Hafrsfjord or Hafrsfjorden is a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

in the

Stavanger Peninsula Stavanger Peninsula ( no, Stavangerhalvøya) is a peninsula in Rogaland County, Norway. The peninsula is named for the city of Stavanger, located on its northeastern shore and it includes the most populous parts of the Greater Stavanger urban ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county,

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 long fjord forms the border between the municipalities of

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

and

Sola Sola is a municipality and a Seaside resort in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Solakrossen. Other villages include Tananger, Hålandsm ...

. On the west side of the fjord is the large village of

Tananger Tananger is a large village and urban area in Sola municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The urban area is located on the west side of the Stavanger Peninsula between the North Sea and the Hafrsfjorden. It lies about southwest of the city ...

, on the south is the village of

Solakrossen Solakrossen or Sola is the administrative center of Sola municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located at the south end of the Hafrsfjorden on the Stavanger Peninsula, just northwest of the Sandnes (town), city of Sandnes. The ...

, and on the east end of the fjord is the borough of

Madla Madla is a borough of the city of Stavanger which lies in the southwestern part of the large municipality of Stavanger in Rogaland county, Norway. It lies in the western part of the city, along the coast of the Hafrsfjorden. The borough has a ...

in the city of Stavanger. The Møllebukta bay area, located on the innermost part of the fjord, is the site of a popular beach and the Sverd i Fjell statues. The only bridge over the fjord is the

Hafrsfjord Bridge Hafrsfjord or Hafrsfjorden is a fjord in the Stavanger Peninsula in Rogaland county, Norway. The long fjord forms the border between the municipalities of Stavanger and Sola. On the west side of the fjord is the large village of Tananger, on th ...

which runs between

Kvernevik Kvernevik is a neighborhood (''delområde'') in the city of Stavanger which lies in the southwestern part of the large municipality of Stavanger in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Madla, located at the mouth of the Hafrsfjo ...

in Stavanger and Jåsund in the village of Tananger in Sola. Hafrsfjord is also the name of a neighbourhood (''delområde'') in the borough of

in the city of Stavanger. It has a population of 4,003, distributed on an area of . Hafrsfjord is also the location of the KNM Harald Hårfagre, the Basic Training Establishment for the

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, 3 ...

. The camp had been used for military purposes since 1871 and in 1934 it was renamed Madlaleiren. In 1952, Parliament decided that the Navy's boot camp would be added to the camp and also that the Navy would formally take over the camp. Three years later, the camp was named KNM Harald Hårfagre. Today KNM Harald Hårfagre is the principal training camp for both the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Officer Candidate School for the Navy moved the intake and basic education from

Horten is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the town of Åsgårdstrand an ...

to KNM Harald Hårfagre during the summer of 2005.

Battle of Hafrsfjord

Historically, the Hafrsfjorden was principally known for its association with the Battle of Hafrsfjord (''Slaget i Hafrsfjord''). King Harald "Fairhair", the first king of Norway, won a great naval battle during the year 872 which resulted in the unification of Norway into one kingdom. The battle paved the way for Harald to gain control over most of western coast of Norway and rightly call himself king of the country. In 1983, a monument by Norwegian sculptor and artist

Fritz Røed Fritz Røed (15 August 1928 – 20 December 2002) was a Norwegian sculptor. He is most associated with his work, '' Sverd i fjell'', the commemorative monument that symbolizes the unification of the nation of Norway. Biography Røed was bo ...

was raised in Møllebukta at the northeasternmost end of the Hafrsfjorden. The monument is called Sverd i Fjell (Swords in Rock) and represents the Battle of Hafrsfjord. The crowns on the top of the swords represent the three districts that participated in the battle.''Fritz Røed'' (Store norske leksikon)
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Name

The modern form of the name should be ''Haffjorden'', but because of its historical significance the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

form of the name has been revived. The first element is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of ''hafr'' which means 'male

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

' and ''fjord'' means 'fjord'. ''Hafr'' might have been the name of a skerry at the narrow entrance of the fjord.

References

External links

Heimskringla - Battle in Hafrsfjord
{{Authority control Fjords of Rogaland Boroughs and neighbourhoods of Stavanger Jæren Sola