The preliminary oldest traces of humans are found in a settlement on Galta, Rennesøy, near the ferry terminal Mortavika and Vista on Randaberg.

The Gulating Act divided the country into the Western counties, which consisted of the former småkongedømmene that existed in the area before the unification of the 800's and then was converted to jarle judge.

[5] Harald Hairfair united Norway and parts of Sweden west of Lake Vänern and Götaälv in the 9th century from his Castle Avaldsnes on Karmöy at Haugesund.

Norwegian settlers moved into the North Sea westward to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Shetland, Orkney, Isle of Man and the Hebrides.

The settlement of Iceland may also be viewed in the context of the general Viking expansion of the period, plausibly linked to population pressure in Western Norway and increasing scarcity of farming land.

It has thus left few traces in the archaeological record, nor has it contributed more than a handful of words to the Icelandic language, which was a Scandinavian dialect, more or less identical with the Viking Age Norse spoken in Western Norway, the Faroes, Shetland, Orkney, etc.

This has been possible thanks to the work of many years by Jahn Sjursen, who has also collected books and other publications, pictures and objects related to Norwegian emigrants in the United States.

Following fracture lines marking weaknesses in the Earth's crust, they dug out gorges and canyons that knifed deep into the jagged coast.

Enormous masses of soil, gravel, and stone were also carried by glacial action as far south as present-day Denmark and northern Germany.

Glaciated; mostly high plateaus and rugged mountains broken by fertile valleys; small, scattered plains; coastline deeply indented by fjords.

As the climate slowly improved and the Scandinavian peninsula rose from the grip of the ice, plants and animals started to invade the new territory.

The trees came later, accompanied by a rich flora and fauna including bears, elk, marten, fox, hare, European beaver and otter.

Most of the mountains of Western Norway which today occupy about three quarters of the land mass M became covered with dense forests of pine and birch.

The glaciers had thawed and vanished, and extensive oak forests, not unlike those we see today in Central Europe, spread over the low-lying land.

Life was hard for the animals and plants in the high mountains, as they were pressed up towards the highest peaks, which rose like islands from a sea of forest.

Here are a number of the plants which cannot tolerate frost, for example the star hyacinth (scilla verna) and the purple heather (erica purpurea), which are otherwise only found in England, Ireland and further south.

Thanks to the warming Gulf Stream, the Norwegian fjords enjoy a relatively mild climate and remain virtually ice-free even during the winter.

Most vessels are owned by the fishermen themselves, the necessary crew members being paid by shares of gross income in a continuation of a centuries-old tradition of the sea.

The first commercially important discovery of petroleum on Norway's continental shelf was made at the Ekofisk field in the North Sea late in 1969, just as foreign oil companies were about to give up after four years of exploratory drilling.

With a water displacement of one million tons and a height of nearly 1,550 feet (475 m), the Troll A platform was the tallest concrete structure ever moved when it was towed into place in 1995.

Modern Norwegian cuisine, although still strongly influenced by its traditional background, now bears the marks of globalization: Pastas, pizzas and the like are as common as meatballs and cod as staple foods, and urban restaurants sport the same selection one would expect to find in any western European city.

Pinnekjøtt, cured and sometimes smoked mutton ribs that is steamed for several hours, is traditionally served as Christmas dinner in the western parts of Norway.

Religious and traditional (folk) music were dominant throughout this era in rural areas, though again scant records exist to document their nature.

He also saw to that Myllarguten played with him in concert, presenting a rural traditional musician to an urban audience for the very first time, in February 1849, at the very height of Norwegian romantic nationalism.

Other notable writers from Western Norway include Alexander Kielland, Arne Garborg, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Arnulf Øverland, Jon Fosse and Inger Hagerup.

[42] These are located mainly in Sogn og Fjordane, in areas with long distances to large cities and with too little traffic to support commercial flights.

The airports, which typically have an 800 metres (2,600 ft) runway, are run by Avinor, while the airplanes are operated based on subsidized public service obligation contracts with the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications.

[52][53] The petroleum and natural gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf uses pipelines to transport produce to processing plants on mainland Norway and other European countries; total length is 9,481 kilometres (5,891 mi).

[41] The government-owned Gassco operates all natural gas pipelines; in 2006, 88 billion cubic meters were transported, or 15% of European consumption[54] Vestlandet and Sørlandet have always been the two regions of Norway with the greatest preponderance of non-socialist voters.

Cities and towns in the region in descending order by population: These are traditional districts that only partially coincide with present-day administrative divisions.