Portal:Norway/Selected article/15

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Reindeer grazing outside Hammerfest's town hall

Hammerfest is a city and municipality in the county of Finnmark, Norway. The municipality encompasses parts of three islands; Kvaløya, Sørøya and Seiland. Hammerfest was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The law required that all cities should be separated from their rural districts, but because of low population, and very few voters, this was impossible to carry out for Hammerfest in 1838. (See also Vadsø and Vardø.) The rural district of Hammerfest (Sørøysund) was separated from the city January 1, 1852 - but it was again merged with the city January 1, 1992. (But without the area of Kvalsund, which was separated from Sørøysund as a municipality of its own 1869.)