page_title: Western Norway
section_title: Notable people
hierarchical_section_title: Western Norway / Notable people
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: A
  Tone Damli Aaberge, singer, songwriter
  Ivar Aasen, philologist, lexicographer, playwright and poet
  Peter C. Assersen,  Rear Admiral in the United States Navy.
  John Anderson, Norwegian-American publisher.
  Nikolai Astrup, painter
  Elisabeth Andreassen, singer, songwriter
  Niels Henrik Abel, mathematician
  B
  Eirik Bakke, football player
  Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, writer and the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
  Cecilia Brækhus, boxer and proffboxer
  Lars Bystøl, ski jumper
  Ole Bull, composer and violinist
  E
  Leif Ericson, is currently regarded as the first European to land in North America 492 years before Christopher Columbus.
  F
  Jan Åge Fjørtoft, former footballer
  Tore André Flo, football striker
  Herman Friele, mayor and coffee king
  G
  Arne Garborg, writer
  Edvard Grieg, composer
  Christian Grindheim, football player
  Ivar Giaever, physicist, nobel laureate
  H
  Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen, doctor, the one to discover the leprosy bacteria, Mycobacterium leprae
  Ludvig Holberg, playwright and author
  Ingrid Espelid Hovig, television chef and author of cook books
  J
  Roald "Kniksen" Jensen, soccer player
  K
  Alexander Kielland, author
  Hanne Krogh, singer
  Eirik Kvalfoss,
  Sissel Kyrkjebø, singer
  L
  Leif Andreas Larsen, naval officer
  Sophus Lie, mathematician
  M
  Christian Michelsen, politician, Prime Minister
  N
  Knute Nelson, politician, senator of Minnesota
  Jo Nesbø, bestselling author and musician
  Kurt Nilsen, singer, winner Norwegian Idol season one, and World Idol.
  O
  Alexander Dale Oen
  P
  Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poirée, career biathlete
  R
  John Arne Riise, football player
  Knute Rockne, football player
  Kjell Inge Røkke, businessman
  S
  Jakob Sande, writer, poet and folk singer
  Eric Sevareid, CBS news journalist
  Geir Skeie, chef, winner of the 2008 Bocuse d'Or Europe, and the 2009 Bocuse d'Or world final.
  Amalie Skram, writer
  Ole Gunnar Solskjær, football manager and former footballer
  Synnøve Svabø, talk show host
  Kathrine Sørland, fashion model, former winner of Miss Norway
  Harald Sverdrup, oceanographer
  T
  Harald Thune, civil servant
  Pia Tjelta, actress
  Per Inge Torkelsen, comic, author, radio personality, and self declared clown
  Kari Traa, skier
  V
  Varg Vikernes, black metal musician
  Kristian Valen, comedian and pop star
  Ø
  Finn Øglænd, author, poet, translator and literature critic
  Arnulf Øverland, author
caption: Amalie Skram
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