Fanø () is a Danish island in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

off the coast of southwestern

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 ...

, and is the very northernmost of the

Danish Wadden Sea Islands The Danish Wadden Sea Islands () are a group of islands on the western coast of Jutland, Denmark. They have belonged to the region of Southern Denmark since January 1, 2007. Previously they belonged to the counties of South Jutland and Ribe. Th ...

. Fanø Municipality () is the '' kommune'' that covers the island and its seat is the town of Nordby.

Island

Fanø is separated from the mainland by the Wadden Sea over a span of approximately ., in the north at the closest point to the mainland 1.24 km. The island is long and wide, and it is located off the coast from the city of

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport city and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban area, urban population of 71,554 (1 January ...

to which it is connected by ferry. The ferry ride takes 12 minutes. A variety of environments are to be found on Fanø. Not surprisingly, a very common one is sand. The island's whole western shore is one long beach. The island's northwestern corner is a vast sandbank called "Søren Jessens Sand". Søren Jessen was an entrepreneur and captain from Hjerting, today the westernmost suburb of

and the bank is named after him because his ship, the "Anne Catriane", stranded here in 1712. The vegetation on Fanø is mainly

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and small

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

trees, never growing tall because of the predominant strong westerly winds from the North Sea. DK Fanoe Nordy Museumofshipping

Fanø relies heavily on tourism and is visited by some 30,000 people each summer. The main attraction is the fine white sand beach, which is also a popular playground for all kinds of wind and water sports, such as kite flying, surfing and buggies. Long before paved roads, the beach - being long, straight and quite firm - hosted a yearly motorcycle and car racing event from 1919 and until 1923, where a tragic accident killed a local boy and put a stop to further events. Today is possible to drive your own car on the beach all the way from Sønderho to Fanø Vesterhavsbad. A public bus service is also operated on the beach. 1 January 2018 the municipality took over the responsibilities of public mass transit on the island from the

Region of Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark (, ; , ; ) is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regions ...

. Also unique is the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( ; ; or ; ; ; ) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tida ...

with seals and migrating birds, as well as the two sailor towns Nordby and Sønderho with their maritime history, once among the most wealthy and influential in Denmark, and their vernacular architecture consisting of thatched-roof houses all oriented west–east, again because of the westerly winds. During World War II, Fanø was part of the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall () was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortification, coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense (military), d ...

and the remains of the 300

bunkers A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

built by the Nazis can still be spotted along the coast line. A number of animals that are otherwise common in Denmark, such as vipers, squirrels, moles and badgers, are nonexistent on the island, whereas foxes, hedgehogs, roebucks, hares and especially rabbits exist in abundance. Fanø is known as a place of summer vacation homes for the well-to-do, and has maintained its population number in contrast to other small islands in Denmark.

Politics

Fanø's municipal council consists of 11 members, elected every four years.

Municipal council

Below are the municipal councils elected since the Municipal Reform of 2007.

Notable people

* Henriette Nielsen (1815–1900), Danish author and playwright. She used local costumes from Fanø. * Ann Forrest (1895–1985), Danish-born American actress. Born in Sønderho. * Lilian Brøgger (born 1950), Danish illustrator. The first student to graduate as an illustrator from the Danish Design School in 1972. Born in Nordby. * Thomas Sneum (1917–2007), Naval pilot who helped deliver vital photographs of a Nazi radar installation on Fanø to British authorities by using a fragile and risky biplane. Born in Sønderho. * Tove Birkelund (1928–1986), historical geologist * Eva Louise Buus (born 1979), Danish artist. In 2015, she exhibited works in Fanø Museum. * Jacob Bymar (born 1982), Danish footballer currently playing for B68. Born in Nordby.

Municipality

The municipality is in

, and covers an area of . It has a total population of 3,426 (1. January 2023). Its mayor is Sofie Valbjørn. She is a member of The Alternative

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

. The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Nordby. Other towns include Sønderho, Fanø Vesterhavsbad and Rindby. Fanø Municipality was not merged with any adjacent municipality under the municipal reform of 2007, as it agreed to enter into a "municipal cooperation agreement" with Esbjerg Municipality.

References

* Municipal statistics
NetBorger Kommunefakta
delivered fro
KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
* Municipal mergers and neighbors
Eniro new municipalities map
* C.Michael Hogan. 2011
''Wadden Sea''. eds. P.Saundry & C.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC

External links

Municipality's official website

Tourist Information Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fano Municipalities of the Region of Southern Denmark Municipalities of Denmark Islands of Denmark