Land, Norway

In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair was king, Land was a petty kingdom. For centuries, the area of Land was a parish within the Church of Norway. On 1 January 1838, the parish of Land was established as the new Land Municipality after the new formannskapsdistrikt law was passed, establishing municipal governments across Norway. That municipality was short-lived and in 1847, it was split into Nordre Land and Søndre Land. By the time of the partition, Land had a population of 9,199.