600 two new trading centers were opened in Romsdal: Romsdal market and Devold near Åndalsnes, and Molde ladestad. The former was an important outlet for the ironworks at Lesja, providing an outlet for their products as well as a source of supplies. Molde inherited the ancient role formerly held by Veøy as the principal market town for the region. County Oppland Landscape Gudbrandsdalen Municipality NO-0512 Administrative centre Lesja Mayor (2003) Per Dag Hole (Sp) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 22 2,259 km² 2,168 km² 0. ...

A Scottish mercenary force landed here at Isfjorden on their way to Sweden. The incursion was stopped at the Battle of Kringen. Royal motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within the UK Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Combatants Scotland, under Swedish allegiance Norway Commanders Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Ramsay Lars Hage Strength 300 soldiers 500 soldiers Casualties at least 370 about 15 The Battle of Kringen was an ambush perpetrated by a Norwegian peasant militia against Scottish soldiers who were on their way to enlist in the Swedish...

In the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde the Trondheim region of Norway was ceded to Sweden, down to the north bank of the Romsdalfjord. The Romsdal farmers defied the Swedish taxes and military conscription, and the Swedish governor was forced to send a full company of soldiers, and 50 cavalry besides, to collect taxes. Following the attack on Copenhagen and the city's successful defence, and the reconquest by Norwegian forces of Trondheim, the Treaty of Copenhagen in 1660 restored that province to Norway. The few months of experience with Swedish taxation and conscription left such a bitter taste that it strengthened Norwegian unity and patriotism, making resistance to Swedish invasions of Norway stronger over the next 80 years. Events January 13 - Edward Sexby, who had plotted against Oliver Cromwell, dies in Tower of London February 6 - Swedish troops of Charles X Gustav of Sweden cross The Great Belt (Storebælt) in Denmark over frozen sea May 1 - Publication of Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus by... The Treaty of Roskilde was signed on February 26, 1658 in the Danish city Roskilde, whereby the king of Denmark-Norway sacrificed nearly half his territory to save the rest. ... County Sør-Trøndelag District Municipality NO-1601 Administrative centre Trondheim Mayor (2005) Rita Ottervik (A) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 258 342 km² 322 km² 0. ... Copenhagen (Danish: København) is the capital of Denmark, and the name of the municipality (Danish, kommune) in which it resides. ... County Sør-Trøndelag District Municipality NO-1601 Administrative centre Trondheim Mayor (2005) Rita Ottervik (A) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 258 342 km² 322 km² 0. ... The Treaty of Copenhagen was signed in 1660 and marked the conclusion of the Second Northern War between Sweden and the alliance of Denmark and Poland-Lithuania. ... Events Expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique by French occupying forces. ...

The 20th Century

After the German World War II invasion of Norway in April, 1940, British troops landed in Åndalsnes as a part of a pincer movement to take mid-Norwegian city Trondheim. Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War II, also known as the Second World War (sometimes WW2 or WWII or World War Two), was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the... Operation Weserübung was the German codename for Nazi Germanys assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. ... County Sør-Trøndelag District Municipality NO-1601 Administrative centre Trondheim Mayor (2005) Rita Ottervik (A) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 258 342 km² 322 km² 0. ...

References

• Adventure Roads in Norway by Erling Welle-Strand, Nortrabooks, 1996. ISBN 8290103719
• West Norway and its Fjords by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1954.
• The Heart of Norway by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1953.