Drammen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Drammen kommune | |||
| — Municipality — | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | Norway | ||
| County | Buskerud | ||
| Municipality ID | NO-0602 | ||
| Administrative centre | Drammen | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor (2003) | Tore Opdal Hansen (H) | ||
| Area (Nr. 366 in Norway) | |||
| - Total | 137 km² (52.9 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 135 km² (52.1 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2008) | |||
| - Total | 60,145 | ||
| - Density | 421/km² (1,090.4/sq mi) | ||
| - Change (10 years) | 8.2 % | ||
| - Rank in Norway | 9 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Official language form | Neutral | ||
| Demonym | Drammenser[1] | ||
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| Website: www.drammen.kommune.no | |||
Drammen is a city and municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway.
Drammen was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Skoger was merged with Drammen January 1, 1964. (And then transferred from the county of Vestfold to the county of Buskerud.)
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[edit] Geography
Drammen is one of the larger cities in Norway, and lies about 47 km from the capital of Norway, Oslo. The city centre lies at the end of a valley, on both sides of the river Drammenselva, and where the river meets the Drammensfjord. Drammen is also the main harbour for car and fruit import in Norway.
As of January 1, 2007, the population of the urban area of Drammen is 93,006. Drammen is the sixth largest urban area of Norway and occupies territory in five municipalities: Drammen (with about 61% of the population), Nedre Eiker (23%), Øvre Eiker (8%), Lier (5%) and Røyken (3%).[2]
The boroughs of Drammen are Austad/Fjell, Bragernes, Gulskogen, Konnerud, Skoger, Strømsø/Danvik, Tangen/Åskollen and Åssiden.[3]
The Øvre Sund area, situated along Drammenselva, will be regulated by the municipality in order to restore this area's character. The buildings there are from the 18th and 19th century, and contribute, as well as the river and the brewery, to give the city a special identity.[4]
[edit] History
Rock carvings at Åskollen and Skogerveien are 6000 to 7000 years old, and are the first signs of human activity in the area. The largest rock carving at Åskollen depicts a moose.
Drammen originally consisted of three small seaports: Bragernes on the northern side of the Drammenselva river and Strømsø and Tangen on the southern side. For trade purposes, small seaports were placed under market towns. Despite their geographical proximity, Bragernes was placed under Christiania and Strømsø under Tønsberg. For this reason, cooperation between the adjacent seaport towns was almost impossible. In 1662 a merger was proposed to unite Strømsø and Bragernes to form a market town with the name Frederiksstrøm. The proposal was rejected by Frederick III of Denmark. Bragernes received limited market town rights in 1715, and merged with Strømsø to gain status as a single city on 19 June 1811.[5]
Its unique geographical location made the city a centre for seafaring, ship building, log driving, timber trade and - from the 19th century - paper and pulp industries. During the 1960s most of the pulp and paper factories along the Drammenselva were closed down.
Large parts of the city were ruined in the great fire of 12-13 July 1866, which led to the reconstruction of the city centre, including the characteristic town square and Bragernes church.[6]
In 1909, Drammen got the first trolleybus system in Scandinavia, the Drammen trolleybus. The lines ran until 1967. For many years the centre of Drammen suffered from heavy traffic, but in 1999 the opening of the Bragernes tunnel diverted much of the traffic away from the centre of the city. In recent years, the city centre has seen significant regeneration, with the introduction of new housing, shopping facilities, restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as a public pathway along the Drammenselva river.
The Norse form of the city's name was Drafn, and this was originally the name of the inner part of Drammensfjord. The fjord is, however, probably named after the river Dramselva (Norse Dröfn), and this again is derived from the old word dröfn, which meant 'wave'.
The coat-of-arms is from 1960 - but it is based upon the old seal for Bragernes from 1723. The motto for Bragernes (in Latin) was IN FIDE ET JUSTITIA FORTITUDO ('in faith and justice is strength'), and the items in the seal are referring to this: key = faith, sword = justice, column on rocks = strength.
[edit] Famous residents
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[edit] Sport clubs
- Strømsgodset IF. Founded February 10th 1907. Four Norwegian championships in football (1969, 1970, 1973, 1991). Winner of the Norwegian football league 1970. 6 Norwegian championships in bandy.
- SBK Drafn 21 Norwegian Championships in bandy.
- Drammen golfklubb. Founded 1989. Golfclub with 18 hole course situated in the southern part of Drammen, on the border to Sande in Vestfold
- IF Hellas
- SBK Skiold
- IF Sturla
- Drammen HK Handball club competing in Men's European Champions League (07/08)
[edit] Sister city
[edit] References
- ^ Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg (Norwegian)
- ^ Statistics Norway (2006). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality. 1 January 2006".
- ^ Søbstad, Per Ivar. Bydeler i Drammen (Norwegian). History of Drammen. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
- ^ About the preservation of the Øvre Sund area
- ^ Søbstad, Per Ivar. Kort oversikt over Drammens historie (Norwegian). History of Drammen. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
- ^ Søbstad, Per Ivar. Bybranner (Norwegian). History of Drammen. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
[edit] External links
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