Mandal Vester-Risør (historic)
Town
View of the town
Mandal Location of the village Show map of Agder Mandal Mandal (Norway) Show map of Norway
Coordinates:58°01′36″N07°27′12″E / 58.02667°N 7.45333°E /58.02667; 7.45333
Country	Norway
Region	Southern Norway
County	Agder
Municipality	Lindesnes
Established as
Ladested	1632[1]
Kjøpstad	1921
Area [2]
• Total	6.63 km2 (2.56 sq mi)
Elevation [3]	1 m (3 ft)
Population  (2019)[2]
• Total	11,053
• Density	1,667/km2 (4,320/sq mi)
Demonym	Mandalitt
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Post Code	4501 Mandal

Mandal is atown inLindesnes municipality inAgder county,Norway. Mandal is the fourth largest town inAgder as well as theadministrative centre of Lindesnes municipality. It is located at the mouth of the riverMandalselva at the southern end of theMandalen valley. The 6.63-square-kilometre (1,640-acre) town has a population (2019) of 11,053 and apopulation density of 1,667 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,320/sq mi).^[2] In Norway, Mandal is considered aby which can be translated as either a "town" or "city" in English.

The town lies along theEuropean route E39 highway, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of the town ofKristiansand and about 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of the town ofFlekkefjord. Mandal has a few suburban villages lying just outside its borders such asIme immediately to the east andSånum to the southwest. The village ofKrossen lies about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the north, along theMandalselva river.

The area in which today's town of Mandal is located was not developed during theMiddle Ages. During the 1300s, a trading post calledVester-Risør grew up along the Skogsfjorden, just west of the present-day town. The town began when KingEric of Pomerania gave the town the right to tradesalmon. By the 1500s, Vesterrisør was a bustling port and trading centre, making it one of the oldest in Agder. In 1632, the trading post was givenladested rights, which included special trading privileges.^[1] During the mid-1600s, the name of the town was changed to Mandal.^[1] Salmon fishing and the timber industry pushed the town's growth even more during the 1700s. In 1779, the town's ladested status was formalized in the law.Mandal Church was completed in 1821 after the old church burned down in the town's fire of 1810.

On 1 January 1838, the smallladested was granted self-governing rights under the newformannskapsdistrikt law. In 1921, Mandal was designated as akjøpstad, giving it full town status under the law. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of theSchei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the town of Mandal (population: 5,446) was merged with the neighboring municipality ofHalse og Harkmark (population: 3,676) and most of the municipality ofHolum (population: 1,127) to form a new, larger municipality of Mandal. Today, the town is also a tourist destination, especially due to itsSjøsanden beach.^[4][5]

The town is named after the valley (and river) in which it is located:Mandalen. The nameMandal which comes from theOld Norse nameMarnardalr. The first element is thegenitive case of the river nameMǫrn (nowMandalselva) and the last element isdalr which means "valley" or "dale".^[5]

Prior to 1653, the town was namedVesterrisør (meaning "western Risør"). The name was originally referring to the islandRisøya outside the town, and the first element was added in the 16th century to distinguish it from the town ofØsterrisør (meaning "eastern Risør"), which is now simply calledRisør.

In 1838, theformannskapsdistrikt law granted towns municipal self-government. During this time, this municipality was governed by amunicipal council ofdirectly elected representatives. Themayor wasindirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[6]

Themayors (Norwegian:ordfører) of Mandal:^[7]

Themunicipal council(Bystyre) of Mandal was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by politicalparty.

• 
  View of part of the town center
• 
  View of the Vestnes area of Mandal
• 
  View of the bridge in Mandal
• 
  View of the town centre and beach area
• 
  View of theMandal Church

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forMandal.

• List of towns and cities in Norway

• Populated places in Agder
• Cities and towns in Norway
• Mandal, Norway
• Port cities and towns of the North Sea
• Port cities and towns in Norway
• 1632 establishments in Norway

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• CS1 Norwegian-language sources (no)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles containing Norwegian-language text
• Articles containing Old Norse-language text
• Articles containing Bokmål-language text