Flekkefjord

Flekkefjord () is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Flekkefjord. The villages of Sira, Gyland, Rasvåg, Kirkehavn, and Åna-Sira are located in Flekkefjord. Flekkefjord is the westernmost municipality of the geographical region of Sørlandet. Flekkefjord is approximately midway between the cities of Kristiansand and Stavanger, located along European route E39 and the Sørlandet Line. The municipality is the 198th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Flekkefjord is the 121st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 9,048. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 0% over the previous 10-year period. The small town of Flekkefjord was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1942, a part of the municipality of Nes (population: 377) was transferred to the town of Flekkefjord. On 1 January 1965, there was a major municipal merger due to the work of the Schei Committee. On that date, the rural municipalities of Bakke (except the Øksendal area), Gyland, Hidra, and Nes were merged with the town of Flekkefjord, creating a new, much larger municipality of Flekkefjord with about 8,800 people. On 1 January 1987, the Virak and Espetveit areas of northern Flekkefjord (population: 41) were transferred to Sirdal municipality. The municipality (and town) is named after the local fjord called the Flekkefjorden. The first element of the name comes from the name of the old Flikke farm (Flikkar) since it is located near the fjord. That name is the plural form of the word flikkar which has an unknown meaning. The last element is fjord which means "fjord". The coat of arms for Flekkefjord are rather old (compared with most Norwegian municipal arms). They were granted around the year 1855. The blazon is "Or, a sailing ship above four barrulets wavy gules".