Hardsyssel or Harsyssel is a traditional district and an ancient syssel in Denmark, forming the western part of central Jutland

Jutland

Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

. Hardsyssel is roughly identical with the former county Ringkjøbing Amt. Today it forms the western half of Region Midtjylland

Region Midtjylland

Central Denmark Region or Central Jutland Region is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger...

. The biggest towns in Hardsyssel are Herning

Herning

Herning Municipality is a municipality in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in western Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 1,336 km² and a total population of 84,208...

, Holstebro

Holstebro

Holstebro Municipality is a municipality in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 790 km², and has a total population of 57,020 . Its mayor is H. C...

, Struer

Struer, Denmark

Struer is the main town of the kommune of Struer, Region Midtjylland, Denmark with a population of 10,572 .The town of Struer owes its growth to the railroad, which arrived in 1865 with Jutland's first railroad line from Århus/Randers over Viborg to Skive and Struer...

, Ringkøbing

Ringkøbing

Ringkøbing is a town in Ringkøbing-Skjern municipality in Region Midtjylland on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. The town has a population of 9,742 .-History:...

, Skjern

Skjern

Skjern Municipality is a former municipality in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality in Region Midtjylland near the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark...

, Lemvig

Lemvig

Lemvig is a municipality in Region Midtjylland on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 510 km², and has a population of 22,067 . Its mayor is Erik Flyvholm, a member of the Venstre political party.The main town and the site of its municipal...

 and Ikast

Ikast

Ikast is a Danish town in the Region Midtjylland. It has been part of the municipality of Ikast-Brande since 2007. It was the seat of the former Ikast Municipality.-External links:*...

. The name Hardsyssel is today less commonly used than before, as most people refer to Western Jutland or Central Jutland, areas with no strict borders.

The name is believed to be derived from the Germanic stem of the Harudes

Charudes

Charudes is the scholarly Latinization of an Germanic tribe known in Ptolemy as the Charoudes. They are stated to have lived on the east side of the Cimbric Chersonese, Ptolemy's term for Jutland...

, as are the county and the traditional district of Hordaland

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

 and Hardanger

Hardanger

Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord. It consists of the municipalities of Odda, Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik, Granvin, Kvam and Jondal, and is located inside the county of Hordaland....

 in 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...

. The German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 district of Harz

Harz

The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...

 has its name from the same origin. An inhabitant of Hardsyssel is a harder or a harbo. The dialect of Hardsyssel belongs to the West Jutlandic group.

The landscape is flatter and more open than that of eastern Denmark, marked by sandy soil, heath

Heath (habitat)

A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...

 and some conifer plantations. From the Middle Ages until the 19th century it was quite sparsely inhabited. After Denmark's loss of Slesvig

Slesvig

Slesvig is the Danish name for:* Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, a German city* The former Duchy of Schleswig * A former name for Hedeby, a Viking Age trading center, originally the largest town in the Nordic Countries...

 and Holstein

Holstein

Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....

 in 1864, it was decided to claim much of the infertile land for agriculture, bur some of the heaths remain. Significant industry didn't arrive until the 1960s. Some of the greatest companies today are Vestas

Vestas

Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines. It is the largest in the world, but due to very rapid growth of its competitors, its market share decreased from 28% in 2007 to 12.5% in 2009...

 (wind mills) and Cheminova (pesticides).