Odal or Odalen is a valley and traditional district in

Innlandet Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The district encompasses the area around the lake Storsjøen in the north and to the areas around the river

Glåma The Glomma or Glåma is Norway's longest and most voluminous river. With a total length of , it has a drainage basin that covers 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country. Geography At its fullest length, the river r ...

in the south. The district is currently divided between

Sør-Odal Municipality Sør-Odal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skarn ...

and Nord-Odal Municipality. A person from Odalen is commonly called an .

Geography

The Glommadal (or Glåmdalen) valley is a designation for the valley formed by the river

Glomma The Glomma or Glåma is Norway's longest and most voluminous river. With a total length of , it has a drainage basin that covers 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country. Geography At its fullest length, the river r ...

(or Glåma), which is the longest and largest river in Norway. From the lake Aursund in the north on southwards to

Elverum Elverum () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Elverum ( ...

, the valley is called the

Østerdalen Østerdalen () is a valley and Districts of Norway, traditional district in Innlandet county, in Eastern Norway. This area typically is described as the large Glåma river valley as well as all its tributary valleys. Østerdalen is often subdivide ...

. From that point and further south until

Kongsvinger Kongsvinger () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger. Other settlements in the municipality include Aust ...

, the valley is referred to as

Solør Solør is a Norwegian traditional district consisting of the valley between Elverum in the north and Kongsvinger in the south. It is part of Innlandet county and it includes Våler Municipality, Åsnes Municipality, and Grue Municipality. G ...

. As the river turns and heads west from Kongsvinger all the way to the border with

Nes Municipality Nes is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Årnes. Name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the o ...

, the valley is called the Odalen (Nes is part of the district of

Romerike Romerike is a Districts of Norway, traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Akershus municipalities Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen and Aurskog-Høland in the southern ...

). These designations are traditional districts, reflecting the designations that the locals have historically used for their valleys.

History

The name ''Odalen'' is derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

name . The first part of the name comes from the

word or , which means 'river' (here referring to the

river). The last element is , which means 'valley' or 'dale'. The name can be documented to have been in use since 1386. Traces of human habitation dating back to the

Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from . The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Late Neolithic Dagger period, which is root ...

, between 1500 and 500 BCE. The first farms were probably cleared close to the lake about 500 BCE, in the early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. Settlement spread slowly around the lake and inland, and by the year 800, there may have been as many as 50 farms in the area. Settlement accelerated in the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

, increasing the number of farms by as much as an order of magnitude. Increased mobility in the Norwegian population likely changed the character of the society in Odalen, and there is evidence the area was under the administration of the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...

. When the region was

Christianized Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

around 1030, several churches were built, including locations at Oppstad, Strøm, Ulleren, Mo and Trøftskogen. The area became politically more autonomous. The valley may have become overpopulated until the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

and following plagues, when a huge proportion of the population died. Farms were abandoned and consolidated during this time, and it took at least 200 years for the population to reach its previous levels. During the 17th century, Odalen suffered economic setbacks as a result of taxation and general economic downturns. Forestry rose as a complementary source of income to agriculture. By all accounts, the agricultural sector has not grown appreciably in the area since the 18th century. Trautgruva iron ore mine was operated until 1830.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=March 2022 Districts of Innlandet Valleys of Innlandet Nord-Odal Sør-Odal