The 270-square-kilometre (100 sq mi) municipality is the 273rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Arendal is the 24th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 45,891. The municipality'spopulation density is 179.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (466/sq mi) and its population has increased by 5.9% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
The town of Arendal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (seeformannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1875, a small area with 22 inhabitants was transferred from the town to the neighboring municipality ofØstre Moland and another small area with 52 residents was transferred to the neighboring municipality ofØyestad.[7]
On 1 January 1902, the rural municipality ofBarbu (population: 6,787) was merged into the town of Arendal. In 1944, a small area ofMoland with a population of 21 inhabitants was transferred to Arendal as well. On 1 January 1992, the town was vastly expanded. The neighboring rural municipalities ofHisøy (pop: 4,026),Moland (pop: 8,148),Tromøy (pop: 4,711), andØyestad (pop: 8,679) were all merged with the town of Arendal which had a population of 12,478, bringing the total population of the new municipality of Arendal to 38,042.[7]
TheOld Norse form of the name was probablyArnardalr. The first element is thegenitive case ofǫrn which means "eagle". The last element isdalr which means "valley" or "dale", thus meaning the "valley of the eagle".[4]
Thecoat of arms was granted on 7 November 1924 (based upon an older seal). Theblazon is"Per fess,Azure with a three-masted ship argent over barry wavy of sevenargent andazure". This means the arms have a bluefield (background) and thecharge is an 18th-century, three-mastedsailing ship above seven, thin, wavy stripes. The charge has atincture ofargent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms usually have a goldmural crown above the shield. The design was chosen as a symbol for the importance offisheries andsailing 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 theship in the upper part and a landscape with thecoat of arms of Norway in the base of theshield. The arms were designed by Miss C. Aubert who based it off a draft by Fred Barth. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[8][9][10]
The village of Arendal was established in the middle of the 16th century, and was then calledArendall. Initially, it had no formal town status.
When the town ofChristianssand was founded by KingChristian IV in 1641, he granted the citizens a monopoly on all trade inNedenæs andLister og Mandal counties (including the area of Arendal). This grant, intended to subsidize Christianssand and its fortifications, placed existing towns in a difficult position. Both towns and the peasants in the rural countryside 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 Christianssand.
The town of Arendal was givenmarket 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 inDenmark, in theBaltic, and inGreat 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 greatpoverty 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 Christianssand and Arendal came to an apparent end in 1768 by royalproclamation. But the problems did not end then; a farmer,Christian Jensen Lofthuus, in nearbyVestre 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, andtimber trade as well asmining andironworks were important branches of industry in Nedenæs county for many centuries, especially in the Arendal region. Frequent contacts with the world abroad put their mark on the local culture and traditions. In 1880, it was the country'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. However, this came to an end following the 1886Arendal crash, in whichAxel Nicolai Herlofson had defrauded many bank customers in the city, leading to bankruptcies and extreme unemployment.[11] At one point in the middle of the 18th century, Arendal was one of Norway's biggest mining towns. The main production consisted ofiron ore andmagnetite.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, when thousands of Norwegians sought to take advantage of the more stable economic climate of theUnited 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 asBrooklyn,Port Richmond (Staten Island), and several industrial centers in northernNew Jersey such asJersey City,Bayonne,Perth Amboy, andElizabeth. In 1939, Arendal had the 4th largest Norwegiantanker fleet; onlyOslo,Bergen, andStavanger were larger.
Today, the town has small boat manufacturing, mechanical industry, electronics industry, as well as one of the world's largestsilicon carbide refining plants.
The municipality had a prison (Arendal Prison), howeverAgder Prison opened in 2020; Arendal Prison was sold the next year.[13]
Themunicipal council (Kommunestyre) of Arendal is made up of 39 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by politicalparty.
The municipality is bordered to the southwest byGrimstad, to the northwest byFroland, to the northeast byTvedestrand, and to the southeast by theSkaggerak. The lakeRore is located on the Grimstad border along with the riverNidelva.
Arendal is the geologictype locality of the mineralBabingtonite, which was first described from specimens discovered here in 1824.[41]
The coastal municipality includes several populated islands such asHisøya,Tromøya,Merdø,Flostaøya, andTverrdalsøya as well as many unpopulated or sparsely populated islands such asÆrøya. The island ofMerdø was a major export port in the 17th and 18th centuries and now has amuseum, a kiosk, and several beaches. There is regular boat service from Arendal to the island every day during the summer season.
In 2018 the service sector had 82% of the jobs in the municipality.[42] As of 2020, part of the site forEyde Energipark, anindustrial park, has been leveled: 100maal or 100,000 sq.m. has beenleveled for the first phase of construction of abattery factory (for car batteries and ship batteries), scheduled for 2023.[43][44]
In the middle of thetown centre of Arendal 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 called "Pollen", where the fish market, pubs, and restaurants are located.Trinity Church dominates the skyline of this area.
Arendal has grown from a traditional sleepy summer-town (with culture activities just in the summer) to a more "all year" city.[citation needed] The building of the new library and the combinedcity hall/concert house has greatly improved culture life.
TheStore Torungen Lighthouse is located on the island ofStore Torungen 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.
TheLille Torungen Lighthouse is situated on the small island ofLille Torungen 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 Arendalshipping lane.
Strømsbo gård is a manor house on a historic farm located west of the center of Arendal. The manor dates from the 1760s. From 1804 the manor and farm were owned by members of the Herlofson family. Peter Herlofson took over the farm and gave the building its present form. In 1883, Axel Herlofsen (1845–1910) built the Strømsbo steam sawmill at the head of Strømsbubukt. Nicolai Benjamin Herlofson (1876–1945), former mayor of Arendal, was born and raised at Strømsbo.[45]
Canal Street is Arendals yearlyjazz andblues festival 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.
From 2007 until 2014, theHove Festival was located on the island ofTromøy just outside Arendal town. It was the largest festival scene in Norway the debut year, and it has an audience capacity of up to 25,000.
The municipality organises general practitioner services, such as the primary doctor scheme, accident and emergency departments, physiotherapy, public health centers and school medical services, home nursing care, midwifery services and nursing homes or living arrangements for around-the-clock nursing and care. Sørlandet Hospital has a visiting location in Arendal and offers specialist health services in somatics, psychiatry and addiction treatment.
The climate along the southern coast is temperate. Arendal has a significant amount of rainfall during the year. This is true, even for the driest month. The climate here is classified as temperate oceanic (Cfb by theKöppen-Geiger system). The all-time low is from January 1942, and the all-time high is from June 1995. The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below 0 °C (32.0 °F)) in spring is 11 April[51] and average date for first freeze in autumn is 17 November[52] giving a frost-free season of 219 days (1981-2010 average for Torungen). The data is from Torungen, a coastal station. Only slightly further inland, the winters get colder and the summer days get warmer. With southeasterly airflow in winter, the area can get heavy snowfall,[53] which can interrupt traffic. However, the snow rarely lasts long along the coast.
Climate data for Arendal 1991-2020 (12 m, Torungen lighthouse, precipitation days 1961-90, extremes 1877-2020)
The area around Arendal was the location for the 1997Lille Lørdag series "Min drømmeserie" starringHarald Eia andBård Tufte Johansen.The 2013 Disney filmFrozen is set in a fictional kingdom named Arendelle, which is derived from and loosely based on the city of Arendal.
