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Hammerfest or Hámmárfeasta is a town that is also 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
Hammerfest Municipality Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerfe ...
in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the northwestern coast of the island of Kvaløya, just north of the village of Rypefjord and southwest of the village of Forsøl. The town has a population (2017) of 8,052 which gives the town a population density of . The town has an ice-free harbor, including the nearby island of Melkøya which is home to a
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon di ...
processing station. It processes gas from the Snøhvit gas field in the
Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
. Rypefjord is a suburb to the south of the town. The main church for the town and municipality is Hammerfest Church. The " midnight sun" is above the horizon from 15 May to 31 July, and the period with continuous daylight lasts a bit longer.
Polar night The polar night is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours that occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnig ...
, on the other hand, lasts from 23 November to 19 January. The town is visited by
cruise ships Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "sho ...
from all over the world each summer. In 2016, there were about 19,000 tourists who visited the town of Hammerfest. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in Norway with a population above 5,000 people. Towns in Norway must have a population above 5,000 for that legal distinction. The nearby town of
Honningsvåg , other_name = , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = Honningsvåg-01.jpg , image_caption = View of the city , pushpin_map = Finnmark#Nor ...
in Norway is further north, but it has fewer than 5,000 inhabitants (it was declared to be a town due to a technicality in the law at the time). This is a point of contention between the two towns who both claim to be the northernmost town in Norway. Hammerfest also claims to the world's northernmost "town" with over 5,000 inhabitants, although there are many smaller "
northernmost settlements The most northern settlements on Earth are communities close to the North Pole, ranging from about 70° N to about 89° N. This is a list showing all of the northernmost settlements on Earth, which are all south of latitude 90° N. There are no ...
" in the world.


History

*1684: Hammerfest gets its first church: Hammerfest Church. The population is around 60 people. *1764: Russia begins to send ships with grain to Hammerfest, the so-called
Pomor trade Pomor trade (from rus, Поморье, r=pomorje, p=pɐˈmorʲjɪ; ''po'' «by» and ''more'' «ocean»; «area by the ocean», the same word is the basis for Pomerania), is the trade carried out between the Pomors of Northwest Russia and the ...
. *17 July 1789: Hammerfest receives "
town status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...
" *1792: The first doctor arrives in Hammerfest. *1807–1814: The city is ravaged by plague and wars. The blockade by the British vessels during the Napoleonic Wars lead to major food shortages. *1809: The city is looted by two British
brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...
s. *1839: Hammerfest's first firefighter is employed. *1859: The first lighthouse in Finnmark is constructed: Fuglenes Lighthouse. *1868: The first water plant in the town is built. *1870: A
telegraph station Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
, which is used by all of Finnmark, is built. *1890: Two-thirds of the city is destroyed by fire. *1891: Reconstruction of the city begins. A Methodist chapel is opened. *1891: Hammerfest becomes the first town in Norway and Northern Europe with electric
streetlights A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution ...
. *1940: After the
German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...
the German Navy used the harbor of the city as a base. *14 February 1944: A Soviet aircraft bombed the city for the first time, but the damage was small. *29 August 1944: A similar, but far more powerful air assault, a number of buildings and streets in the city and ships on the harbour were destroyed. When the Germans retreated, they finalized the destruction. *November 1944: the Germans began systematically burning all the settlements in Finnmark, including Hammerfest. *February 1945: citizens are forcibly evacuated by the German authorities. Only one building was left standing, a burial chapel. This was built in 1937 and is the oldest house still existing in the town. *1989: Hammerfest celebrates its 200th anniversary as a city. *2003: Melkøysund Tunnel is completed connecting the town to the island of Melkøya. *2007: The Snøhvit plant on Melkøya becomes operational in September. It is the biggest industrial development in Northern Norway.


Municipal history

The municipality called '' Hammerfest by og landdistrikt'' was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It included the town of Hammerfest and the vast rural district surrounding it. The law required that all towns should be separated from their rural districts, but because of low population, and very few voters, this was impossible to carry out for Hammerfest in 1838. (This was also the case in the towns of
Vadsø Vadsø (; sme, Čáhcesuolu; fkv, Vesisaari) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark County, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vadsø, which was the administrative centre of the former Finnmark county. Othe ...
and
Vardø ( fi, Vuoreija, fkv, Vuorea, se, Várggát) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, more to the east than Saint Petersburg or Istanbul. The admi ...
.) In 1839, the northern district (population: 498) was separated to become the new municipality of Maasø. This left ''Hammerfest by og landdistrikt'' with 2,024 residents. On 1 January 1852, Hammerfest was divided. The rural district outside of the town (population: 1,256) became the new municipality of Hammerfest landdistrikt. This left just the town remaining in what was once a vast municipality of Hammerfest. The town at this time had 1,125 residents. (The rural district was later divided into two municipalities with Sørøysund in the north and Kvalsund in the south.) On 1 January 1992, the town of Hammerfest (population: 6,909) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Sørøysund (population: 2,341) to form a new, larger
Hammerfest Municipality Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerfe ...
.


Climate


Media gallery

7138. Hammerfest (6350287952).jpg, Hammerfest 2015 01.jpg, Hammerfest Norwegen.jpg, Hammerfest.jpg, Hammerfest - panoramio (1).jpg, Melkøya Hammerfest - panoramio.jpg, NO-Hammerfest-ev-kirche-hafen.jpg, NO-Kammerfest-kirche-museum.jpg, Hammerfest 1925 Wilse.jpeg, 1925 Hammerfest1800.JPG, From St. Hanshaugen Hammerfest Norway.jpg, Hammerfest - no-nb digifoto 20150128 00041 NB MIT FNR 15391.jpg, before 1955


See also

*
List of towns and cities in Norway Below is a list of towns and cities in Norway. The Norwegian word for town or city is ''by''. Cities were formerly categorized as ''kjøpstad'' (market town) or '' ladested'' (small seaport), each with special rights. The special trading rights fo ...


References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Norway Port cities and towns in Norway Populated places of Arctic Norway