Farsund

Map of urban areas in Farsund

View of the town of Farsund

Historic Vanse Church

The town of Farsund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law), although it was already recognized as a trading center in 1795. The present municipality of Farsund was established on 1 January 1965 when the rural municipalities of Herad, Lista, and Spind were merged with the town of Farsund. On 1 January 1971, the Ytre og Indre Skarstein farms (population: 21) located along the western shore of the Rosfjorden were transferred from Lyngdal to Farsund.[6]

There is evidence of settlement in Farsund and Lista since the Stone Age.

Farsund held a strategic location in the Atlantic wall during World War II, with the Lundebanen and over 400 bunkers built in Farsund municipality, many that can be visited. Between 1940 and 1945, large Soviet prison camps were located at Lista, with prison camps at Kåde and Ore holding over 600 prisoners. The Soviet prisoners were used as forced labour to build Farsund Airport, bunkers, barracks, and fortifications .[10]

Farsund previously had a hospital, which was closed down in 2007.

All municipalities in Norway are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.[11] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Agder District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

The largest industries are Alcoa Lista, an aluminium plant, and Farsund Aluminium Casting AS, which makes auto parts out of aluminium. Historically, shipping and fisheries have also been important. Farsund is the largest agricultural district in the county of Vest-Agder, having 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) productive land, 88 square kilometres (34 sq mi) of forest, and 11 square kilometres (4.2 sq mi) freshwater areas. Farsund was already organized as a trading centre in 1795, and in 1995 celebrated its 200-year jubilee.

Trade and shipping laid the foundation for prosperity, and "the city of the strait" was a period one of the world's largest shipping towns in relation to the size of population.

The municipality sits in southwestern Norway along the North Sea. The Fedafjorden and Listafjorden lie along the northwestern side of the municipality and the Lyngdalsfjorden lies in the eastern part of Farsund. The coastal municipality has two lighthouses: Lista Lighthouse in the west and Søndre Katland Lighthouse in the south.

Farsund Airport, Lista (FAN) was closed in 2002. The airport had from 1955 to 2002 scheduled traffic to Stavanger, Bergen and Oslo. Airlines which have frequented at Lista are among others Braathens SAFE, Norving and Air Stord.

The Airport was built by Luftwaffe in 1940, and they operated the airport with several fighter squadrons during World War II.[35] After the war, the Royal Norwegian Air Force took over the airport, and for a period it was used as training camp for conscripts.

Today, the airport is privatized and is an industrial area with only minor GA-traffic.

Farsund has 3 primary schools, located in Farsund, Vanse, and Borhaug. Furthermore, there are two junior high schools, in Farsund and Vanse, and two high schools also located in Farsund and Vanse.

• Farsund is a town linked to the fjords. Its guest harbour was considered one of the best in Norway, and is full of boats in summer months.
• Every year, Strandmila (5k / 10k run) takes place in Husenby Park. The course covers countryside trails, forest paths and sand beaches.
• The annual Kaperdagene (Pirate Town) festival takes place in July and depicts a battle between British and Norwegian ships who were fighting a war in the 1800s. It has been running since 1996.
• The American Festival (Last weekend in June) is considered one of the most popular festivals in the region. It takes place, as mention in their name, in the last weekend in June in Vanse. And it celebrates the American heritage that many families from Lista brought home with them from the United States in the late 60s and early 70s. It is celebrated with an American inspired parade and also an old Am-Car Parade.

Farsund has sister city agreements with the following places:

• Skagen, Denmark

Abraham Theodor Berge, 1912

Toril Moi, 2005

• Jochum Brinch Lund (1743–1807), a merchant and shipowner who founded the town of Farsund
• Thomas Fasting (1769–1841), a Norwegian Naval officer and government minister
• Evert Andersen (1772–1809), a Norwegian-Danish sea captain who fought in the Gunboat War
• Gabriel Lund (1773–1832), a merchant and representative at the Norwegian Constituent Assembly
• Eilert Sundt (1817–1875), a theologist and sociologist, who worked on mortality and marriage
• James DeNoon Reymert (1821–1896), an American newspaper editor, mine operator, lawyer, and pioneer settler in Wisconsin Territory
• Lorentz Severin Skougaard (1837-1885), a Norwegian tenor who moved to the US in 1866
• Abraham Berge (1851–1936), the mayor of Lista in 1882 and Prime Minister of Norway in 1923-1924
• Halfdan Sundt (1873–1951), a physician who was president of the Norwegian Medical Association
• Vigleik Trygve Sundt (1873–1948), a Norwegian attorney, genealogist, and politician
• Richard Birkeland (1879–1928), a mathematician who wrote on the theory of algebraic equations.
• Einar Høiland (1907–1974), a meteorologist who studied the theory of lee waves
• Olav Selvaag (1912–2002), a Norwegian engineer and residential contractor with an innovative approach to designing and building affordable housing
• Odd Starheim DSO (1916–1943), a Norwegian resistance fighter and SOE agent in WWII
• Vesla Vetlesen (born 1930), a Norwegian weaver, trade unionist, writer, and politician
• Alf Meberg (born 1942), a Norwegian pediatrician who works on congenital heart defects
• Toril Moi (born 1953), an academic and writer who works on feminist theory and women's writing
• Kjell Elvis (born 1968), a Norwegian professional Elvis impersonator
• Ingvild Stensland (born 1981), a footballer with 144 caps with Norway women

• Media related to Farsund at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of Farsund at Wiktionary
• Vest-Agder travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)
• Some Photographs of Farsund in August 1986, including the Torvestuene
• Farsund Kommune