Tvedestrand (town)

Tvedestrand
Town/City[1]
View of the town
View of the town
Interactive map of Tvedestrand
Coordinates: 58°37′22″N 8°55′52″E / 58.62267°N 8.93106°E / 58.62267; 8.93106
CountryNorway
RegionSouthern Norway
CountyAgder
DistrictØstre Agder
MunicipalityTvedestrand Municipality
Established as 
Town (By)1997
Area
[2]
 • Total
2.39 km2 (0.92 sq mi)
Elevation
[3]
2 m (6.6 ft)
Population
 (2025)[2]
 • Total
2,891
 • Density1,210/km2 (3,100/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Post Code
4900 Tvedestrand

Tvedestrand[4] is a town[1] and the administrative centre of Tvedestrand Municipality in Agder county, Norway. The town is located at the northern end of the Tvedestrandfjorden at the intersection of the Norwegian County Road 411 and Norwegian County Road 410. The Tvedestrand Church is located in the central part of the town. The 2.39-square-kilometre (590-acre) town has a population (2025) of 2,891 and a population density of 1,210 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,100/sq mi).[2] In Norway, Tvedestrand is considered a by which can be translated as either a "town" or "city" in English.

History

Tvedestrand had been a small coastal village with a small amount of industry when it became the main port of departure for the materials from the nearby Næs Jernverk (iron works) starting in 1738. In 1836, the port was declared to be a ladested and then on 1 January 1838, it became a town-municipality under the new civil municipality law (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The town status was granted to allow it a special license to export timber and iron from the harbour.[5] On 1 January 1858, there was a boundary adjustment that added 70 more residents to the town of Tvedestrand from the neighboring rural Holt Municipality.[6]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1960, the neighboring Dypvåg Municipality (population: 1,805) and Holt Municipality (population: 3,759) were merged with the town of Tvedestrand (population: 868) to form a much larger Tvedestrand Municipality.[6] Due to the merger, however, Tvedestrand lost its town status. A new law was passed in 1996 that allowed municipalities to declare urban areas as towns once again. In 1997, the municipality approved the town status for the former town of Tvedestrand.

Name

The first element is the genitive case of the name of the old Tveite farm (Old Norse: Þveitar) and the last element is strond which means "strand" or "beach". The name of the farm is the plural form of þveit which means "small farm".[7]

Government

In Norway, municipalities are the unit of local government. This means that cities and towns are simply designations for urban areas, but under current Norwegian law, they have no actual government authority. The town of Tvedestrand lies within Tvedestrand Municipality and is therefore governed by the municipal council of Tvedestrand Municipality.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 In the Norwegian language, the word by can be translated as "town" or "city".
  2. 1 2 3 Statistisk sentralbyrå (27 October 2025). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality".
  3. ↑ "Tvedestrand, Tvedestrand". yr.no. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  4. ↑ "Informasjon om stadnamn". Norgeskart (in Norwegian). Kartverket. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  5. ↑ Welle-Strand, Erling (1996). Adventure Roads in Norway. Nortrabooks. ISBN 82-90103-71-9.
  6. 1 2 Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  7. ↑ Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (28 September 2017). "Tvedestrand". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 January 2018.

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