Kristiansand is a city, municipality and the county capital
of Vest-Agder county in Southern Norway. Kristiansand municipality is the 5th
largest in Norway with a population of 82,562 as of 1 April 2011. The
Kristiansand urban area, entirely located in the municipality, had a population
of 67,547 on 1 January 2009, and is thus the 8th largest urban area in Norway.
In addition, the Statistics Norway counts that there are 4 other densely
populated areas in the municipality: Skålevik with a population of 3,026, Strai
with a population of 1,636, Justvik with a population of 1,803 and Tveit with a
population of 1,396 citizens.
The city was named after its founder King Christian IV in
1641. The last element sand refers to the sandy headland the city was built on.
The name was written "Christian(s) sand" until 1877 – then, according
to an official spelling reform; the form was changed to
"Kristianssand". The name was again changed to its present form
Kristiansand in 1889. In 2012, the city's mayor, Arvid Grundekjøn, proposed
that the city be renamed Christianssand, arguing that "Kristiansand"
is grammatically meaningless and that Christianssand stands for tradition.
