Vestby

Vestby is a municipality in the county of Akershus, Norway. Main villages are Vestby, Pepperstad Skog, H?len, Hvitsten, Garder, and Son. Son was, from the Renaissance until the 1700s, an important harbour. On some Dutch maps from that time, Oslofjord is called Zoon Water.

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Archeological studies in H?len has confirmed that the area has been populated since about 2400 BC. The municipality and town of Vestby are both named after the most important farm in the area.

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

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Municipality: A municipality or "general-purpose district" (compare with: "special-purpose district") is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government....

County: Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called "earls" in post-Celtic Great Britain and Ireland - the term is from Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the Vikings - but there is no correlation between "county" and "earldom." Rather, t...

Akershus: Akershus is a county in Norway, bordering Hedmark, Oppland, Buskerud, Oslo and ?stfold. It borders Sweden for a short distance (V?rmland). Akershus is the second largest county in population after Oslo. The county is named after Akershus Fortress. The county administration is in Oslo, which is not p...