Eastern Norway in the context of "Gudbrandsdal"

Akershus Fortress (Norwegian: Akershus Festning, pronounced [ɑkəʂˈhʉːs ˈfɛ̂sːtnɪŋ]) or Akershus Castle (Norwegian: Akershus slott [ɑkəʂˈhʉːs ˈslɔtː]) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. It is located on the banks of the Oslofjord. Since the Middle Ages the fortress has been the namesake and centre of the main fief and later main county of Akershus, which was originally one of Norway's four main regions and which included most of Eastern Norway. The fortress itself was located within the Akershus main county until 1919, and also within the smaller Akershus sub-county until 1842.

The castle has also been used as a military base, a prison and is currently the temporary office of the prime minister of Norway.

59°54′19.68″N 10°45′35.05″E / 59.9054667°N 10.7597361°E / 59.9054667; 10.7597361Aker was a former independent municipality in Akershus, Norway, that constitutes the vast majority of the territory of the modern city of Oslo.

The name originally belonged to a farm which was located near the current Old Aker Church. The church in turn became the source of the name of the parish and later municipality as well as Akershus Fortress, the main fief and main county of Akershus which included most of Eastern Norway until 1919, the smaller county of Akershus, and numerous institutions within this area.

Hedmarken (Urban East Norwegian: [ˈhêːdmɑrkn̩], locally [ˈhɛ̂mɑrkɑ]; known as Hedemarken [ˈhêːdəmɑrkn̩] until 2003) is a traditional district in Innlandet county in Eastern Norway.

Hedmarken consists of the municipalities Stange, Hamar, Løten, and Ringsaker. In the past, it also contained the former municipalities of Romedal, Vang, Furnes, and Nes, but those municipalities were merged into Hamar, Stange, and Ringsaker during the 20th century. Traditionally, it also included Gjøvik Municipality on the other side of the lake, but this is no longer the case. The old county of Hedmark was named after the district of Hedmarken, but the county included several other districts as well, namely Østerdalen and Glåmdalen (Solør, Odalen and Vinger).

Vestfold og Telemark (Urban East Norwegian: [ˈvɛ̂stfɔɫ ɔ ˈtêːləmɑrk]; lit. 'Vestfold and Telemark') was a county in Norway, which existed from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023. The county was the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consisted of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold. The capital was located in the town of Skien, which was also the county's largest city. While Skien was the seat of the county municipality, the seat of the County Governor was Tønsberg. It bordered the counties of Viken, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder until its dissolution.

Telemark voted against the merger, on the basis that the regions have nothing in common and do not constitute a natural geographical, cultural, social or political entity. Regardless, the Storting voted on 7 January 2018 to merge the counties by force, and the merger took effect on 1 January 2020. Unlike Telemark or Vestfold, it does not form a traditional or cultural region, but is instead administrative.

South Norway (Bokmål: Sør-Norge, Nynorsk: Sør-Noreg, Northern Sami: Lulli-Norga) is the southern and by far most populous half of Norway, consisting of the regions of Western Norway, Eastern Norway, Southern Norway (Agder) and Trøndelag (Central Norway). In English, South Norway was historically also known as Norway Proper, a term that often has a broader meaning in contemporary usage.

South Norway has no administrative functions, and does not constitute a cultural or linguistic region, as opposed to Northern Norway, the northern half of the country. To people from the latter region, citizens hailing from the southern half are known by the exonym søringer ('southerners'). The inhabitants themselves, however, have no common "southern" identity, as they rather identify with the regions they are from and call themselves vestlendinger (from Western Norway), østlendinger (from Eastern Norway), sørlendinger (from Southern Norway) and trøndere (from Trøndelag). Practical use of the region mostly applies to purposes such as weather forecasting.

Viken was a short-lived county in Norway that existed from 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2024. Its name was derived from the historical region in present-day Norway and Sweden. The county was located in Eastern Norway when it was established on 1 January 2020 by the merger of Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold with the addition of the municipalities of Jevnaker, Lunner and the former Svelvik Municipality. Both its creation and its name—described as unhistorical by historians—were controversial from the onset, the merger was resisted by all the three counties and the new county had an approval rating of about 20% in the region. Viken has been compared to gerrymandering. The newly constructed coat of arms of Viken lacked a historical basis and was described by experts as an amateurish logo that did not adhere to the rules of heraldry, and as "three flying saucers under a cap." The county executive of Viken determined in 2019, before the merger had taken effect, that the county's disestablishment was its main political goal, and the formal process to dissolve Viken was initiated by the county executive right after the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election in which parties seeking to reverse the merger won a majority. The political platform of the government of Jonas Gahr Støre stated that the government would dissolve Viken and re-establish Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold based on a request from the county itself. On 22 February 2022, the regional assembly of Viken approved the formal request to disestablish the county, and the disestablishment took effect on 1 January 2024.

Viken was home to over 1.2 million people, or 23% of the national population. The county seat was the national capital, Oslo, which was an enclave of Viken and is not part of the county. Oslo had been the seat of Akershus county since the Middle Ages. All of Viken was located in the historical Akershus, which included much of Eastern Norway. The county took its name from the historical region of Viken, which has been defined as an area in Bohuslän, in what is now western Sweden, since the late Middle Ages, but which was formerly used loosely for the region around the Oslofjord in the earlier middle ages.

Akershus (Norwegian pronunciation: [ɑkəʂˈhʉːs] ) is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo and ultimately after the medieval farm Aker in Oslo. From the Middle Ages to 1919, Akershus was a main fief and main county that included most of Eastern Norway, and from the 17th century until 2020 and again from 2024, Akershus also has a more narrow meaning as a smaller central county in the Greater Oslo Region. Akershus is Norway's largest county by population with over 716,000 inhabitants.

Originally Akershus was one of four main fiefs in Norway and included almost all of Eastern Norway. The original Akershus became a main county (Stiftamt or Stift) in 1662 and was sometimes also known as Christiania Stift. It included several subcounties (Amt or Underamt); in 1682 its most central areas, consisting of modern Oslo and Akershus, became the subcounty of Akershus within the larger main county of the same name. In 1842, the capital city of Christiania, which at the time consisted of a tiny part of modern Oslo, became a separate subcounty within Akershus main county. The main county of Akershus was disestablished in 1919, and the subcounty continued as Akershus county (fylke). During its history Akershus (sub) county ceded territory to Oslo several times; Akershus' most central and important municipality, Aker, was transferred to Oslo in 1948. Thus, while modern Akershus' capital is Oslo, Oslo is not located within the modern county itself. In 2020, the county of Akershus was merged into Viken along with the counties of Østfold and Buskerud, but Akershus was reestablished as a county from 2024 with slightly enlarged borders. Modern Akershus borders Oslo, Hedmark, Oppland, Buskerud, Oslo, and Østfold; it also has a short border with Sweden (Värmland).

Gudbrandsdalslågen or simply Lågen is a river which flows through the Gudbrandsdalen valley in Innlandet county, Norway. The 204-kilometre (127 mi) long river runs through a large valley in Eastern Norway before emptying into Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway. The river flows through the municipalities of Lesja, Dovre, Sel, Nord-Fron, Sør-Fron, Ringebu, Øyer, and Lillehammer.