Cannabis Sativa

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1951	136,519	—
1961	149,943	+9.8%
1971	156,778	+4.6%
1981	162,050	+3.4%
1991	162,869	+0.5%
2001	165,595	+1.7%
2011	169,185	+2.2%
2021?	180,966	+7.0%
2031?	191,552	+5.8%
Source: Statistics Norway.^[1]

Religion in Telemark^[2]^[3]
religion			percent
Christianity			86.60%
Islam			1.50%
Buddhism			0.24%
Other			11.66%

Telemark [ˈteːləˈmɑrk] ( listen) is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.

1 Location
2 Infrastructure
3 Population
4 The name
5 Coat-of-arms
6 History
7 Districts
8 Municipalities
9 References
10 External links

Location[edit]

The county is located in southeastern Norway, extending from Hardangervidda to the Skagerrak coast. The coastline extends from Langesundsfjorden to Gjernestangen at the border with Aust-Agder. Telemark has a very broken and heterogeneous landscape, including many hills and valleys.

Infrastructure[edit]

The international road E18 goes through the southern parts of Telemark, namely Grenland and the municipality of Kragerø. European route 134, another important motorway and the fastest route between Oslo and Bergen, goes through the municipalities of Vinje, Tokke, Kviteseid, Seljord, Hjartdal and Notodden. RV36, stretching from Porsgrunn to Seljord, links the E18 and E134 motorways.

Telemark is well served by railways. The Sørlandsbanen runs through the traditional districts of Vestmar and Midt-Telemark, serving the municipalities of Drangedal, Nome, Bø and Sauherad. Grenland is primarily served by Vestfoldbanen, but also has connections through Bratsbergbanen which runs between Skien and Notodden.

Geiteryggen Airport in Skien offers flights to Bergen and Stavanger.

From Langesund, Kystlink operates ferry services to Sweden and Denmark.

The main bus lines in the county are operated by Telemark Bilruter, serving western and middle parts of the county, and Nettbuss which serves the middle, eastern and southern parts of the county. Drangedal Bilruter serves the Vestmar region.

Population[edit]

The largest population centres are Skien, Porsgrunn, Notodden, Rjukan and Kragerø. Other important places are Bø, Seljord, Fyresdal and Vinje.

The name[edit]

The Norse form of the name was Þelamǫrk. The first element is the genitive plural case of þelir, the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is mǫrk "woodland, borderland, march". (See also Denmark, Hedmark and Finnmark.)

Until 1919 the county was called Bratsberg amt. The amt was named after the farm Bratsberg (Norse Brattsberg), since this was the seat of the amtmann ('governor'). The first element is the genitive case of brattr m "steep mountain", the last element is berg n "mountain". (The name is referring to a steep mountainside behind the farm.)

Telemark lent its name to Telemark skiing, a style invented by Sondre Norheim, and the characteristic Telemark landing of ski jumping.

Coat-of-arms[edit]

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1970). It shows an old type of battle axe, significant for the county.

History[edit]

The film The Heroes of Telemark is loosely based on the Norwegian heavy water sabotage, a raid on a heavy water plant at Rjukan during World War II. Ray Mears made a documentary titled The Real Heroes of Telemark as a response to the inaccuracies of the film, giving an account more focused on the outdoor skills that were required for the operation (spending months in the mountains and remote cabins).

Notable people born in Telemark

Myllarguten (1801–1872) legendary fiddler born in Sauherad
Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818–1870) author born in Vinje
Sondre Norheim (1825–1897) father of skiing born in Morgedal, Kviteseid
August Cappelen (1827–1852) national romantic painter born in Skien
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) author born in Skien
John Anders Johnson (1832–1901) American politician
Thorbjorn N. Mohn (1844–1899) American Lutheran church leader and first president of St. Olaf College
Brynild Anundsen (1844–1913) founder of Decorah Posten
Marcus Olaus Bøckmann (1849–1942) Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian
Herbjørn Gausta (1854–1924) American artist. Born in Vestfjørddalen
Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914) artist born in Kragerø
Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945) politician, collaborationist leader during World War II. Executed as a traitor, born in Fyresdal
Aslaug Vaa (1889–1965) author born in Rauland
Tarjei Vesaas (1897–1970) author born in Vinje
Anne Grimdalen (1899–1961) sculptor born in Skafså, Tokke
Eivind Groven (1901–1977) composer born in Lårdal, Tokke
Dyre Vaa (1903–1980) sculptor born in Vinje
Klaus Egge (1906–1979) composer born in Gransherad, Notodden
Gunnar Sønsteby, (1918–2012) war hero born in Rjukan, Tinn
Hans Herbjørnsrud (1938–) author born in Heddal, Notodden
Tor Åge Bringsværd (1939–) author born in Skien
Kåre Nordstoga (1954-) musician born in Notodden
Gisle Kverndokk (1967-) composer born in Skien
Jørn Lande (1968-) hard rock/heavy metal singer born in Rjukan
Odd Nordstoga (1972-) musician born in Vinje
Frode Johnsen (1974-) footballer born in Skien
Terje Haakonsen (1974-) snowboarder born in Vinje
Ihsahn (Vegard Sverre Tveitan) (1975-) black/extreme metal musician born in Notodden.

