Kopervik is the largest

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

on the island of Karmøy in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is also the

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Karmøy. It is part of the traditional district of

Haugaland Haugaland or Haugalandet is a traditional district situated on the western coast of Norway. Haugaland is one of the 15 traditional districts located within the Vestlandet region. Geographically, Haugaland is a peninsula between Bømlafjorden i ...

. The town was also an independent municipality from 1866 until 1965. The town has a population (2024) of 11,860 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of . The municipality of Karmøy has 43,577 inhabitants, 27.2% live in Kopervik. Kopervik is one of three towns in Karmøy (the others are Åkrehamn and Skudeneshavn). Kopervik is a transportation hub for scheduled boats going north to

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

and south to

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

. The main industries are

aluminium smelting Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery. This is an electroly ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. Kopervik contains Karmøy's municipal government buildings as well as a lot of the commercial development in the municipality.

History

The village of Kopervik was declared a ladested (town) on 16 August 1866, and since towns could not be part of a rural municipality, it was separated from the municipality of

Avaldsnes Avaldsnes is a village in Karmøy municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located on the northeastern part of the island of Karmøy (island), Karmøy, along the Karmsundet strait, just south of the town of Haugesund (town), Hauge ...

to form an urban municipality of its own. Initially, Kopervik had a population of 737 and it encompassed . On 1 January 1965, there were many big municipal mergers in Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

, and on that date the town of Kopervik was merged with the neighboring municipalities of

, Stangaland,

Torvastad Torvastad is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1965. The administrative centre was the village of Haugesund (town), Haugesund (from 1838 until 185 ...

, Skudenes, and Åkra and with the nearby town of Skudeneshavn. Together these municipalities formed the new, large municipality of Karmøy. Prior to the merger, Kopervik had 1,737 residents. Kopervik lost its status as a "town" upon merging into Karmøy municipality. In 1996, due to some changes in the laws on towns, Karmøy municipality declared Kopervik to be a town once again. Kopervik - no-nb digifoto 20150317 00112 NB MIT FNR 10403 B

Kopervik - no-nb digifoto 20150317 00112 NB MIT FNR 10403 B

Kopervik Church has been located in the town for a long time. The previous church building was destroyed by fire in 2010, and its replacement was completed in 2016. The original church was built in 1861 by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Jacob Wilhelm Nordan. According to legend, King Sverre I of Norway ordered the construction of a wooden castle on the headland at the entrance to the harbour where Kopervik is located today. A part of Kopervik is therefore called ''Treborg'', literally meaning "wooden castle". There is however no evidence of its existence. Kopervik was also home to Tormod Torfæus, appointed as the official Royal Norwegian historian to the Danish king during the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway.

Name

The town was named ''Kopervik'' in 1866 when it was established as a ladested. The name has an uncertain meaning, but the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

form of the name may have been . The first element is possibly named after a very small, nearby

skerry A skerry ( ) is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low stack (geology), sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, ...

, ''Koparnaglen'', which was originally named ''Kobbanaglen''. That name likely comes from the word which means "

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

". The last element is which means "

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

" or "

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

Municipal self-government (1866–1963)

From 1866 through 1963, Kopervik was an independent municipality. While it existed, this municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council

The

of Kopervik was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

() of Kopervik: *1866–1870: Claudius Schiwe *1870–1875: A.J. Olsen *1876–1876: L.B. Henriksen *1877–1884: Adolf Hagbarth Marius Lunde *1885–1892: Aasmund Vinje *1893–1901: Rasmus Østbø *1902–1904: Reinhold Maartmann *1905–1905: Ole Waage *1906–1907: Tobias Telaus Ariansen *1908–1913: Carl Lundberg *1914–1916: Andreas Tomasgaard *1917–1917: Kristian Lundberg *1918–1918: Andreas Tomasgaard *1919–1919: Carl Lundberg *1920–1922: Thomas Idsøe *1923–1923: Carl Lundberg *1924–1924: Ketil Arneson Skeie *1925–1926: Carl Lundberg *1927–1927: Andreas Tomasgaard *1928–1931: Carl Lundberg *1932–1932: Leif Holmbek *1932–1934: Anton Salomonsen *1935–1938: Elias Sandvig *1939–1939: Nils O. Fjeldkårsta *1940–1941: Elias Sandvig *1946–1947: Magnus Børresen *1948–1948: Elias Sandvig *1949–1949: Magnus Børresen *1950–1950: Elias Sandvig *1950–1953: Lauritz Wathne *1954–1955: Magnus Børresen *1956–1957: Johan Fritzner Thorkildsen *1958–1959: Magnus Børresen *1960–1963: Frimann Skeie *1964–1964: Axel Holst Roness

Notable people

* Jan Kjell Larsen (born 1983), a footballer * Svein Munkejord (born 1948), a former fisheries minister * Asbjørn Sunde (1909–1985), a saboteur against the

Nazi occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the World War II, Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the Norwegian Campaign, German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi G ...

* Tormod Torfæus (1636–1719), an Icelandic-Norwegian historian * Øyvind Vaksdal (born 1955), former member of the Norwegian Parliament * Karina Sævik (born 1996), a footballer

References

External links

Kopervik.infoHistoricVideoKopervik MapKopervik Videregående SkoleKopervik Weather forecastKopervik MapKopervik IL (football club)Kopervik Volleyballklubb

Byen Vår KopervikAnne Beth Hagen Tekstilkunstner Kopervik Kulturhus
{{use dmy dates, date=July 2020 Karmøy Former municipalities of Norway Cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Rogaland 1866 establishments in Norway 1965 disestablishments in Norway 1996 establishments in Norway