Arendal kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Aust-Agder within Norway
Arendal within Aust-Agder
Coordinates: 58°28′56″N 8°46′57″E / 58.48222°N 8.7825°E / 58.48222; 8.7825Coordinates: 58°28′56″N 8°46′57″E / 58.48222°N 8.7825°E / 58.48222; 8.7825
Country	Norway
County	Aust-Agder
District	Sørlandet
Administrative centre	Arendal
Government
• Mayor (2011)	Einar Halvorsen (H)
Area
• Total	270.00 km2 (104.25 sq mi)
• Land	256.05 km2 (98.86 sq mi)
• Water	13.95 km2 (5.39 sq mi)
Area rank	289 in Norway
Population (2010)
• Total	41,655
• Rank	19 in Norway
• Density	163.7/km2 (424/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	5.6 %
Demonym	Arendalitt[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0906
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.arendal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

 Arendal (help·info) is a town and municipality in the county of Aust-Agder, Norway. Arendal belongs to the traditional region of Sørlandet.

The town of Arendal is the administrative center of the municipality and also of Aust-Agder county. Other villages in the municipality include Tromøy, Rykene, Eydehavn, Strengereid, Kongshamn, Kilsund, and Hisøy.

The offices of UNEP/GRID-Arendal are located in the town of Arendal.

General information[link]

Origin of the name[link]

The Old Norse form of the name was probably Arnardalr. The first element is the genitive case of ǫrn, 'eagle' and the last element is dalr, meaning 'valley' or 'dale'.

Coat-of-arms[link]

The coat-of-arms were granted on 7 November 1924 (based upon an older seal). The arms show a sailing ship as a symbol for the importance of fisheries and sailing to the local economy. A ship appeared on the oldest known seal of the town, dating back to the 17th century. In the late 19th and early 20th century the arms showed the ship in the upper part and a landscape with the coat of arms of Norway in the base of the shield.^[2][3]

History[link]

Arendal was established in the middle of the 16th century, and was then called Arendall. At that time it had no formal town status.

When Kristiansand was founded by King Christian IV in 1641, he granted the citizens a monopoly on all trade in Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. This grant, intended to subsidize Kristiansand and its fortifications, placed existing towns in a difficult position. Both towns and the peasants in the up country protested the hardships this caused. As a result, Arendal received royal permission in 1622 to continue as a loading-place for timber until a means could be found to transfer its trade to Kristiansand.

The town was given market city privileges in 1723. However the peasants in the surrounding district, who by law were to sell their goods only at Arendal, were smuggling their goods out on cutters and selling them in Denmark, in the Baltic, and in Britain.

This continued until 1735, when Arendal was granted a full town charter. This charter, combined with Danish imposition of a monopoly on grain imports, caused great poverty and starvation among the peasants in the surrounding districts, leading to several famous rebellions.

As a result of the rebellions, the age of privileges for towns like Kristiansand and Arendal came to an apparent end in 1768 by royal proclamation. But the problems did not end then; a farmer, Kristian Jensson Lofthus, in Vestre Moland led a rebellion in 1786 which resulted in the government actually remedying some of the most repressive trade policies, but Lofthus died in prison. The charges against Lofthus were that he dealt in grain and other commodities to the detriment to Arendal’s privileges.

Shipping, shipbuilding, and timber trade as well as mining and ironworks were important branches of industry in Aust-Agder county for many centuries, especially in the Arendal region. Frequent contacts with the world abroad put their mark on our culture and traditions. In 1880, it was the land's biggest port in terms of tonnage handled. At the end of the 19th century, Arendal was recognized as a major shipping centre with many wealthy shipowners. Around the turn of the twentieth century, when thousands of Norwegians sought to take advantage of the more stable economic climate of the United States by emigrating, many of those from Arendal took their economic traditions with them. In New York City and the surrounding areas, a great deal of Americans who claim Norwegian Ancestry can trace their roots to Arendal, as a great deal of Norwegian sailors, trimmers, shipbuilders and carpenters from Arendal settled in areas of New York such as Brooklyn, the Staten Island neighborhood of Port Richmond, and several industrial centers in Northern New Jersey such as Jersey City, Bayonne, Perth Amboy and Elizabeth. In 1939, it had the 4th largest Norwegian tanker fleet; only Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger were larger.

Today the town has small boat manufacturing, mechanical industry, electronics industry as well as one of the world's largest silicon carbide refining plants.

