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Haugesund, Norway

Haugesund kommune
Municipality
View of Smedasundet and parts of central Haugesund
View of Smedasundet and parts of central Haugesund
Coat of arms of Haugesund kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Haugesund kommune
Rogaland within
Norway
Haugesund within Rogaland
Haugesund within Rogaland
Coordinates: 59°26′47″N 05°17′54″E / 59.44639°N 5.29833°E / 59.44639; 5.29833Coordinates: 59°26′47″N 05°17′54″E / 59.44639°N 5.29833°E / 59.44639; 5.29833
Country Norway
County Rogaland
District Haugaland
Administrative centre Haugesund
Government
 • Mayor (2015) Arne Christian Mohn (AP)
Area
 • Total 72.68 km2 (28.06 sq mi)
 • Land 68.36 km2 (26.39 sq mi)
 • Water 4.32 km2 (1.67 sq mi)
Area rank 400 in Norway
Population (2015)
 • Total 36,538
 • Rank 22 in Norway
 • Density 534.5/km2 (1,384/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 15.9% %
Demonym(s) Haugesundar
Haugesunder
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1106
Official language form Bokmål
Website www.haugesund.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

About this sound Haugesund  (HGSD) is a town and municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The town is the main population centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland. The majority of the population of Haugesund lives in the main urban area surrounding the city centre, with the northwestern part of the municipality being fairly rural.

The town is situated on a strategically important sound, the Karmsundet, through which ships could pass without traversing heavy seas. In the early years, the coastal waters off Haugesund were a huge source of herring, and the town grew accordingly. Despite being barely a village back then, King Harald Fairhair lived at Avaldsnes, very close to the modern town of Haugesund. In the last decades, the town, like its neighbours, has been turning towards the petroleum industry, with the herring being long gone.

Haugesund is a small municipality, only about 73 square kilometres (28 sq mi). The population (in 2015) is 36,538, giving the municipality a population density of 534.5 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,384/sq mi). The "urban area" of the town of Haugesund, which actually crosses over slightly into the neighboring municipality of Karmøy, has a total of about 40,152 (of that 5,425 people live in Karmøy) people. This leaves about 2,000 residents of Haugesund that live outside the town of Haugesund in the rural portion of the municipality.


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Wikipedia

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