Until January 1, 2007 Skælskør Municipality was a municipality (Danish: kommune) in the former West Zealand County, on the southwestern coast of the island of Zealand, in eastern Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 170.02 km2, and had a total population of 11,928 (2006). Its last mayor was Hans Ole Drost, a member of the Venstre. Skælskør Municipality bordered Korsør and Hashøj Municipality to the north and Fuglebjerg Municipality to the east. The municipality included the islands of Agersø, Omø and Glænø. To the west is the Great Belt (Danish: Storebælt), the strait that separates Zealand and the island of Funen (Danish. Fyn), and the Agersø Sound (Danish: Agersø Sund), the strait that separates Zealand from the former municipality's islands of Agersø and Omø. To the south is Karrebæksminde Bay (Danish: Karrebæksminde Bugt) and Rågø Sund. The municipality's island of Glænø lies in Karrebæksminde Bay, along with a number of other smaller islands. Noret, a large lake lies to the north of the town of Skælskør. The municipality ceased to exist as the result of Kommunalreformen 2007 (the Municipality Reform of 2007). It was merged with Slagelse, Hashøj and Korsør municipalities to form a new Slagelse municipality. The new municipality belongs to Region Zealand. History Skælskør was likely built in the 1100s, and was granted the status of a market town (Danish: Købstad) in 1414. It originally played a role as a transit town between Zealand, Funen and Langeland, though Korsør eventually became the more prominent transit town on the coast. In the Middle Ages, when Denmark was divided into hundreds, the area of Skælskør Municipality were under Vester Flakkebjerg Hundred and Slagelse Hundred. Vester Flakkebjerg Hundred was under Sorø County when it was established in 1662, while Slagelse Hundred came under Korsør County. Sorø County was merged with Ringsted County in 1748. It was merged again in 1798, this time with Korsør County and Antvorskov County. This county lasted until the 1970 Danish Municipal Reform where it merged with Holbæk County to create West Zealand County (Danish: Vestsjællands Amt). After the 2007 municipal reform this changed to Region Zealand. From 1842, where parish municipalities were created, and until 1922 the area of Skælskør Municipality consisted of nine parish municipalities. From 1875 it also consisted of Skælskør Market Town Municipality, which would merge with its Rural District Parish Municipality in 1922, leaving eight parish municipalities and one market town