Jæren

Jæren
District
One of the many beaches along the Jæren coastline.
Jæren
Country	Norway
County	Rogaland
Region	Vestlandet
Adm. Center	Stavanger
Area
• Total	1,642 km2 (634 sq mi)
Population (2014)
• Total	309,142
• Density	190/km2 (490/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Jærbu

Jæren is a traditional district in the county of Rogaland. The others are Dalane, Ryfylke and Haugalandet.

Jæren is the largest flat lowland area in Norway, stretching from the municipality of Randaberg in the north to Hå in the south. The coast is flat compared to the rest of the Norwegian coast, and has sandy beaches along most of the coastline. The largest city of Jæren are Stavanger/Sandnes (pop. 237,852). The petroleum industry around Stavanger is an important part of economy of Jæren, with the headquarters of the country's largest oil company Statoil being located on Jæren, as well regional offices of international companies like ExxonMobil, Eni, Shell, ConocoPhillips, BP, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes and several others. Jæren is also one of the most important agricultural areas of Norway, with a long crop period and a varied and well-developed livestock production. Industry here is also strongly connected to the farming industry, with one of the largest producers of agricultural machines in the world, Kverneland Group, located in Time and Klepp.

Author and poet Arne Garborg grew up in the traditional lowland landscape of Jæren, and in several of his works he describes the landscape and its inhabitants around the turn of the 19th century.

File:Knudaheio.jpg

Further inwards, the lowland meets the rocky areas. The sculpture is of poet Arne Garborg.

File:House at Jæren in Norway Garborgheimen.JPG

The childhood home of poet Arne Garborg is a typical traditional house in Jæren

Jæren is one of the 15 districts in Western Norway.

The name

The Norse form of the name was Jaðarr. The name is identical with the word jaðarr m 'edge, brim'. Several farms in Norway (around 30) have the same name. The name refers to the 60 km long coastline stretching from Brusand in the south to Tungenes in the north.

Municipalities of Jæren

The geographical region of Jæren comprise eight municipalities:

Nr.	Coat of arms	Name	Population	Area	Pop. density
1		Randaberg	9,997	25	400
2		Stavanger	123,850	71	1744
3	20px	Sola	22,831	69	331
4		Sandnes	64,671	304	213
5		Klepp	16,918	114	148
6		Hå	16,342	258	63
7		Time	16,077	183	88
8		Gjesdal	10,208	618	17

Different conventions on the extent of the district

The geographical region of Jæren constitutes the abovementioned municipalities, but Jæren district court constitutes only Hå, Klepp, Time and Sola. Also, the Jæren deanery constitutes Hå, Klepp, Time and Gjesdal. Geographically, Gjesdal lies in the transition between Jæren and Dalane districts, but it is traditionally considered to be part of Jæren.

Confusion over the extent of the district is added by the fact that in everyday language, the name Jæren for most people does not include the towns of Stavanger and Sandnes, but rather the more rural area to the south.

See also

• Norwegian County Road 44, national tourist road for the region.

External links

• Nordsjøvegen 2003 (Explore Fjord Norway)
• Reisemål Jæren (only Norwegian)
• Store Norske Leksikon (only Norwegian)