Arendal

Map of Arendal from 1897

View of Arendal in 1902

The village of Arendal was established in the middle of the 16th century, and was then called Arendall. Initially, it had no formal town status.

When the town of Christianssand was founded by King Christian IV in 1641, he granted the citizens a monopoly on all trade in Nedenæs and Lister og Mandal counties (including the area of Arendal). This grant, intended to subsidize Christianssand and its fortifications, placed existing towns in a difficult position. Both towns and the peasants in the rural countryside protested the hardships this caused. As a result, Arendal received royal permission in 1622 to continue as a loading-place for timber until a means could be found to transfer its trade to Christianssand.

The town of Arendal was given market city privileges in 1723. However the peasants in the surrounding district, who by law were to sell their goods only at Arendal, were smuggling their goods out on cutters and selling them in Denmark, in the Baltic, and in Britain.

This continued until 1735, when Arendal was granted a full town charter. This charter, combined with Danish imposition of a monopoly on grain imports, caused great poverty and starvation among the peasants in the surrounding districts, leading to several famous rebellions.

As a result of the rebellions, the age of privileges for towns like Christianssand and Arendal came to an apparent end in 1768 by royal proclamation. But the problems did not end then; a farmer, Christian Jensen Lofthuus, in nearby Vestre Moland led a rebellion in 1786 which resulted in the government actually remedying some of the most repressive trade policies, but Lofthus died in prison. The charges against Lofthus were that he dealt in grain and other commodities to the detriment to Arendal's privileges.

Shipping, shipbuilding, and timber trade as well as mining and ironworks were important branches of industry in Nedenæs county for many centuries, especially in the Arendal region. Frequent contacts with the world abroad put their mark on our culture and traditions. In 1880, it was the country's biggest port in terms of tonnage handled. At the end of the 19th century, Arendal was recognized as a major shipping centre with many wealthy shipowners. However, this came to an end following the 1886 Arendal crash, in which Axel Nicolai Herlofson had defrauded many bank customers in the city, leading to bankruptcies and extreme unemployment.[9] At one point in the middle of the 18th century, Arendal was one of Norway's biggest mining cities. The main production consisted of iron ore and magnetite.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, when thousands of Norwegians sought to take advantage of the more stable economic climate of the United States by emigrating, many of those from Arendal took their economic traditions with them. In New York City and the surrounding areas, a great deal of Americans who claim Norwegian ancestry can trace their roots to Arendal, as a great deal of Norwegian sailors, trimmers, shipbuilders, and carpenters from Arendal settled in areas of New York such as Brooklyn, Port Richmond (Staten Island), and several industrial centers in northern New Jersey such as Jersey City, Bayonne, Perth Amboy, and Elizabeth. In 1939, Arendal had the 4th largest Norwegian tanker fleet; only Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger were larger.

During the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, Arendal was captured by the German torpedo boat Greif.[10]

Today, the town has small boat manufacturing, mechanical industry, electronics industry, as well as one of the world's largest silicon carbide refining plants.

All municipalities in Norway, including Arendal, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.[11] The municipality falls under the Aust-Agder District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

The municipality is bordered to the southwest by Grimstad, to the northwest by Froland, to the northeast by Tvedestrand, and to the southeast by the Skaggerak. The lake Rore is located on the Grimstad border along with the river Nidelva.

Arendal is the geologic type locality of the mineral Babingtonite, which was first described from specimens discovered here in 1824.[36]

The coastal municipality includes several populated islands such as Hisøya, Tromøya, Merdø, Flostaøya, and Tverrdalsøya as well as many unpopulated or sparsely populated islands such as Ærøya. The island of Merdø was a major export port in the 17th and 18th centuries and now has a museum, a kiosk, and several beaches. There is regular boat service from Arendal to the island every day during the summer season.

In 2018 the service sector had 82% of the jobs in the municipality.[37] As of 2020, part of the site for Eyde Energipark, an industrial park, has been leveled: 100 maal or 100,000 sq.m. has been leveled for the first phase of construction of a battery factory (for car batteries and ship batteries), scheduled for 2023.[38][39]

The European route E18 highway is a major transportation route through Arendal heading to Oslo in the northeast and Kristiansand to the southwest. Other main roads in Arendal include the Norwegian County Road 407, Norwegian County Road 408, and Norwegian County Road 410. The local railway line Arendalsbanen runs to Nelaug where it connects with the main Sørlandsbanen railway line, which runs between the cities of Oslo and Stavanger.

The Setesdal Bilruter (on behalf of public transit authority AKT) provides bus connections throughout the Arendal area, the Setesdal-region including Froland, as well as to the neighboring towns of Grimstad, Lillesand and Kristiansand, and a handful of their suburbs and outlying villages. A few more destinations can be reached with other bus operators (namely Agder Buss, Nettbuss, Konkurrenten.no, and Lavprisekspressen), including places such as Risør, Tvedestrand, Oslo, and Stavanger.[41] There is also a bus connection to Kristiansand Airport operated by Agder Flyekspress and Nettbuss express (the latter on behalf of Flybussen.no).[42] Ferries run between the city center and the islands of Hisøya and Tromøya.[43][44] Arendal does also have an airport, Arendal Airport, Gullknapp, although it does not have any commercial airlines regularly stopping here.[45]

The municipality organises general practitioner services, such as the primary doctor scheme, accident and emergency departments, physiotherapy, public health centers and school medical services, home nursing care, midwifery services and nursing homes or living arrangements for around-the-clock nursing and care. Sørlandet Hospital has a visiting location in Arendal and offers specialist health services in somatics, psychiatry and addiction treatment.

The climate here is mild, and generally warm and temperate. Arendal has a significant amount of rainfall during the year. This is true, even for the driest month. The climate here is classified as Cfb by the Köppen-Geiger system. The average annual temperature in Arendal is 7.2 °C (45.0 °F). In a year, the average rainfall is 1,010 millimetres (40 in).

The area around Arendal was the location for the 1997 Lille Lørdag series Min drømmeserie starring Harald Eia and Bård Tufte Johansen. The 2013 Disney film Frozen is set in a fictional kingdom named Arendelle, which is derived from and loosely based on the city of Arendal.

Media related to Arendal, Norway at Wikimedia Commons

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Arendal.

The dictionary definition of Arendal at Wiktionary

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)
• Arendal travel guide from Wikivoyage (in English)
• Arendal official tourist information (in English)
• Arendal tourist information from Reiselivsbasen (in English)
• UNEP/GRID-Arendal, UN Environment Programme office in Arendal (in English)
• Arendal on Google Maps
• Map of Aust-Agder including Arendal municipality (in German)
• Municipality of Arendal (in Norwegian)
• Agderposten — The leading newspaper covering Aust-Agder, with base in Arendal (in Norwegian)
• County museum & archive: Aust-Agder kulturhistoriske center (in Norwegian)
• Webcam of Arendal centre (in Norwegian)
• Canal Street – Arendal Jazz and Blues festival (in Norwegian)