Everything about Kristiansand totally explained
(formerly "Christianssand") is a city and
municipality, and the capital of the
county of
Vest-Agder,
Norway. Kristiansand municipality is the 5th largest in Norway with a population of 78,919 as of
January 1,
2008. The Kristiansand urban area, entirely located in the municipality, had a population of 64,930 on
January 1,
2006, and is thus the 8th largest urban area in Norway.
History
As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040. The first settlements near the modern city were located further down the river, in or near what is today the borough of Lund, and at Flekkerøy, an island outside the city centre.
Kristiansand was formally founded by King
Christian IV in 1641. It was created as a
market town to encourage growth in a strategically significant area, providing a local economic base for construction of fortifications and population for defense of the area. The centre of Kristiansand, in layout essentially unchanged since the 17th century, is called "Kvadraturen" due to its square gridline of streets.
The city experienced its first major
town fire in 1734, when large parts of the city was destroyed. Kristiansand grew into a major port during the 18th century, both due to its expanding ship building industry and its trade fleet. The city burned again in 1892. As a neutral trade port, the economy of Kristiansand thrived during
World War I, but the growth stagnated due to political decisions and the
Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s.
Kristiansand was established as a municipality
January 1,
1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of
Oddernes,
Randesund and
Tveit were merged with Kristiansand
January 1,
1965. king of denmark-norway ordered that it be moved from x to x
Culture
The zoological garden,
Kristiansand Dyrepark (Kristiansand Zoo and Amusement Park) just east of the city, has a wide selection of animals in, for the most part, natural habitats. This includes animals such as
wolves,
tigers and the
lynx.
Each year in July, Kristiansand is the site of the
Quart Festival, a multi-day
music festival - the largest of its kind in Norway. Kristiansand is home to
Agder Theatre.
Economy and transport
Kristiansand is connected to continental Europe by air and sea. The local airport,
Kjevik, is located 12 km (7 miles) east of the city and has routes to European and Norwegian cities. From the city centre, the ferry harbour has routes to
Hirtshals (
Denmark) and
Hanstholm (
Denmark). There are also buses and trains that connect Kristiansand to other Norwegian cities.
Kristiansand has major shipbuilding and repair facilities that support Norway's North Sea oil industry. Near Kristiansand there's the
static inverter plant of the
HVDC Cross-Skagerak.
Geography and climate
Kristiansand and the Agder counties usually have a lot of summer sunshine compared to most of Norway. There may be heavy snowfall in winter with south-southeasterly winds (snow record at Kjevik is 170 cm), but the snow rarely stays long at the coast; see
climate. In the summer most locals go to the Fish Market and Hamresanden Beach which is located near Kjevik airport (about 10 mins from the city centre). People from Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK and other European countries also visit this beach in the summer during their travels. Many of these travellers also enjoy fishing in the many rivers that surround the city.
Education
The
University of Agder's largest campus is located in Kristiansand; the university itself has about 8,000 students. Formerly a
university college, it was granted status as a
university on
September 1,
2007. Study programs include business and economics, engineering and technology, the humanities, mathematics, nursing, teacher education, as well as fine arts.
Kristiansand is also home of one of the
Norwegian School of Management's (
Norwegian:
Handelshøyskolen BI) campuses, in addition to The Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication (
Norwegian:
Mediehøgskolen Gimlekollen), which offers degrees in journalism and communication.
In 2006, 27% of those above 16 years in Kristiansand had higher education, compared to the national average of 24.2%.
Famous people from Kristiansand
- Bernt Balchen (1899 – 1973), Norwegian-American aviator born in Tveit
- Jens Bjørneboe (1920 – 1976), painter, dramatist, essayist and novelist born in Kristiansand.
- Valdemar Knudsen (1819 – 1898), pioneered sugar cane production in Hawaii.
- HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit (1973 –), born and raised in Kristiansand.
- Lars Nedland (1976 –), vocalist, percussionist and keyboardist in a variety of Norwegian black metal and avant-garde bands
- Andreas Thorkildsen (1982 –), olympic gold medalist, javelin.
- Henrik Wergeland (1808 – 1845), poet
- Holger Hott Johansen (1974 – ), world champion in Orienteering
- Bjarte Breiteig (1974 - ), Author
- Siri Tollerød, Model
Further Information
Get more info on 'Kristiansand'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://kristiansand.totallyexplained.com">Kristiansand Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
