A kjøpstad (historically kjøbstad , kjöbstad , or kaupstad , from Old Norse : kaupstaðr ) is an old Scandinavian term for a " market town " in Denmark–Norway for several hundred years. Kjøpstads were places of trade and exporting materials (e.g. timber, flour, iron and other common goods). Towns were given the " dignity " or rank of being referred to as a kjøpstad when they reached a certain population. They had an established means of industry and other notable items, such as dockyards, steam mills, forges, churches, and grammar schools. The citizens of a kjøpstad could buy and sell goods and conduct other economic activities .
20-581: Fosnavåg is a town in the municipality of Herøy in Møre og Romsdal county , Norway . It is the administrative center of the municipality of Herøy. The town is located on the island of Bergsøya , and it includes the Eggesbønes area on the south side of the island. Fosnavåg is connected to the nearby village of Kvalsund on the island of Nerlandsøya via the Nerlandsøy Bridge to
40-408: A bykommune (urban municipality) or herredskommune (rural municipality). This distinction was rescinded by The Local Government Act of 1992. Between 1960 and 1965 many Norwegian municipalities were merged. For instance when the urban municipality Brevik merged with the urban municipality Porsgrunn and the rural municipality Eidanger , the new municipality was called Porsgrunn and it kept
60-509: A town or city –there is no distinction between the two words as there is in English. Historically, the designation of town/city was granted by the king, but since 1996 that authority was given to the local municipal councils for each municipality in Norway. In Norway today, there are 108 towns/cities, but they have no legal authority or powers and they are not an administrative body, it
80-569: A local economic base for constructing fortifications and a population for the area's defence. It also restricted the Hanseatic League merchants from trading in places other than those designated. King Olaf established a market town in Bergen in the 11th century, and it soon became the residence of many wealthy families. Import and export were to be conducted only through market towns to allow oversight of commerce and to simplify
100-705: A major home for various maritime companies ranging from fishing to shipping , including ship building . Havila Shipping and Rem Offshore are two of the large companies based here. The municipality's secondary school and the main Herøy Church are both also located here. The newspaper Vestlandsnytt is based in Fosnavåg. List of towns and cities in Norway This is a list of towns and cities in Norway . The Norwegian language word by means
120-502: A municipality number in which the third digit was a zero and rural municipalities were given other numbers. In 1952 the special classifications of for towns/cities (kjøpstad, bergstad, and ladested) were entirely rescinded from the law and replaced by the simple classification of by . Starting on 1 January 1965, the government's focus was moved from the individual towns/cities to their corresponding municipalities. All Norwegian towns/cities and rural municipalities were classified as either
140-430: Is simply a designation. All local government rests with the municipality which may or may not have a town/city located within it. Historically, the words kjøpstad ( market town ), ladested (small seaport), or bergstad were used for a town or city. Each of these were granted certain special rights based on their classification and they did hold administrative authority within their borders. A ladested
160-428: The city of Oslo , Oslo Municipality , and Oslo County are all one unified unit of government. Ladested Norway also had a subordinate category to the market town , the "small seaport" ( Norwegian : ladested or lossested ). These were ports or harbours with a monopoly to import and export goods and materials in both the port and a surrounding outlying district. These places were usually subordinate to
180-549: The city status was awarded by the king and Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development . Since then, the status of town/city is decided by each municipal council and then it is formally accepted by the state. Since 1997, a municipality must have a minimum of 5,000 inhabitants in order to declare city status for one of its settlements. In 1999, the municipal council of Bardu Municipality declared city status for Setermoen , only to be rejected because
200-421: The ability to set up a town council just like the other cities and rural municipalities in the country. Most kjøpstads and ladesteds did this immediately, although some did not. Norwegian "market towns" died out and were replaced by free markets during the 19th century. During the 1950s, there were 44 kjøpstads and 20 ladesteds that had their town councils in Norway. In 1952, the legal distinctions for both
