Editing Egersund (section)

==History==
===Early history===
People have lived around the area of Egersund since the [[Stone Age]]. There are several places around Egersund where one can find ruins of settlements dating back to the age of migrations in Norway (400&ndash;600 BC).

===Middle Ages===
There used to be a church here, the Church of St. Mary, mentioned in 1292 in a privilege of indulgence issued in Rome on 5 February 1292 by [[Pope Nicholas IV]] as ''Ecclesia beatæ Mariæ de Eikundarsund''. It was the first church in Egersund, and was the parish church of the St. Mary parish. It is believed to have been located where the present [[Egersund Church]] stands today. Old folklore from Egersund also says that before the Church of St. Mary, an altar where people sacrificed to the old [[Norse gods]] was placed here, but this has not been verified from any sources except old stories.

There was also a chapel, the chapel of St. Laurenti, mentioned in a letter issued on 5 February 1308 as ''Ecclesia beati Laurentii de Eikundarsund'', where [[Pope Clement V]] gives King [[Håkon V Magnusson]] extensive privileges concerning the King's 14 chapels (including the chapel of St. Laurenti), which was founded by himself or his father, King [[Magnus Lagabøte]], and his grandfather, King [[Håkon Håkonson]]. Since these chapels often were built on the king's estates, it is presumed to have been on grounds owned by the Husaby estate. An old tradition says it was located at what is now "Strandgata 43", but the exact position is somewhat uncertain.

===17th and 18th centuries===
[[File:Egersund kirke 01.jpg|thumb|right|Present-day [[Egersund Church]]]]
In 1623 the old church (probably the Church of St. Mary) was demolished and a new [[Egersund Church]] was erected. This building still stands today.

On 18 July 1798, the village of Egersund was established as a [[ladested]] with its own [[Customs|customs office]].

===19th and 20th centuries===
The ladested of Egersund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 under the new [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law.  This effectively gave Egersund the municipal self-government that was now uniformly given to all areas of Norway.<ref name="Dag" />

In 1843, a fire destroyed two thirds of the town, allowing a major redesign of streets.  In 1847, [[Johan Feyer]] founded A/S Egersunds Fayancefabriks Co., which became the town's major employer until closing in 1979.

On 7 July 1859, there was another major fire, and another again on 20 October 1862.  This was the last major town fire, since town planners finally understood wooden structures' vulnerability and reconstructed buildings using extra wide streets to prevent fires from spreading.

In 1878, the [[Jærensbanen]] railway line between Egersund and the city of [[Stavanger]] opened with [[Egersund Station]] in the center of the town.  In 1905, Egersund became the first town in [[Rogaland]] county to get electrical lighting.

On 9 April 1940, the German military invaded Norway and they [[Capture of Egersund|occupy Egersund]] during [[World War II]].  Egersund had strategic importance because of its [[harbour]], as well as because the telegraph line between [[Norway]] and England was situated there. The Germans built large camps in the area. The occupation lasted until the end of the war.

In 1947, the town was growing rapidly, and an area of the neighboring municipality of [[Eigersund]] (population: 515) was transferred into the town of Egersund.<ref name="Dag" />

During the 1960s, the [[Schei Committee]] met in Norway to discuss the municipal structure in the nation.  It was decided that the number of cities and municipalities in Norway was too large, so on 1 January 1965, the town of Egersund lost its status as a self-governing municipality.  On that date, the following places were all merged into the new, larger municipality of [[Eigersund]], with the town of Egersund as the new [[administrative centre]]:<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>
*the town of Egersund (population: 3,787)
*the municipality of [[Eigersund]] (population: 4,664)
*the municipality of [[Helleland]] (population: 851)
*the Gyadalen and Grøsfjell areas in the municipality of [[Heskestad]] (population: 114)

===Name===
The town (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the Eigersundet strait ({{langx|non|Eikundarsund}}). The first element is the [[genitive case]] of the name of the island of ''Eikund'' (now [[Eigerøya]]). The name of the island comes from the word {{wikt-lang|non|eik}} which means "[[oak]]" followed by the [[suffix]] {{lang|non|-und}} which means "plentiful of" (i.e. "the island covered with oak trees"). The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|sund}} which means "[[strait]]" or "[[sound (geography)|sound]]". The name is among the oldest place names in Norway. It can already be found in the form ''Eikundarsund'' in the [[Norse saga]] of [[Olav the Holy]], written by Icelandic author [[Snorri Sturlasson]] in the 13th century. From around the year 1000 Olav the Holy's fleet was here often. We can also find the name in texts and [[Scaldic poetry|scaldic poem]]s from Olav's saga.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4pBAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Stavanger amt |date=1915 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=10 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=78 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

;"Egersund" vs. "Eigersund"
During the 1910s, the name of the municipality was changed from ''Egersund'' to ''Eigersund'', but the town of Egersund within [[Eigersund Municipality]] kept the old spelling. The form of the name spelled without the [[diphthong]] [ei] (''Egersund'') is the [[Danish language]] form of the name and at that time the municipal name was changed to use the Norwegian language form. The town kept the old spelling for historic purposes.