Formannskapsdistrikt[link]

The town of Arendal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1875, a small area with 22 inhabitants was transferred from the municipality of Arendal to the neighboring municipality of Austre Moland and another small area with 52 residents was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Øyestad.^[4]

On 1 January 1902, the rural municipality of Barbu (population: 6,787) was merged into the municipality of Arendal. In 1944, a small area of Moland with a population of 21 inhabitants was transferred to Arendal. On 1 January 1992, the neighboring rural municipalities of Hisøy (pop: 4,026), Moland (pop: 8,148), Tromøy (pop: 4,711), and Øyestad (pop: 8,679) were merged into the municipality of Arendal which had a population of 12,478, bringing the total population of the new municipality of Arendal to 38,042.^[4]

Townscape[link]

Lille Torungen Lighthouse

In the middle of the town centre is an area with wooden houses dating back to the 17th century. This area is called Tyholmen, and is what is left of buildings from before the 19th century. The inner harbour of Arendal is Pollen, where the fish market, pubs, and restaurants are located.

"Store Torungen" lighthouse[link]

The lighthouse Store Torungen is located on an island outside Arendal. It was constructed in 1844 and electrified in 1914. It is 34.3 metres (113 ft) high and contains a 2nd order lens. It is reachable by a 55 minute boat trip from the town centre. The lighthouse is still in use.

"Lille Torungen" lighthouse[link]

The lighthouse Lille Torungen is situated on a small island outside Arendal. The lighthouse is 28.9 metres (95 ft) high. Lille Torungen and Store Torungen were constructed as twin lighthouses, and both are located in the Arendal shipping lane.

The annual Norwegian Grand Prix for F1 Powerboat Racing is held at Arendal

Culture[link]

Arendal viewed from the harbour

Trinity Church (Arendal)

In the town centre is a large and beautiful church, Trinity Church (Arendal).

The city of Arendal has grown from a traditional sleepy summer-town (with culture activities just in the summer)to a more "all year" city. The building of the new library and the combined city hall/concert house has greatly improved culture life.

Music festivals

• Canal Street is Arendals yearly jazz and bluesfestival during the summer. It has been arranged since 1996, at that time by the name of Arendal Jazz and Blues Festival. The popularity of the arrangement has been steadily increasing.
• New in 2007 was Hove Festival located on the Island Tromøy just outside Arendal town. It was the largest festival scene in Norway the debut year, and it has an audience capacity of up to 20,000.

Geography[link]

The municipality is bordered to the southwest by Grimstad, to the northwest by Froland, and to the northeast by Tvedestrand.

Arendal is the type locality of the mineral Babingtonite, which was first described from specimens discovered here in 1824.^[5]

Merdø[link]

The island of Merdø, an island far from the coast facing the Skagerrak, was a major export port in the 17th and 18th centuries and now has a museum, a kiosk, and several beaches. There is regular boat service from Arendal to the island every day during the summer season.

Transportation[link]

Apart from being a port town, Arendal lies immediately southeast of European route E18. The Arendalsbanen railway line runs to Nelaug where it connects with Sørlandsbanen. The town does also have an airport, (Norwegian:Gullknapp flyplass (no)), but it is mostly used by GA, small airplanes, but in 2008 there was a jet at the airport.

Notable residents[link]

• Sam Eyde (1866–1940), Industrialist
• Øystein Grødum (1977), Speedskater
• Finn Iunker (1969), Playwright
• Karl Ove Knausgård (1968), Writer
• Bård Torstensen (1961), Guitarist for heavy metal/rap band Clawfinger
• Jan Gunnar Solli (1981), Soccer Player/ DJ
• Øyvind Sauvik (1976), Hip hop music
• Marit Fiane Christensen (1980), international footballer.

International relations[link]

Twin towns — sister cities[link]

The following cities are twinned with Arendal:^[6]

City	Region	Country
Árborg	Suðurland	Iceland
Kalmar	Kalmar County	Sweden
Mwanza	Mwanza Region	Tanzania
Rēzekne	Latgalia	Latvia
Savonlinna	Southern Savonia	Finland
Silkeborg	Central Denmark Region	Denmark

References[link]

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arendal

External links[link]

Look up Arendal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

v t e Municipalities of Aust-Agder Åmli Arendal Birkenes Bygland Bykle Evje og Hornnes Froland Gjerstad Grimstad Iveland Lillesand Risør Tvedestrand Valle Vegårshei