Landvik

Landvik is a former municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It was located to the west of the town of Grimstad in southern Norway. Today, the name Landvik is still used to designate the westernmost part of the town of Grimstad, near the Prestegårdskogen housing development.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Landvig farm. The first element of the name means "land" (Old Norse: Land) and the last element (Old Norse: Vík) is identical with the word vik which means "inlet". The farm is located on a bay on the northeast side of Landvikvannet (lake).

History

The parish of Landvig was established as the municipality of Landvik (see formannskapsdistrikt) on 1 January 1838. An uninhabited part of neighboring Birkenes municipality was transferred to Landvik on 1 January 1883. Previously, it was part of Hommedal.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Norway enacted many municipal reforms such as mergers and border adjustments. On 1 January 1962, the uninhabited area of Salvestjønn in neighboring Øyestad municipality and most of the municipality of Eide (504 inhabitants) were merged into the municipality of Landvik. After the merger, Landvik had a total of 2,433 residents.