Kopervik is a town, former municipality and administration center in Karmøy municipality in Rogaland. The city - ie the town of Kopervik - had 11,574 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020, while the municipality as a whole had 42,062 inhabitants as of 1 January 2015.
History
In the Middle Ages, Kopervik was a small town with a
good harbor. At the far end of the two waves, Vågen and
Stangelandsvågen, around which the city is built, is Kopervik
harbor. On the hill above the harbor you will find Kopervik's old
town, where it is also said that King Sverre built a castle of wood
and peat. Precisely for this reason, this part of the city center is
today called Treborg. The city grew rapidly in the 16th and 17th
centuries when there were several inns and inns here. Central was
the innkeeper David Davidsen. Eventually, the first Kopervik church
(1861) was also built.
Kopervik was previously an independent
municipality in Rogaland county. Originally (1837), Kopervik was
part of Avaldsnes' presidency district. On 16 August 1866, Kopervik
was separated from Avaldsnes as its own municipality and status as a
charging station with 737 inhabitants. On 1 January 1965, Kopervik
municipality, together with Avaldsnes, Skudenes, Skudeneshavn,
Stangaland, Torvastad and Åkra, was merged into Karmøy municipality.
At the time of the merger, Kopervik had 1,737 inhabitants, and is
now losing its city status.
Kopervik was in its time the
third largest city in North Rogaland, Sunnhordland, Hardanger and
inner Haugalandet. The town (charging station) had civil rights,
which entailed trade rights, something only Skudeneshavn and
Haugesund in the region had. It was not until 1866 that Haugesund
(against everyone's expectations) by a political decision became the
capital of the region, which led to more focus on development there
than in Kopervik.
Kopervik was a landfill on Karmøy. The
unloading station was for a period Scandinavia's largest, with
approx. 135 loser. Here, ships could get help to unload to a safe
and good port, or further along the skerries on the west coast.
Today it is one of the few unloading stations left in Norway.