Districts[edit]

The county is conventionally divided into traditional districts. The most common district divisions today are Grenland, Vest-Telemark, Midt-Telemark, Øst-Telemark. An older, larger division is Upper Telemark (traditionally comprising more than two thirds of Telemark, or the districts Vest-Telemark and parts of Øst-Telemark) and Lower Telemark (traditionally comprising the coastal area of Grenland and Midt-Telemark). Today, Upper Telemark provostship (Øvre Telemark prosti) comprises 12 municipalities and more than 80% of Telemark, also including Midt-Telemark.

An additional district, Vestmar is disputed. Others like Bø, Nome and Sauherad might also be considered as the district of Midt-Telemark. The district borders of this County is highly undefined and disputed.

Upper Telemark provostship (in red) within Telemark, in the borders of 2015
Vest-Telemark
Åmotsdal

Name	Population	Municipality no.	Language form	Webpage
Fyresdal	1371	0831	Nynorsk	Fyresdal.kommune.no
Kviteseid	2530	0829	Nynorsk	Kviteseid.kommune.no
Nissedal	1395	0830	Nynorsk	Nissedal.kommune.no
Seljord	2937	0828	Nynorsk	Seljord.kommune.no
Tokke	2341	0833	Nynorsk	Tokke.kommune.no
Vinje	3675	0834	Nynorsk	Vinje.kommune.no

Aust Telemark

Grenland .

Municipality	Population	Area^km²	Density^{pop. per km²}
Skien	62,537	719	70
Porsgrunn	37,323	161	207
Bamble	14,163	282	50
Nome	6,606	430	17
Siljan	2,349	202	12
Total	122,978	1,794	60

Vestmar

Municipalities[edit]

Municipalities in Telemark

Rank	Name	Inhabitants^[4]	Area km²
7000100000000000000♠1	Skien	7004679990000000000♠67,999	7002722000000000000♠722
7000200000000000000♠2	Porsgrunn	7004326230000000000♠32,623	7002161000000000000♠161
7000300000000000000♠3	Bamble	7004141070000000000♠14,107	7002282000000000000♠282
7000400000000000000♠4	Notodden	7004123900000000000♠12,390	7002856000000000000♠856
7000500000000000000♠5	Kragerø	7004106200000000000♠10,620	7002289000000000000♠289
7000600000000000000♠6	Nome	7003652700000000000♠6,527	7002389000000000000♠389
7000700000000000000♠7	Tinn	7003602200000000000♠6,022	7003185800000000000♠1,858
7000800000000000000♠8	Bø	7003559500000000000♠5,595	7002260000000000000♠260
7000900000000000000♠9	Sauherad	7003466600000000000♠4,666	7002292000000000000♠292
7001100000000000000♠10	Drangedal	7003415900000000000♠4,159	7002998000000000000♠998
7001110000000000000♠11	Vinje	7003364100000000000♠3,641	7003274000000000000♠2,740
7001120000000000000♠12	Seljord	7003296600000000000♠2,966	7002672000000000000♠672
7001130000000000000♠13	Kviteseid	7003252200000000000♠2,522	7002626000000000000♠626
7001140000000000000♠14	Siljan	7003241200000000000♠2,412	7002203000000000000♠203
7001150000000000000♠15	Tokke	7003233700000000000♠2,337	7002907000000000000♠907
7001160000000000000♠16	Hjartdal	7003158700000000000♠1,587	7002741000000000000♠741
7001170000000000000♠17	Nissedal	7003140400000000000♠1,404	7002789000000000000♠789
7001180000000000000♠18	Fyresdal	7003138100000000000♠1,381	7003111000000000000♠1,110
Total	Telemark	7005168231000000000♠168,231	7004131730000000000♠13,173

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Media related to Telemark at Wikimedia Commons
Homepage of Telemark County
Homepage of Telemarkreiser AL, Destination Marketing Organization for Telemark
County map
Rjukan lag av Norske Redningshunder, K9 saves lives
The reality behind the movie

Municipalities of Telemark

Aust- Telemark	Bø Hjartdal Nome Notodden Sauherad Tinn

Vest- Telemark	Fyresdal Kviteseid Nissedal Seljord Tokke Vinje

Grenland	Bamble Drangedal Kragerø Porsgrunn Siljan Skien