Bodø

 

Bodø (Lule Sámi: Bådåddjo; Pite Sámi: Buvvda; Northern Sámi: Budejju) is a town and municipality in the province of Salten in Nordland county. Bodø is Nordland's largest city and municipality measured by number of inhabitants, and is the administration center in the county.

In northern Norway, only Tromsø municipality has a larger population, but in return Bodø is the most populous settlement in the region. The town of Bodø, as defined by Statistics Norway, has 42,102 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020. The Bodø region, which was defined by a report to the Storting from 2002, covers the municipalities of Bodø, Gildeskål and Beiarn. It had 53,257 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020, and is thus Norway's 15th most populous urban region.

Bodø municipality is centrally located in the middle of the county, and out by the coast. Bodø is part of the landscape and the Salten region, which together cover nine municipalities. Five of these border Bodø. Sørfold is northeast of Bodø, Fauske borders to the east, Saltdal is to the southwest, while Beiarn and Gildeskål both border Bodø's southern municipal border. In the north, Bodø also has a marine border to Steigen over Folda. The central part of the municipality is located on the Bodø Peninsula. North of this is Kjerringøy, while Tverlandet, Saltstraumen and Skjerstad are all south of the municipality. These four make up Bodø municipality's four municipal districts, which are the areas outside the districts. These each have their own elected local government to safeguard local interests.

Bodø's history dates back to the Stone Age, when stable fish catches made Saltstraumen Bodø's oldest settlement. What is the inner city today has been beach areas, but when the water receded, the large flat areas at the far end of the Bodø Peninsula were gradually turned into cultivated land. The stable fishing meant that Bodø was granted city status on 20 May 1816. This was to create a market town near Lofoten, so that the fish did not have to go through Bergen first, which currently had a monopoly on saltwater fishing. Bodø did not, however, have an immediate population development, only in the 1860s, when herring fishing came, Bodø became a noticeable town on the map of Norway. Bodø was rebuilt after World War II, and since then the built-up area has grown significantly beyond the traditional downtown area. Since the 1960s, most of the housing construction has taken place eastwards along national road 80, and about ten kilometers eastwards from the city center. Here are, among other things, the districts Hunstad and Mørkved which have their own district centers, but which still largely have the character of suburbs or sleeping towns. Gradually, the town has also grown along an axis northwards towards Kjerringøy, such as the settlements in Skivika and Løpsmarka. Løding is Bodø's second largest town, and is located 15 kilometers east of the city center, in the innermost part of the peninsula Tverlandet.

In recent times, Bodø's business community has become less based on fishing, although it is still a significant industry, and has shifted more to business-related companies and administration. Bodø Næringsforum has around 250 registered member companies, and among the largest workplaces we find Nordland County Municipality, Nordland Hospital and Nord University. Bodø is also home to a number of national, regional and local companies, institutions and enterprises, both in the state and private sector. Norway's only employer organization with headquarters outside Oslo, the National Association of Private Kindergartens, can be found in the city. Nordland Police District, Salten District Court and Salten Brann IKS are regional administrations.