page_title: Western Norway
section_title: Christianization
hierarchical_section_title: Western Norway / History / Christianization
caption_attribution_description: Norsk (nynorsk): Moster gamle kyrkje en: Moster old churchTatsächlich die älteste Kirche Norwegens, irgendwann vor langer Zeit mal gebaut, dann irgendwann viel später mit Bänken versehen und so Zeugs, Kreuze etc. Jetzt kann man noch drin heiraten.
context_page_description: Western Norway is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland and Møre og Romsdal. The region has a population of approximately 1.3 million people. The largest city is Bergen and the second-largest is Stavanger. Historically the regions of Agder, Vest-Telemark, Hallingdal, Valdres and northern parts of Gudbrandsdal have been included in Western Norway.
  Western Norway, as well as other parts of historical regions of Norway, shares a common history with Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Iceland and to a lesser extent the Netherlands and Britain. For example, the Icelandic horse is a close relative of the Fjord horse and both the Faroese and Icelandic languages are based on the Old West Norse.
  In early Norse times, people from Western Norway became settlers at the Western Isles in the Northern Atlantic, so that Orkney, Shetland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. During the Viking Age settlements were made at the Hebrides, Man and Ireland proper.
  In early modern time, Western Norway has had much emigration to the United States, Canada, and to a lesser extent to the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: Christianity (Catholicism) became the dominant religion in Norway in the 11th century, but the religion was probably known among Norwegians already in the 7th century.
  While Eastern Norway was introduced to Christianity by missionaries and monks from Germany and Friesland, Western Norway was mainly introduced to the religion by English, Scottish, Irish people and Vikings who had converted to Christianity. Norse paganism existed in some areas in Western Norway until they were totally replaced by Christianity in the 13th century. The coastal areas were the first to introduce the new faith, and then the inland areas. Churches were planted everywhere.
caption: Moster gamle kyrkje, built in 995, it is one of the oldest churches in Norway. It is reported by Snorre that Olaf I of Norway had a church built there.
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