Esbjerg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Esbjerg is a municipality (Danish, kommune) in Ribe County on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 221 km², and has a total population of 82,312 (2005), which makes it Denmark's 5th biggest city. Its mayor is Johnny Søtrup, from the Venstre (Center-Right Party) political party.

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the city of Esbjerg.

Neighboring municipalities with land connection are Bramming to the southeast, Helle to the east, and Varde to the north. Neighboring municipalities to the west are Fanø, an island municipality located in Fanø Bay (Fanø Bugt) and Blåvandshuk, which is separated from Esbjerg by the waters of Ho Bay (Ho Bugt). These two bays define the municipality's western border. Beyond the island of Fanø and Fanø Bay is the North Sea.

Ferry service connects the municipality at the city of Esbjerg over Ho Bay to Nordby on the island of Fanø via Scandlines, and over the North Sea to Harwich, England via DFDS Seaways.

By January 1, 2007 Esbjerg municipality will, as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007), be merged with existing Bramming and Ribe municipalities to form the new Esbjerg municipality. This will create a municipality with an area of 741 km² and a total population of 114,097 (2005). The new municipality will belong to the new Region Syddanmark ("South Denmark Region").

The municipality is a large transport hub for both rail and highway traffic, and is an important port for Danish North Sea oil offshore activity. It has an airport, and is a center for machine building. The municipality has a number of museums, theatres (operas also of ballet, drama), and several libraries.

[edit] The city of Esbjerg

The city of Esbjerg was established around the harbour, which the state had built in 1868 as a replacement for that harbour in Altona that had previously been Denmark's most important North Sea harbour. In 1874 Esbjerg became connected by rail to Fredericia and Varde.

The city has been elected "City of the Year" twice. The first time was in 1997 where the city was awarded because of the corporate work between public and private companies. In 2006 the city was again awarded "City of the Year". The second award was given due to the work and support of young talents. The talents in sports, artwork and music have been given good support and given the best facilities to develop their talent even further. The city holds an annual music festival spanning 2 weekends (9 days) during mid-August and is focused around the central Torvet Square which hosts the main stage. The festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006.

The city was once Denmark's biggest fishing harbour, and the harbour is still an economic driving force in the town. Besides the fishing industry Esbjerg is also the main city for Denmark's oil and offshore activities. Companies like Mærsk Oil & Gas, Ramboll Oil & Gas, COWI and Atkins Denmark all have offshore related activities in the city.

Esbjerg is one of the central towns of the University of Southern Denmark, and is also home to a branch of Aalborg University.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Esbjerg

• Esbjerg's official information portal
• Esbjerg municipality's official website
• The new Esbjerg municipality's official website (Danish only)
• Esbjerg Tourism Bureau's website
• SDU Esbjerg
• AAU Esbjerg
• The Peace movement of Esbjerg

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 55.466° 8.4581°
  • Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps
  • Aerial image from TerraServer
  • Satellite image from WikiMapia

[edit] References

• Municipal statistics: NetBorger Kommunefakta, delivered from KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
• Municipal mergers and neighbors: Eniro new municipalities map