Mandal (municipality)

Mandal Municipality
Mandal kommune
View of Sjøsanden, a beach in Mandal
View of Sjøsanden, a beach in Mandal
Flag of Mandal Municipality
Coat of arms of Mandal Municipality
Vest-Agder within Norway
Vest-Agder within Norway
Mandal within Vest-Agder
Mandal within Vest-Agder
Coordinates: 58°02′45″N 07°29′44″E / 58.04583°N 7.49556°E / 58.04583; 7.49556
CountryNorway
CountyVest-Agder
DistrictSørlandet
Established1 Jan 1964
 • Preceded byMandal, Halse og Harkmark, Holum municipalities
Disestablished1 Jan 2020
 • Succeeded byLindesnes Municipality
Administrative centreMandal
Area
 (upon dissolution)
 • Total222.83 km2 (86.04 sq mi)
 • Land210.61 km2 (81.32 sq mi)
 • Water12.22 km2 (4.72 sq mi)
 • Rank#321 in Norway
Population
 (2020)
 • Total15,600
 • Rank#77 in Norway
 • Density74.1/km2 (192/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years)
Increase +9.9%
DemonymMandalitt[1]
Official language
 • Norwegian formBokmål
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-1002[3]
WebsiteOfficial website

Mandal (pronunciation) is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The municipality existed from 1964 until 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Mandal, Lindesnes, and Marnardal were merged to form a new, larger municipality of Lindesnes in what is now Agder county. Mandal was the southernmost municipality in all of Norway, with the tiny skerry of Pysen being the southernmost point of land in Norway.

The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mandal. The town of Mandal was the second largest town by population in the old Vest-Agder county after the nearby town of Kristiansand and it is also the fourth largest city in all of the Sørlandet/Agder region. Besides the town of Mandal, the municipality also includes the villages of Bykjernen, Skjebstad, Sånum-Lundevik, Skogsfjord-Hesland, Krossen, Harkmark, Skinsnes-Ime, and Tregde-Skjernøy.

At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the 223-square-kilometre (86 sq mi) municipality is the 321st largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Mandal is the 77th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 15,600. The municipality's population density is 74.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (192/sq mi) and its population has increased by 9.9% over the last decade.[4]

The river Mandalselva is a salmon river that flows through the municipality with its river mouth just outside the town. Mandal has many small, white-painted wooden houses, which is typical of towns at the South Coast of Norway (Sørlandet). The European route E39 highway connecting Kristiansand and Stavanger is the main road through Mandal. There are connecting airplane flights and ferries to Europe from Kristiansand.

  1. ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  3. ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  4. ^ Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 5 November 2017.