Orkanger is a

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

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 Orkland municipality in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

. The town is also a former municipality which existed from 1920 until 1963. The town sits at the end of the

Orkdal Fjord Orkdal Fjord is a branch of the Trondheim Fjord located in Orkland and Skaun municipalities in Trøndelag county, Norway. The Orkdal Fjord starts between Viggja village on the southeast side of the fjord and the village of Geitastrand on the nort ...

, an arm of the

Trondheimsfjord The Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjorden (), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's third-longest fjord at long. It is located in the west-central part of the country in Trøndelag county, and it stretches from the municipality of Ørland i ...

. Orkanger is the commercial centre of the municipality of Orkland and it is the site of the

Orkanger Church Orkanger Church ( no, Orkanger kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Orkland municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the town of Orkanger, near the shore of the Trondheimsfjorden. It is the church for the Orkange ...

. It was established as a "town" in 2014. Combined with the neighbouring suburban village of

Fannrem Fannrem is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the Orkla River about south of the urban area of Orkanger, Thamshavn, and Råbygda, and about north of the village of Vormstad. D ...

, the

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most cas ...

constitutes one of the largest urban areas in

county. The town has a population (2018) of 8,204 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

of . Just north of Orkanger lies the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

Thamshavn Thamshavn or Thamshamn is a small port village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is the site of the port for the town of Orkanger and the ferrosilicon plant Elkem Thamshavn. It is located right along European route E3 ...

. Until 1974, Orkanger had a station on the

Thamshavn Line , logo = , logo_width = , logo_alt = , image_name = Bårdshaug stasjon.jpeg , image_width = , image_alt = , caption = Passenger train at Bårdshaug Station in 191 ...

railway with the

Thamshavn Station Thamshavn Station ( no, Thamshavn stasjon) is a former railway station on the Thamshavn Line, located at Thamshavn, a port area just northeast of the town of Orkanger in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located alo ...

just north of the town. The railway line closed for passenger traffic in 1963 but continued to transport ore from

Løkken Verk Løkken Verk (sometimes just called Løkken) is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located south of the village of Svorkmo, east of the village of Bjørnli, and north of the municipal center of Mel ...

to the Thamshavn port until 1974 when the line was closed to all traffic. The line through most of Orkanger was dismantled following the closure, but about of the original line from Bårdshaug to Løkken Verk has been re-opened as a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

. Between 1908 and 1949 there was a steam ship service to Trondheim on the SS ''Orkla''. The

European route E39 European route E39 is the designation of a north–south road in Norway and Denmark from Klett, just south of Trondheim, to Aalborg via Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand. In total, there are nine ferries, more than any other single road in Eur ...

highway runs through the town, connecting it to the major city of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

, about to the northeast.

Industry

Orkanger is one of the most important industrial centres in Trøndelag. The industrial sites are mainly located in the Grønøra area, just west of the mouth of the

Orkla Orkla may refer to: Places * Orkla (river), a river in Trøndelag county, Norway Business * Orkla Group (or ''Orkla ASA''), a large Norwegian company * Orkla Mining Company, a historic company in Norway * Orkla Metall, a former smelting company i ...

river. Technip Offshore Norge AS,

Reinertsen Reinertsen is a civil engineering, construction, and petroleum industry supply company based in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1946 and remains family-owned. Its CEO is Erik Reinertsen and chairman is Torkil R. Reinertsen. In 2011, ...

, and the foundry Elkem Thamshavn AS are the main operators in the area. A chipboard factory operated in Orkanger from 1959 until 1976.

History

The urban area of Orkanger was established as a municipality on 1 July 1920 when it was separated from

Orkdal Orkdal is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipali ...

municipality. Initially, it had a population of 1,715. The municipality encompassed the urban area and some of the surrounding countryside. It was an important

, but it did not have the designation of a

at that time. 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. It convened in 1946, and its formal name was (The 1946 Committee on Munici ...

. On 1 January 1963, the municipality of Orkanger ceased to exist and it was merged into the larger municipality of

. Prior to the merger, Orkanger had 2,874 residents. In 2014, the municipality of Orkdal declared Orkanger to be a "town".

Municipal council

During its time as an independent municipality, 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 counc ...

of Orkanger was made up of 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 featu ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Name

The name "Orkanger" is composed of the name "Ork", which stems from the lake Orkelsjøen from which the river

runs. The second element of the name (

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

: ''angr'') means "narrow

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, Icel ...

Gallery

File:Orkanger 02.jpg, Orkanger seen towards northwest. By Åge Hojem, Trondheim havn. File:Orkanger 03.jpg, Orkanger seen towards north, with

in the background. By Åge Hojem, Trondheim havn. File:Orkanger 04.jpg, Orkanger seen towards southwest. By Åge Hojem, Trondheim havn. File:Orkanger havn 02.jpg, Orkanger harbour and Grønøra industrial area. By Åge Hojem, Trondheim havn.

References