Solør is a Norwegian traditional district consisting of the valley between

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 ( ...

in the north and

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 ...

in the south. It is part of

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 and it includes Våler Municipality,

Åsnes Municipality Åsnes is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Solør. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Flisa, w ...

, and

Grue Municipality Grue is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Solør. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenær. ...

Glomma valley

Glommadal (''Glåmdalen'') is a designation for the valley formed by 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 ...

(also called the Glomma), which is the longest and largest river in Norway. From Lake Aursunden in the north and south to

, 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 south until

, it is referred to as Solør. As the river turns westerly from Kongsvinger to

Nes The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

, the valley is called

Odalen Odal or Odalen is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, Norway. The district encompasses the area around the lake Storsjøen in the north and to the areas around the river Glåma in the south. The district is currently divided ...

. These designations are also traditional districts, reflecting the designations locals used for their valleys.

Name

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 ...

form of the name was .

Geography

Solør is a rural area and consists mainly of farming land and forest. In fact, Solør is the number one potato producing area in Norway. Forestry is also important for the area, and "Forestia", a major chip-board factory, is situated in Våler, playing an important role in the local society, especially by providing jobs for a large proportion of the local inhabitants.

History

In the early

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 ...

, before

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

, Solør was a

petty kingdom A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into t ...

. In the 17th century the forest east of Glomma became known as ''

Finnskogen Finnskogen ("Forest of the Finns") is an area of Norway and Sweden situated in the counties of Innlandet and Värmland respectively, so named because of immigration of Finnish people in the 17th century, the so-called ''Forest Finns, Skogfinner/"Fo ...

'' (). This named refers to Finnish refugees from Sweden who had been encouraged to settle in the adjacent province of

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

but were later evicted and fled across the border into Hedmark.

Halfdan Hvitbeinn Halfdan Whiteshanks (Old Norse: ''Hálfdan hvítbeinn'') was a semi-historical petty king in Norway, described in the ''Ynglinga saga''. The following description is based on the account in Ynglinga saga, written in the 1220s by Snorri Sturluson. ...

was one of the historic Kings of Soløyjar (Solør).

References

Districts of Innlandet Petty kingdoms of Norway {{Innlandet-geo-stub