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Gausdal

Gausdal kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms of Gausdal kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Gausdal kommune
Oppland within
Norway
Gausdal within Oppland
Gausdal within Oppland
Coordinates: 61°16′36″N 9°55′21″E / 61.27667°N 9.92250°E / 61.27667; 9.92250Coordinates: 61°16′36″N 9°55′21″E / 61.27667°N 9.92250°E / 61.27667; 9.92250
Country Norway
County Oppland
District Gudbrandsdal
Administrative centre Segalstad bru
Government
 • Mayor (2011) Hans Oddvar Høistad (Arbeiderpartiet)
Area
 • Total 1,192 km2 (460 sq mi)
 • Land 1,149 km2 (444 sq mi)
Area rank 84 in Norway
Population (2004)
 • Total 6,186
 • Rank 163 in Norway
 • Density 5/km2 (10/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) -2.1 %
Demonym(s) Gausdøl
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-0522
Official language form Neutral
Website www.gausdal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Gausdal is 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 Segalstad bru. Follebu is a township and sub-parish in eastern Gausdal.

Logging, farming, and tourism are important occupations in the municipality.

The Old Norse form of the name was Gausdalr. The first element is the river name Gausa and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The river name is derived from the verb gjósa which means "stream forcefully".

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 19 September 1986. The arms show the typical shape of one of the main mountains in the municipality, Skeikampen.

The Follebu stone church was built in the early Middle Ages (around 1250). It is unusual in that the chancel and nave were built as one continuous piece.

In the 1880s, there was mining for nickel in Espedalen. The search for nickel was taken up again in 2004 by Blackstone Venture, a Canadian company. As of 2006, they are still drilling for mineral samples only.

The municipality of Gausdal was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Gausdal was divided into the separate municipalities of Vestre Gausdal and Østre Gausdal in 1879, but they were reunited into one municipality in 1962.


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