Ågerøya
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Møre og Romsdal, Norway |
| Coordinates | 58°11′22″N 8°18′44″E / 58.18952°N 8.31222°E |
| Administration | |
| County | Agder |
| Municipality | Lillesand Municipality |
Ågerøya[1] is an island in the middle of the Blindleia strait in Lillesand Municipality in Agder county, Norway. The island is located off Kjøpmannsvik, between the islands of Justøy to the east and Furøya to the west. Ågerøya attracts many summer tourists, and the population multiplies during the summer months. The island is car-free.[2][3]
History
The island is first mentioned in two letters from 1467 in the Diplomatarium Norvegicum, when it, along with Kalvøya and Sandøya, was sold by Herleik Kolbjørnsson to Lord Alv Knutsson of the Norwegian-Swedish noble family Tre Roser. Later (after 1678), it belonged to the Gyldenløve Family and the County of Jarlsberg.[4]
Ågerøya was an important island during the age of sail, with its own school, library, two shops, a navigation school, shoemaker, and several shipping companies. It was established around 1800 and developed rapidly throughout the 19th century with ships sailing to Denmark and other foreign destinations. Ågerøya had a post office (postal code 4782) from 1890 to 1978. The island's outer harbor is called Stranda or Ågerøyhavn and it was the main population centre of the island during the sailing era.[5]
The island's heyday was at the end of the 19th century when nearly 400 people lived there. Today, around 40 people reside on the island.
Fishing was the main livelihood for the residents of Ågerøya from the 1930s until the 1980s. The island gradually became depopulated during this period as life in the cities (Kristiansand and Lillesand) offered more job opportunities. The school was closed in the 1950s. In the 1980s, several people with connections to the island moved away, primarily to work on the mainland, mainly in Kristiansand and Lillesand.[6]
For a long time, Ågerøya was the only island in Lillesand Municipality with a permanent population that did not have a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The discussion about the obligation to reside resurfaced in the winter of 2010 when the ice set in, and residents had significant difficulties reaching the mainland (Kjøpmannsvik). In 2012, the residency requirement was lifted.
History
At the onset of the attack on Norway in 1940, the German vessel 'Rio de Janeiro' was torpedoed off Ågerøya on 8 April 1940, by the Polish submarine ORP 'Orzeł.[7][8]
References
- ^ "Informasjon om stadnamn". Norgeskart (in Norwegian). Kartverket. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
- ^ "Ågerøya in Lillesand - Visit Sørlandet". en.visitsorlandet.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
- ^ "Southern charm in Lillesand". www.visitnorway.com. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
- ^ "Diplomatarium Norvegicum : Oldbrev til kundskab om Norges indre og ydre forhold, sprog, slægter, sæder, lovgivning og rettergang i middelalderen".
- ^ "Ågerøyas egen historie | Ågerøya". xn--gerya-lra0l.no (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2023-04-29. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
- ^ "Ågerøya". Lillesand by- og sjøfartsmuseum (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2025-04-07.
- ^ "8.april 1940". Lillesand by- og sjøfartsmuseum (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2025-04-07.
- ^ Rosenvinge, Morten (2015-06-23). "Har funnet vraket av «Rio de Janeiro»". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2025-04-07.