Vestby

Vestby kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms Akershus within Norway
Vestby within Akershus
Coordinates:
Country	Norway
County	Akershus
District	Follo
Administrative centre	Vestby
Government
• Mayor (2015)	Tom Anders Ludvigsen (Ap)
Area
• Total	134 km2 (52 sq mi)
• Land	134 km2 (52 sq mi)
Area rank	367 in Norway
Population (2006)
• Total	13,159
• Rank	84 in Norway
• Density	96/km2 (250/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	13.9 %
Demonym(s)	Vestbysokning
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0211
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.vestby.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Vestby is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vestby.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vestby farm (Old Norse: Vestbýr), since the first church was built here. The first element is vestr which means "west" and the last element is býr meaning "farm". The neighbouring farms have the names Østby ("eastern farm"), Sunnby ("southern farm"), and Nordby ("northern farm"); and they must all four be the parts of a bigger and older farm, whose name is now unknown.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 18 June 1982 and designed by Bjørn Linnestad. The arms show three gold bottony crosses on a red background, two over one. They represent the three original parishes in the municipality: Vestby, Garder, and Såner. At the same time they also represent the three natural harbors in the area: Emmerstad, Kjøvangen, and Sonskilen.

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Vestby by country of origin in 2015

Ancestry	Number
Poland	267
Sweden	188
Somalia	146
Denmark	122
Germany	114
Iraq	107
Philippines	89
Kosovo	88

History

Archaeological research in Hølen has confirmed that the area has been populated since about 2400 BC. There are various archeological finds in the area, such as the ones from the Bronze Age.

Many Norwegian emigrants went to America during the 1840s and later settled in the area of the present city of Westby, Wisconsin (named after general store owner and American Civil War Union soldier Ole T. Westby); a city which still has a mostly Norwegian American population.

Hølen became known for the production of timber. It became a lading place in the 17th century.

From the Renaissance until the 18th century, Son was an important harbour. On some Dutch maps from that time, the Oslofjord is called Zoon Water.

Vestby was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The municipality and lading place of Hølen was merged with Vestby on 1 July 1943. The municipality and lading place of Son was merged with Vestby on 1 January 1964. (The lading place of Hvitsten in Vestby has never been a municipality of its own.)

Geography

Vestby includes the villages Vestby, Hølen, Hvitsten, Garder, and Son. Recently urbanized areas are Randem, Pepperstad skog, and Sole skog. Randem is located north of the municipal centre, Vestby, and includes an industrial area. Pepperstad is located southwest of Vestby, by the road 155. Sole skog lies west of the centre. The village of Vestby has 5,424 inhabitants (2006). All the small towns together have over 13,000 inhabitants.

Notable residents

• Ola Abrahamsson (1883–1980): painter
• Erik Bodom (1829–1879): painter
• Caspar Wessel (1745–1818): mathematician
• Johan Herman Wessel (1742–1785): poet

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Norway

Twin towns — Sister cities

Vestby is twinned with the following municipality:

• - Vara, Västra Götaland, Sweden

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Akershus travel guide from Wikivoyage