Editing Arendal (section)

===Municipal history===
The town of Arendal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). On 1 January 1875, a small area with 22 inhabitants was transferred from the town to the neighboring municipality of [[Austre Moland|Østre Moland]] and another small area with 52 residents was transferred to the neighboring municipality of [[Øyestad]].<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>

On 1 January 1902, the rural municipality of [[Barbu, Norway|Barbu]] (population: 6,787) was merged into the town of Arendal. In 1944, a small area of [[Moland]] with a population of 21 inhabitants was transferred to Arendal as well. On 1 January 1992, the town was vastly expanded. The neighboring rural municipalities of [[Hisøy]] (pop: 4,026), [[Moland]] (pop: 8,148), [[Tromøy]] (pop: 4,711), and [[Øyestad]] (pop: 8,679) were all merged with the town of Arendal which had a population of 12,478, bringing the total population of the new municipality of Arendal to 38,042.<ref name="Dag" />