Sør-Audnedal

Sør-Audnedal (former spelling: Søndre Undal) is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 108 km2 municipality existed from 1845 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the present-day municipality of Lindesnes in Agder county. The administrative centre was the village of Vigeland where Valle Church is.

History
The municipality of Søndre Undal was established in 1845 when the old Undal municipality was divided into Nordre Undal (population: 802) and Søndre Undal (population: 3,893). The name was later changed to Sør-Audnedal. On 1 January 1899, the western part of Sør-Audnedal (population: 1,734) was separated to become the new 63 km2 municipality of Spangereid. The split left Sør-Audnedal with 2,958 inhabitants and an area of 171.7 km2. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Sør-Audnedal municipality (population: 2,323) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Vigmostad (population: 589) and Spangereid (population: 899) to create the new municipality of Lindesnes.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Audnedalen valley (Auðnudalr). The prefix means "southern" since it is the southern part of the valley. The first element of the name is the genitive case of the river name Auðna (now Audna). The river name is derived from the word which means "destruction" or "wasteland" (because of the flooding that often happens along the river). The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Søndre Undal (an older version of the valley name that was a shortened and corrupted version of the original Old Norse name). On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sør-Audnedal. This more modern name was introduced to bring back the historical spelling of the name.

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Sør-Audnedal was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.