Klaksvik Municipality 100 years

 

The first settlement at Klaksvík dates back to Viking times, but it was not before the 20th century that the districts merged to form a large, modern, Faroese town that became the cultural and commercial centre for the Northern Isles and the Faroes as a whole.

 

Klaksvík, which was amalgamated in a joint municipality with the rest of the Northern Isles in 1873, became an independent municipality in 1908. At the time, about 700 people lived in the parish, but 50 years later, the population of Klaksvík had risen to more than 4,000. During the first half of the 20th century Klaksvík was that town in the Faroes that enjoyed the greatest commercial success. The town grew from five small districts in the Northern Isles in the middle of the 19th century to the best fishing port in the country around 1960.It was quite natural for Klaksvík, which is located next to one of the best harbours in the Faroes, to become the commercial centre of the region.

 

Today, 5,000 people live in the biggest fishing community in the Faroes and several municipalities in the Northern Isles have chosen to merge with Klaksvík Municipality. It could quite well be the case that the Northern Isles will soon be a single municipality once again. If this proves to be the case, the municipality will have a population of 6,000.

 

New challenges and opportunities lie ahead for Klaksvík Municipality. In 2006, the Northern Isles became connected with the central Faroes via the undersea Norðoya tunnel to Leirvík on Eysturoy. This presented Klaksvík with a challenge as the natural centre of the northern part of the Faroes. But is also provided Klaksvík with an opportunity to become the centre of a powerful northern region that can compete with the central Faroes in the globalised community where there are no longer geographical limitations.