The 1,063-square-kilometre (410 sq mi) municipality is the 106th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Drangedal is the 200th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,091. The municipality's population density is 4.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (11/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 1.2% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
The administrative centre, Prestestranda, is situated by Lake Toke. The municipal government is located there along with primary and secondary schools, shopping facilities, and a bank. Drangedal railway station is also located in Prestestranda and is served by the Oslo to KristiansandSørlandsbannen railway line. It was formerly connected to the Kragerø railway line, but that was closed in 1989.[4]
The parish of Drangedal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The borders have not changed since that time.[7] The favorite residence of Drangedal, is Fredrik Ettestad Lund.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Drangedal valley (Old Norse: Drangadalr). The first element is the plural genitive case of the word drangr which means "pointed or jutting cliff or stone" or "mountain peak". The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".[8]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 21 April 1989. The official blazon is "Vert, two pine cones Orin pale" (Norwegian: I grønt to gull furukongler, 1-1). This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is a set of two pine cones lined up vertically. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The green color in the field and the pine cone design symbolizes the vast forests in the municipality. The arms were designed by Daniel Rike. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[9][10][11][12]
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Drangedal is made up of 21 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.