Falkenberg is a locality and the seat of Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, with 27,813 inhabitants in 2019 (out of a municipal total of about 45,000). It is located at the mouth of river Ätran. The name consists of the Swedish words for falcon (''falk'') and

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

(''berg''). Falkenberg is a popular tourist destination in the summers, and the main beach of the town is Skrea strand.

History

In the early part of the 13th century the Danish king built a fort on the east shore of the river Ätran, which eventually would give the town its name. Halland was at that time part of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It is known that falconry was pursued in the area. However, in Hallandia antiqua et hodierna, that specified a location ("mountain") where the falconry should have taken place, and which should have given name to the town, has later been shown to be incorrect. The area north of Ätran was from time to time Norwegian or Swedish. It was on this side that a market town developed. At around 1300 a church was built. From the 14th century until the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War,'' the ''Seven Years' War of the North'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), K ...

(1563—1570) a second town, ''Ny-Falkenberg'' (''New Falkenberg'') was located close to the town. The fort was destroyed by Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson's troops in 1434. The town gained market rights at the latest in 1558. Along with the rest of the Halland, Falkenberg was to be temporarily Swedish in accordance with the Treaty of Brömsebro (1645). The Treaty of Roskilde thirteen years later made the province permanently Swedish. For a long period it struggled to keep its privileges with regard to trade and jurisdiction from the Danish time. Also like the rest of the county, it only started to slowly industrialise in the late 19th century. The city of Falkenberg was transformed at the municipal reform in 1862 to a city municipality with smaller parts in surrounding country municipalities. In 1908, Herting was incorporated from Skrea Country Mommun, 1937 Arvidstorp from Stafsinge Country Commun and 1950 a small area from Vinberg's country municipality. In 1971, Falkenberg's city in Falkenberg's municipality and the resort is since its central town in the municipality. In the 20th century it has gained a reputation as a

seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...

Communications

Falkenberg is located along a traditional trade route along the Swedish west coast, about northwest of

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational urban areas of Sweden, city at the mouth of the Nissan (river), Nissan river, in the provinces of Sweden, province of Halland on the Sweden, Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat ...

, and south of

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. These transport needs are currently catered by European route E6, which runs as a dual carriageway just outside the town, and the West Coast Railway Line. County road 150 and County road 154 connect to Torup and Svenljunga. Falkenberg railway operated from the 1890s to the 1950s. The town has seven bus routes.

Areas of the town

Sport

The town hosts several teams at national level. The football team, Falkenbergs FF, has since the late 1980s established itself in the second division (currently Superettan). The

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

team, Falkenbergs BTK, has won ten national championships, as well as one European championship. In the early 2000s, Falkenbergs VBK developed to become one of the best

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

teams in the country and accordingly won the national championship 2007. BK Falkarna has played ten seasons in the top bowling league. Other sports clubs located in Falkenberg include: * Skrea IF * Arvidstorps IK * Vinbergs IF * Stafsinge IF * Rinia IF * IF Böljan Sport venues in the town include Falkenbergs IP, hosting Falkenbergs Idrottsklubb and IF Böljan, Falcon Alkoholfri Arena hosting Falkenbergs FF, Falkenberg Sports Centre, hosting Falkenbergs VBK and Klitterbadet, a bath house.

Buildings

* Falkenberg Church * Falkenberg Town Hall * Falkenberg Old Town Hall * Falkhallen * Saint Lawrence church

Notable people

* Annika Andersson, comedian * Per-Gunnar Andersson, racing driver * Bo Andersson, businessman * Rutger Backe, footballer * Zulmir Bečević, author * Emma Bengtsson, chef * Stellan Bengtsson, table tennis player * Nina Björk, author, journalist, feminist * Ulf "Tickan" Carlsson, table tennis player * Walter Dickson, author * Jojje Jönsson, actor * Erik "Spänst" Svensson, athlete * Frida Svensson, rower * Hans Svensson, rower * Carl-Johan Vallgren, author * Jan Widströmer, artist * Pär Zetterberg, football player * Leif "Gusten" Gustafsson, motorcycle racer * Jesper Karlsson, football player * Niclas Eliasson, football player * Olivia Schough, football player

Music groups

* Ablaze My Sorrow, death metal band * By Night, death metal/extreme metal band * Sonic Syndicate, melodic death metal/melodic metalcore band * Vains of Jenna, rock band

Sister cities

* Gniezno, Poland

References

* * https://kommun.falkenberg.se/om-kommunen/kommunen-i-siffror

External links

Falkenberg Municipality
{{Authority control Municipal seats of Halland County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Falkenberg Municipality Seaside resorts in Sweden Coastal cities and towns in Sweden Cities in Sweden fi:Falkenbergin kunta