Official Name: | Farsund |
Settlement Type: | Town |
Pushpin Map: | Agder#Norway |
Pushpin Label Position: | left |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of the village |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Norway |
Subdivision Name1: | Southern Norway |
Subdivision Name2: | Agder |
Subdivision Type3: | District |
Subdivision Name3: | Lister |
Subdivision Type4: | Municipality |
Subdivision Name4: | Farsund |
Utc Offset1: | +01:00 |
Utc Offset1 Dst: | +02:00 |
Established Title: | Established as |
Established Date: | |
Established Title1: | Ladested |
Established Date1: | 1795 |
Area Total Km2: | 2.96 |
Population As Of: | 2019 |
Population Total: | 9924 |
Population Density Km2: | 1140 |
Postal Code Type: | Post Code |
Postal Code: | 4550 Farsund |
Elevation M: | 4 |
Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
Coordinates: | 58.0947°N 6.8044°W |
is the administrative centre of Farsund municipality in Agder county, Norway. The town is located near the mouth of the Lyngdalsfjorden, about east of the village of Vanse.[2] Frelserens Church is the main church for the town. The 2.96km2 town has a population (2019) of 3,377 and a population density of .[3] In Norway, Farsund is considered a Norwegian: by which can be translated as either a "town" or "city" in English.
The village of Farsund grew up around a protected harbour on the Lyngdalsfjorden. It was a sheltered place for merchant ships to dock as opposed to the nearby ports at Lista or Lindesnes which were exposed to the open ocean. The merchant, Jochum Brinch Lund is often referred to as the founder of the town since he was instrumental in the village receiving ladested status in 1795, giving it special trading rights. Since then, Farsund became a very busy commercial and shipping port.
On 1 January 1838, the town of Farsund was established as a municipality of its own (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The small town existed on its own for many years. On 1 January 1903, a small area (population: 99), just outside the town of Farsund, was transferred into the town of Farsund from the neighboring municipality of Vanse. Again, in 1948 another small area (population: 64) was transferred into the town of Farsund from the neighboring municipality of Lista.
During the 1960s, there were many major municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the town of Farsund (population: 2,208) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Spind (population: 606), Herad (population: 359), and Lista (population: 4,544), creating a new, larger municipality of Farsund.[4]