Sandefjord

Sandefjord kommune
—  Municipality  —

Coat of arms
Vestfold within
Norway
Sandefjord within Vestfold
Coordinates:
Country Norway
County Vestfold
Administrative centre Sandefjord
Government
 • Mayor (2004) Bjørn Ole Gleditsch (H)
Area
 • Total 121 km2 (46.7 sq mi)
 • Land 119 km2 (45.9 sq mi)
Area rank 370 in Norway
Population (2011)
 • Total 43,648
 • Rank 16 in Norway
 • Density 338.8/km2 (877.5/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 11.5 %
Demonym Sandefjording[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-0706
Official language form Bokmål
Website www.sandefjord.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway
 
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sandefjord.  The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Sandar was merged into the municipality of Sandefjord on 1 January 1968.

Contents

General information

Name

The name originally belonged to the fjord (now called the Sandefjordsfjord). The first element is the genitive case of the name of the parish and former municipality of Sandar.[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 9 May 1914. The Viking ship symbolizes the famous Gokstad ship, that was found near Sandefjord in 1880, one of the best preserved Vikings ships known. The whale symbolizes the fact that in the late 19th and early 20th century, Sandefjord was a main home port for whalers operating in the southern oceans.[3]

History

Gokstad viking ship

One of the most important remains from the Viking age was found at the grave site Gokstadhaugen in Sandefjord. The Gokstad ship was excavated by Nicolay Nicolaysen and is now in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. The Viking, an exact replica of the Gokstad ship, crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Bergen to be exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago during 1893. A replica of Gokstad ship, called Gaia currently has Sandefjord as home port. Other known replicas include the Munin, (a half scale replica) located in Vancouver, BC.

Health resort

Sandefjord was formerly a famous health resort, with various kinds of baths for health improvement. Amongst these were salt water sea baths, mud and sulfur baths. Visitors included royalty, a prime minister, and some of Norway’s foremost cultural personalities. Around 50,000 people, mostly Norwegians, visited the bath from 1837 to 1939. Today the bath's building has been restored and now hosts cultural events and various activities.

Whaling and ships

From 1850, a number of ships from Sandefjord were whaling and sealing in the Arctic Ocean and along the coast of Finnmark. The first whaling expedition from Sandefjord to the Antarctic Ocean was sent in 1905. Towards the end of the 1920s, Sandefjord had a fleet of 15 factory ships and more than 90 whalers. In 1954, more than 2,800 men from the district were hired as crew on the whalers, but from the mid 1950s whaling was gradually reduced. The number of southbound expeditions rapidly decreased during the 1960s, and the 1967/68 season became the last for Sandefjord. The shipping industry was gradually readjusted from whaling to other ship types during this period. The local Framnæs Mekaniske Værksted and Jotun Group Private Ltd. had major roles in this business.

Today, the memories from this important period of the city's history are kept alive through the whaling museum (Hvalfangstmuseet). This museum is the only museum in Europe specializing in whales and the history of whaling. The history of the whalers can also be explored at the Museum's Wharf with a visit aboard the whale-catcher Southern Actor.

Sandefjord also has shipping traditions from tall sailing ships and steam ships. The full rigged sailing ship Christian Radich, three-masted barquentine Endurance, whale catcher Jason and Viking ship replica Viking were a few of the many ships built by Framnæs Mekaniske Værksted.

Geography

The two peninsulas called Østerøya ("Eastern Island") and Vesterøya ("Western Island") contribute to a total coastline of 146 kilometres (91 mi), and form the Sandefjordsfjord and Mefjord. The coastline offers a wide variety of sandy beaches, skerries, and islets (116 in total), along with bays and sloping rocks.

Of Sandefjord's total area, 37.7 square kilometres (14.6 sq mi) is agricultural and 36.2 square kilometres (14.0 sq mi) is forest. Neighbouring towns are Tønsberg and Larvik. A small part of Sandefjord (the Himberg farm) is lying as a exclave inside the borders of the municipality of Larvik.

Townscape

Sandefjord has a good selection of restaurants and cafés. According to the renowned restaurant guide, Salt & Pepper, Sandefjord holds what is possibly Norway’s best gourmet restaurant which is located in a modern building near the harbour. Also located at the harbour, is the fishmonger well known for the excellent quality of its goods and delicacies. Sandefjord has a charming city centre, consisting of a mixture of old and modern buildings and a wide selection of shops.

The whaling monument is located at the end of the city’s main street, Jernbanealléen, in the harbour area. Nearby is a restaurant called Kokeriet, one of the relatively few places where whale meat is regularly served.

Economy

Sandefjord is home to the paint producer Jotun, the brewery Grans Bryggeri, the chocolate factory Hval Sjokoladefabrikk, the engineering company Ramboll Oil & Gas, as well as three of Norway's largest online shops, Komplett.no, mpx.no, and netshop.no.

Transportation

Sandefjord Airport, Torp is located in the municipality. The ferries Bohus and Viking connect the town to Strömstad in Sweden. Sandefjord Airport Station is part of Vestfoldbanen. European route E18 traverses the municipality.

Culture and sports

The local football club, Sandefjord Fotball, plays in the Adeccoligaen (Norwegian First Division). Sandefjord handball won the men's Premier League in 2005-06. Marius Bakken is successful as a middle distance runner. Other local sports clubs include IL Runar and Sandefjord TIF.

Notable residents

Historical populations
Year Pop. ±%
1845 749 —
1951 6,717 +796.8%
1960 6,984 +4.0%
1970 31,752 +354.6%
1980 34,758 +9.5%
1990 35,888 +3.3%
2000 39,317 +9.6%
2010 43,126 +9.7%
Sandefjord and Sandar were merged in 1970. Source: SSB

Fredrik Nordahl Andersen, musician ( born 1981)

Pal Henrik-Kristiansen (1985-) Communication Researcher / Scholar

See also

References

  1. ^ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. http://www.sprakrad.no/nb-no/Sprakhjelp/Rettskrivning_Ordboeker/Innbyggjarnamn/. 
  2. ^ Rygh, Oluf (1907). Norske gaardnavne: Jarlsberg og Larviks amt (6 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 260. http://books.google.com/books?id=3YpBAAAAIAAJ.  (Norwegian)
  3. ^ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/s/sandefjo.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-15. 

External links
as of 2009, according to Statistics Norway [1]
1. Oslo 876,400
2. Bergen 227,800
3. Stavanger / Sandnes 189,800
4. Trondheim 157,100
5. Fredrikstad / S'borg1 101,700
6. Drammen 96,600
7. Skien / Porsgrunn 86,900
8. Kristiansand 67,500
9. Tromsø 55,100
10. Tønsberg 47,500
11. Ålesund 46,500
12. Haugesund 42,900
13. Moss 41,700
14. Sandefjord 40,800
15. Bodø 36,500
16. Arendal 32,400
17. Hamar 30,000
18. Larvik 23,900
19. Halden 23,000
20. Lillehammer 20,100
21. Harstad 19,500
22. Molde 19,400
23. Kongsberg 18,800
24. Gjøvik 18,700
25. Askøy 18,300
26. Horten 18,200
27. Mo i Rana 17,900
28. Kristiansund 17,000
29. Jessheim 15,300
30. Hønefoss 14,300
31. Narvik 13,900
32. Alta 13,600
33. Elverum 13,500
34. Askim 13,100
35. Ski 12,900
36. Drøbak 12,400
37. Nesoddtangen 11,600
38. Steinkjer 11,500
39. Leirvik 11,400
40. Vennesla 11,400
41. Kongsvinger 11,400
42. Stjørdalshalsen 10,800
1 Sarpsborg.