is a town 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, Lu ...

of the municipality of Kinn, Vestland, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree 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 Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. The town has a population (2018) of 9,024 and a population density of . The town encompasses the entire island of Florelandet and the western half of the island of Brandsøya. The Norwegian national road Rv 5 is the main road connecting Florø to the rest of Norway. The nearby villages of

Brandsøy Brandsøy is a village in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on both sides of small strait that separates the east end of the island of Brandsøya and the mainland. The village sits along the Norwegian National Road 5 h ...

and Grov lie several kilometers to the east of Florø. The islands of

Reksta Reksta is an island in the municipality of Kinn in Vestland country, Norway. The island lies about west of the town of Florø in a large group of inhabited islands. Reksta sits about east of the island of Kinn, about north of the island of As ...

, Kinn, Skorpa lie several kilometers to the west of the town. Florø is also home to Florø Airport and Florø Church. 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" added to the end since the town is located on an island.

History

Florø was founded as a town ''( 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. 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. 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 Oceans, i ...

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

, symbolised by the three herrings in the town's coat of arms. Fishing is still an important part of the economy, in addition to shipbuilding and service industries. After the discovery of petroleum in the North Sea in the 1960s, Florø has been used as a supply base for the petroleum industry.

Government

Municipal council

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