Sogndal is a municipality in the county

Counties of Norway

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 430 municipalities...

 of Sogn og Fjordane

Sogn og Fjordane

is a county in Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland. The county administration is in the town of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality while the largest town is Førde....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. It is located in the traditional district

Districts of Norway

The country Norway is historically divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords,...

 of Sogn

Sogn

Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway . It is located in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, surrounding the Sognefjord. Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestrand, Hyllestad, Høyanger, Gulen, Leikanger, Luster, Lærdal, Sogndal, Solund, Vik, and Årdal. The district covers ...

. The village of Sogndalsfjøra

Sogndalsfjøra

Sogndalsfjøra is the administrative centre of the municipality of Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located where the river Sogndalselvi runs out in the Sogndalsfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord. The village has a population of 3,208...

 (population 3,208 in 2009) is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other main villages include Kaupanger

Kaupanger

Kaupanger is a village situated along the Sognefjord in the municipality of Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.Kaupanger originated as a settlement during the Viking age. Earlier Kaupanger was known as Tingstad. Kaupang was an Old Norse term for trading or market place. Town's name is...

, Kjørnes

Kjørnes

Kjørnes is a village in the municipality of Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located by the Sogndalsfjord, about southeast of the municipal center of Sogndalsfjøra and about northwest of Kaupanger. The village of Kjørnes has a population of 531....

, and Fjærland

Fjærland

Fjærland is a village in the municipality of Sogndal, along the Fjærlandsfjord, in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The Fjærlandfjord is a branch of the Sognefjord, the longest fjord in Norway...

. Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen

Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen

Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen opened in 1971 and is owned and operated by Avinor. The airport is located about southwest of Kaupanger in the municipality of Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway...

 is located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of Kaupanger.

The Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 dialect spoken in Sogndal is called sognamål.

In 1917, a farmer in Sogndal plowed up the Eggja stone, a gravestone with runic

Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...

 inscriptions important for the history of the Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 language.
Sogndal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt

Formannskapsdistrikt

Formannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...

).