Kristiansund is a town in Kristiansund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative center of the municipality. it is located on the islands of Kirkelandet, Innlandet, and Nordlandet in the Nordmøre region of the county.

Name

The town, formerly spelled Christianssund, was named after the Danish-Norwegian King Christian VI in 1742. The last element of the name, sund, means "strait". The old name of the town/village (originally the island Kirkelandet) was Fosna or Fosen (Old Norse: fólgsn) which means "hiding place" (here 'hidden port'). It was also often named Lille Fosen ("the small Fosen") to distinguish it from the island Storfosna ("the big Fosen") in Ørland to the north.

Before 1877, the name was written Christianssund, from 1877 to 1888 it was spelled Kristianssund, and since 1889 it has had its present spelling, Kristiansund.

Before the introduction of postal codes in Norway in 1968, it was easy to confuse the name Kristiansund with Kristiansand in the south. It was therefore obligatory to always add an N (for north) to Kristiansund (Kristiansund N) and an S (for south) to Kristiansand (Kristiansand S). This is pretty much still practiced and also occurs in some other contexts than postal addresses.

History

8000 BC–1066

Many scientists believe that the very first Norwegians lived near the area of the present-day town of Kristiansund. At the end of the last Ice age some areas on the western coast of Norway were ice-free. There was also a lot of food in the sea around Kristiansund at that time, and it is believed that the first settlers arrived in Kristiansund around the year 8000 BC.

During the Viking ages, there were many important battles around Kristiansund. The most famous one was the Battle of Rastarkalv on the island of Frei, where the Norwegian King Håkon the Good fought against the Eirikssønnene group. There is now a memorial monument located near Rastakalv (at Nedre Frei), where the battle was fought.

Middle ages

The nearby island of Grip was an important fishing community during the Middle Ages and was considered to be the most important area in the region at the time. The natural harbor in Lille-Fosen, close to where Kristiansund is located today, was also frequently used for fishing purposes.

17th to 18th century

During the 17th century a small settlement developed around the area we know today as Kristiansund harbor. As more and more settlers arrived, the area became an important trading port for fishing and lumber transportation along the coast. The Dano-Norwegian government established a customs station here, which was controlled by the main trading port in Trondheim. In 1631, the port was declared to be a ladested.

Dutch sailors brought the knowledge of clipfish production to Kristiansund at the end of the 17th century, and for a number of years, the town was the largest exporter of clipfish in Norway, exporting goods mainly to the Mediterranean countries as Spain and Portugal. The city's clipfish production was also part of the reason why it was given town status as a kjøpstad in 1742.

19th century to present

The town of Christianssund was established as Christianssund Municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Kristiansund Municipality was merged with the tiny Grip Municipality (population: 104) to the northwest and the Dale area of Bremsnes Municipality on Nordlandet island (population: 963). The neighboring Frei Municipality was merged with Kristiansund on 1 January 2008 creating a much larger Kristiansund Municipality.