Fredrikstad is a municipality in the province of Østfold in Viken
county in eastern Norway. It has 82,000 inhabitants (as of 1 January
2020). It is thus Østfold's largest, Eastern Norway's third largest
city and Norway's seventh largest municipality in terms of
population.
Fredrikstad is often characterized as Norway's
first Renaissance city (see Renaissance), with blocks bounded by
streets laid out in a regular pattern. Fredrikstad municipality's
area is 559 square kilometers. It borders in the north to Råde, in
the east to Sarpsborg and in the south to Hvaler.
The urban
community Fredrikstad and the urban community Sarpsborg are
statistically often considered the urban area and the double city
Fredrikstad / Sarpsborg, which had 116,373 inhabitants as of 1
January 2020. 68,876 of these live in the part of Fredrikstad
municipality that is an urban area. The town of Fredrikstad is
located at the mouth of the Glomma.
Fredrikstad was founded in 1567 by King Frederik II of
Denmark and Norway. It happened during the Nordic Seven Years' War.
During this war between Denmark-Norway and Sweden, the Swedes burned
Sarpsborg, which King Olav the Holy had founded in 1016. The
population of the burnt city therefore wanted to make the new city
less vulnerable to future attacks. In 1569, the new name
"Fredriksstad", named after the king, was used after the old
"Sarpsborg". Therefore, the founding of Fredrikstad can be seen as a
rebuilding of Sarpsborg. The Gleng area, where the old town had been
located, was legally and administratively added to Fredrikstad.
In addition, Fredrikstad at about the same time got its own
Latin school in line with the Oslo Latin school, later called Fredrikstad higher general school.
Until 1567, there had probably been such a school in Sarpsborg. At
the king's death in 1588, it was the then principal of the Latin
school, Jacob Jacobsen Wolf, who held the obituary over him, an
obituary Wolf himself had written. In the 17th century, the city
gained increasing military strategic importance due to geopolitical
conditions (see below).
During the Great Nordic War
(1700–1721), the archipelago fleet was based in Fredrikstad from
1709. It was under the command of Admiral Peter Wessel Tordenskiold
(1690–1720). Halden was a charging station under Fredrikstad until
1665, and Moss was a charging station under Fredrikstad from 1670 to
1720. Gleng was part of Fredrikstad from 1567 to 1825, while the
Sarpsborg area was part of Fredrikstad until 1839. The restoration
of Sarpsborg took place partly on Fredrikstad's expense.
Despite the city's importance as a defensive structure, the
population remained low, around 2,000 inhabitants, until the Swedes'
invasion and occupation (in 1814–1815). During this occupation, the
Moss Convention was signed by Sweden's then Crown Prince Karl Johan
in Fredrikstad. The abolition of sawmill privileges in 1860 led to
Fredrikstad's most important period of growth. In a relatively short
time, the small trading and shipping town was transformed into one
of the country's most significant industrial towns with industries
related to sawmills and brickyards as the most important industries.
Due to this, Fredrikstad was nicknamed "Plankebyen". Later, the
stone industry and mechanical workshops also became very important
for Fredrikstad's growth. The city's population doubled, and urban
settlements spread to adjacent areas in the neighboring
municipalities. In 1964, Glemmen became part of Fredrikstad. Thirty
years later, in 1994, Borge, Kråkerøy, Onsøy and Rolvsøy became part
of Fredrikstad.
Along the banks of the Glomma, one constantly
encounters Fredrikstad's history through brickworks and sawmills,
which usually lay side by side. Narnte brickworks on Selbak, for
example, once delivered the red brick in which the university
buildings on Blindern in Oslo are built. Another example is Valle
Bruk on Rolvsøy. Nylende is located in the municipal part of
Rolvsøy. The name Nylende comes from the Norse nýlenda which means
«new land», meaning newly cultivated land or new place of residence.
Hans Nielsen Hauge, nationally known as a lay preacher and
industrial entrepreneur, comes from Hauge on Rolvsøy. On Rolvsøy you
will today find Østfoldhallen, where a number of sports activities
are conducted. In recent times, it has been renamed Østfoldhallene,
as several shops have been established in the same area. This was
previously a large open landscape, but has since become a large
commercial area. Three Viking ships have been found on Rolvsøy:
Valleskipet, Rostadskipet and Tuneskipet.
Today's center is
located on the west side of Glomma. The historic center, the Old
Town, is located on the east side, and is today considered Northern
Europe's best-preserved fortress town. The old town is thus
Fredrikstad's foremost landmark.