220-408: The cities of today which got this status before 1996, Tvedestrand with 1,983 inhabitants is the smallest. On another note, the laws of 1996 allowed some settlements which lost their city status in the 1960s to regain it. Oslo , founded in the 11th century, is the largest city and also the capital of Norway. Oslo is the only city in Norway that is consolidated with its municipality and county, thus
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#1732800737961240-423: The imposition of excise taxes and customs duties . This practice encouraged growth in areas with strategic significance, providing a local economic base for constructing fortifications and a sufficient population to defend the area. It also restricted Hanseatic League merchants from trading in areas other than those designated. Under the 1838 formannskapsdistrikt law, kjøpstads and ladesteds were granted
260-446: The municipal council voted to give Fosnavåg " town status ". This means that ships harbored in Fosnavåg can be registered here instead of in other nearest towns like Ålesund and Ulsteinvik . The 3.11-square-kilometre (770-acre) town has a population (2018) of 3,621 and a population density of 1,164 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,010/sq mi). Previously functioning mainly as an important fishing port, Fosnavåg has now become
280-583: The municipality fell short of the population limit. One exception is Honningsvåg in Nordkapp Municipality , where the municipality actually has less than 5,000 inhabitants but declared city status before the limit was implemented by law in 1997. Because of the new laws in 1996-1997, Norway witnessed a rapid rise in the number of cities after that time. A number of relatively small settlements are now called by , such as Brekstad with 1,828 inhabitants and Kolvereid with 1,448 inhabitants. Among
300-472: The municipality number for Porsgrunn. As a result, Brevik was no longer considered an urban municipality/town. On another note, when the urban municipality Hønefoss was merged with the rural municipalities Hole , Norderhov , Tyristrand , and Ådal to form the new municipality of Ringerike , Ringerike retained the old municipality number of Hønefoss meaning that it retained its town/city status. The same thing happened to Egersund and Florø . Before 1996,
320-457: The nearest kjøpstad. Typically, these were locations for exporting timber and importing grain and goods. Local farm goods and timber sales were all required to pass through merchants at either a small seaport ( ladested ) or a market town ( kjøpstad ) before export, which encouraged local merchants to ensure trading went through them, which was so effective in limiting unsupervised sales (smuggling) that customs revenues increased from less than 30% of
340-561: The total tax revenues in 1600 to more than 50% of the total taxes by 1700. Norway developed market towns at a much later period than other parts of Europe. The reasons for this late development are complex but include the sparse population, lack of urbanisation, no real manufacturing industries, and no cash economy. The first kjøpstads date back to the 11th and 12th centuries when the King of Norway sought to centralise commerce in specific places that offered strategic significance, providing
360-663: The west. Fosnavåg is connected to the east by a small bridge to the island of Leinøya , which in turn is connected to the islands of Remøya and Runde via the Remøy Bridge and Runde Bridge . The village of Eggesbønes lies south of the town along the shore of the Herøyfjord , just north of the Flåvær islands and the Flåvær Lighthouse . The large island of Gurskøya lies south of Fosnavåg. On 7 June 2002,
380-423: Was actually 2 towns: Bragernes and Strømsø). All of the ladested places on this list were later upgraded to kjøpstads . During the 1800s, urbanization took hold in Norway and many new towns/cities were added. The special trading rights for towns/cities were abolished in 1857. In 1946, Norwegian municipalities were each assigned a municipality number , a four-digit codes based on ISO 3166-2:NO . Towns/cities got
400-508: Was subordinate to a kjøpstad and over time some of the ladesteds were "upgraded" to the status of kjøpstad in order to gain more trading rights. In 1665, Norway had 20 towns. There were 9 full market towns ( kjøpstad ): Bergen, Oslo, Trondheim, Tønsberg, Stavanger, Skien, Fredrikstad, Halden, and Kristiansand. There were two mountain towns { bergstad ): Kongsberg and Røros. There were 9 market seaports ( ladested ): Larvik, Moss, Porsgrunn, Molde, Kragerø, Risør, Holmestrand, Mandal, and Drammen (which
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