Sauda is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

in Sauda municipality in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 479,892. The admin ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The town, which is also the

administrative centre An administrative center 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 administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

of the municipality, is located in a river valley at the northern end of the Saudafjorden. The small suburb of Saudasjøen lies about west of the town centre. A large part of the industrial harbour area of Sauda is built on reclaimed land that was once underwater in the fjord. Sauda received city status in 1998. The town has a population (2019) of 4,174 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

of . Sauda is the largest settlement in the municipality as well as the only urban area The newspaper '' Ryfylke'' has been published in Sauda since 1926. The town has four churches: Sauda Church and Solbrekk Chapel in the town centre, Saudasjøen Chapel in the western suburb of Saudasjøen, and

Hellandsbygd Chapel Hellandsbygda or Hellandsbygd is a village in Sauda municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located in a river valley about northeast of the town of Sauda. The village is surrounded by forested mountains with the County Road 5 ...

a few miles north of Sauda. There is also a high school in the town as well as the ''Ryfylkesmuseet'' ( Ryfylke museum).

History

Sauda was originally (as with many Norwegian towns/cities) an old farming village. The village survived on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

and the

timber industry Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including Beam (structure), beams and plank (wood), planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as fini ...

throughout the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Due to its proximity to many nearby waterfalls, several mills were built for pulp and paper. Over time, Sauda grew up as industrialization began, especially at the start of the 1900s. Zinc mining in the late 1800s at the nearby

Allmannajuvet Allmannajuvet is a ravine or canyon located along the river ''Storelva'' in the municipality of Sauda in Rogaland county, Norway. The ravine is located in a rural, forested area along the Norwegian County Road 520 between the town of Sauda and ...

mine caused Sauda's harbor to grow as the mining ships began arriving. In 1915, the American company

Union Carbide Corporation Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befor ...

built the

Sauda Smelteverk Sauda Smelteverk is a smelting plant in Sauda, Norway. It was a plant for producing manganese alloys. It was founded in 1915, and the production was ready in 1923. Together with the hydropower deliverer company Saudefaldene it was owned by ...

, a smelting factory near the centre of Sauda. This factory led directly or indirectly to a huge development in the area. Sauda suddenly became the place people both from Rogaland county and the rest of the country moved to in order to gain employment. It was a tripling in population into a few years, with a population peak around the year 1960. Recent industry and several power development project kept alive the city and made more development. The village received town status in 1998.

References

{{Authority control Sauda Cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Rogaland 1999 establishments in Norway

History

See also

References