Isak Lauritssøn Falck (1601 – 9 March 1669) was a Norwegian land owner and timber merchant. He is associated with the development of the seaport of

Risør is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Ri ...

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, ) was a county (''fylke'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . ...

, Norway. He was born in

Sandeherred Sandar (or historically Sandeherred) is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1968. The area is now part of Sandefjord Municipality. The administrative centre was located a ...

(now Sandefjord) in

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

, Norway. He was the son of merchant Laurits Kristoffersen, a lumber merchant in

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

. He settled in

during the 1620s. He acquired several farms with significant forests, started saw mills, and established a shipyard on the island of Badskjærholmen (now Holmen). In the 1650s, he bought the farm Randvik at

Søndeled Søndeled is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964 when it was merged into the municipality o ...

, which included the harbour of Risør and surrounding areas. In 1630,

became a privileged port ('' ladested'') where citizens had the right to engage in trade and commodity importing, especially with lumber. Traders and merchants from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

were the principal recipients of the timber export. Risør operated as a port under the jurisdiction of

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

from 1630 and under

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

from 1641. In 1659, the port built a custom house.

References

1601 births 1669 deaths People from Risør Norwegian company founders Norwegian merchants Norwegian landowners Norwegian shipbuilders 17th-century Norwegian businesspeople Lumber merchants {{Norway-business-bio-stub