Møre og Romsdal

is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. The county administration is located in Molde, while Ålesund is the largest city.

History
Ragnvald Eysteinsson, earl of Møre until 890, might be the father of Rollo of Normandy.

The name Møre og Romsdal was created in 1936. The first element refers to the districts of Nordmøre and Sunnmøre, and the last element refers to Romsdal. Until 1919, the county was called "Romsdal amt", and from 1919-1935 "Møre fylke".

The coat-of-arms is from 1978. It shows three Viking ships (where the masts and the yards creates three crosses). The number of three represents the three districts of the county: Sunnmøre, Romsdal and Nordmøre.

Geography
Traditionally, the county has been divided into three districts. From north to south, these are Nordmøre, Romsdal and Sunnmøre. Although the districts do not have separate governments and despite of modern road, sea and air connections throughout the county, the three districts still have their own identities in many ways. Historically speaking, connections have been stronger between Nordmøre and Sør-Trøndelag to the north, Romsdal and Oppland to the east, and Sunnmøre and Sogn og Fjordane to the south, than internally. Differences in dialects between the three districts bear clear evidence of this. Due to geographical features&mdash;the county has many populated islands and is intersected by several deep fjords. Due to its difficult terrain, Møre og Romsdal has been very dependent on boat traffic, and its main car ferry company, MRF, has existed since 1921.

Settlements
Møre og Romsdal has six settlements with city status, of which the largest three received it before municipalities were allowed to grant city status, inflating the number of cities, in 1993. The county contains multiple additional urban settlements (as defined by Statistics Norway) without city status, every municipality except for Halsa and Smøla containing at least one. As of 1 January 2007, 166,374 people lived in an urban settlement. The population density is highest near the coast, where all the cities except for Åndalsnes are located.

The largest city in the county is Ålesund, with a population of 41,385 in the municipality and 45,299 in the agglomeration which it forms together with parts of Sula. The second and third largest cities are Molde, with a population of 24,254 in the municipality and 18,631 in the urban area, and Kristiansund with 22,522 in the municipality and 16,820 in the urban area as of 2007.

Infrastructure
Møre og Romsdal is served by nine airports, of which only the airports located near the three largest cities as well as Ørsta-Volda Airport, Hovden have regular domestic flights. The largest airport in the county is Ålesund Airport, Vigra, which offers the only scheduled international routes from any airport in Møre og Romsdal. Ålesund Airport had 732,614 passengers in 2006. Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget had 364,350 passengers in 2007, while Molde Airport, Årø had 401,292, down from 444,677 in 2006. Ørsta-Volda airport had 49,842 passengers in 2006. None of the airports in Møre og Romsdal offer regular flights to each other.

In 2007, Møre og Romsdal had 6339 kilometres of public roads, an increase of 5 km since the previous year, as well as 4258 kilometres of private roads, 7 km more than in 2006.

Municipalities


Møre og Romsdal has a total of 36 municipalities: