is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

and the

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

of Kinn,

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, whe ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The town was founded by royal

decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used f ...

in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjorden. Florø is Norway's (and thus the

Scandinavian Peninsula The Scandinavian Peninsula ( sv, Skandinaviska halvön; no, Den skandinaviske halvøy (Bokmål) or nn, Den skandinaviske halvøya; fi, Skandinavian niemimaa) is a peninsula located in Northern Europe, which roughly comprises the mainlands ...

's) westernmost town. It is the most western town on the mainland in the Nordic countries. The town has a population (2018) of 9,024 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

of . The town encompasses the entire island of Florelandet and the western half of the island of Brandsøya. The

Norwegian national road Norwegian national roads (Norwegian: Riksvei/Riksveg abbr. Rv; literally: road of the rike/realm), are roads thus categorized by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen) which also maintains them. In 2007 there were of this c ...

Rv 5 is the main road connecting Florø to the rest of Norway. The nearby villages of Brandsøy and Grov lie several kilometers to the east of Florø. The islands of Reksta, Kinn, Skorpa lie several kilometers to the west of the town. Florø is also home to Florø Airport and

Florø Church Florø Church ( no, Florø kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in the municipality of Kinn, Vestland, Norway. It is located in the town of Florø. It is the main church for the Kinn parish, which is part of the Sunnfjord pro ...

. Florø is also a former municipality that existed as an independent town-municipality for just over 100 years (1860-1964) before being merged into the municipality of Flora. On 1 January 2020, the town became part of the new Kinn Municipality after another municipal merger.

Name

The municipality is named after the farm ''Flora'' ( non, Flóðra) since the town of Florø was built on its ground in 1860. The name is probably derived from ''flóð'' which means "(strong) stream". The name of the town and former municipality of Florø has the same name, but instead of ending with an "a", it has the Danish word ''ø'' meaning "

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

" added to the end since the town is located on an island.

History

Florø was founded as a

''( ladested)'' in 1860. Shortly after its founding, on 3 January 1861, it was removed from the (now) former municipality of Kinn and made into a municipality of its own with a population of 846. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee ( no, Schei-komitéen) was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWI ...

. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Florø (population: 2,040) was merged with Eikefjord (population: 919), Kinn (population: 3,567), the parts of Bru located north of the

Førde Fjord Førde Fjord ( no, Førdefjorden) is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. It is the longest of all the fjords in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. Førdefjorden passes through the municipalities of Sunnfjord, Askvoll, and Kinn. The fjord ...

(population: 1,155), the Husefest and Breivik areas of

Bremanger Bremanger is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village of Svelgen is the administrative centre of the municipality. Other villages include Bremanger, Berle, Davik, Isane, Kalvåg, Svelgen, Rugsund, and Ålfoten. Bremanger is the ...

(population: 9), and the Steindal area of Vevring (population: 25) to form the newly created municipality of

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

. On 1 January 2020, Flora was one of the municipalities that merged into a newly re-created Kinn municipality, much larger than the Kinn that existed until 1964.

Economy

The basis for the foundation of the town was the rich

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocea ...

fisheries, symbolised by the three herrings in the town's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

is still an important part of the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with t ...

, in addition to

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roo ...

and service industries. After the discovery of petroleum in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

in the 1960s, Florø has been used as a supply base for the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (of ...

Government

Municipal council

The

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

of Florø was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Floro Kinn Cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Vestland 1860 establishments in Norway Port cities and towns in Norway Port cities and towns of the North Sea