Flekkefjord

Flekkefjord grew around a sheltered harbour on Norway's southern coast, where timber from the inland forests could be loaded onto ships. The site also had an older church at Nes. Dutch skippers became frequent visitors, seeking timber and other goods from the fjords and inlets of southern Norway.

The settlement became a customs station in 1650 and received the status of a trading port under Kristiansand in 1660. Its long commercial links with the Netherlands gave a part of the town the name Hollenderbyen, or Dutch Town, recalling the merchants who visited its harbour. Rich herring fisheries brought renewed growth in the years from 1825 to 1835. The harbour's history reflects the changing fortunes of timber and fish along a coast connected to the North Sea.