Mandal, Agder County, Southern Norway Region, Norway

🇳🇴 Mandal is a town in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. Mandal is the fourth largest town in Agder as well as the administrative centre of Lindesnes municipality. It is located at the mouth of the river Mandalselva at the southern end of the Mandalen valley. The 6.63-square-kilometre (1,640-acre) town has a population density of 1,667 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,320/sq mi). In Norway, Mandal is considered a by which can be translated as either a "town" or "city" in English.

The town lies along the European route E39 highway, about 40 km (25 mi) south-west of the town of Kristiansand and about 60 km (37 mi) south-east of the town of Flekkefjord. Mandal has a few suburban villages lying just outside its borders such as Ime immediately to the east and Sånum to the southwest. The village of Krossen lies about 10 km (6.2 mi) to the north, along the Mandalselva river.

History The area in which today's town of Mandal is located was not developed during the Middle Ages. During the 1300s, a trading post called Vester-Risør grew up along the Skogsfjorden, just west of the present-day town. The town began when King Eric of Pomerania gave the town the right to trade salmon. By the 1500s, Vesterrisør was a bustling port and trading centre, making it one of the oldest in Agder. In 1632, the trading post was given ladested rights, which included special trading privileges. During the mid-1600s, the name of the town was changed to Mandal. Salmon fishing and the timber industry pushed the town's growth even more during the 1700s. In 1779, the town's ladested status was formalized in the law. Mandal Church was completed in 1821 after the old church burned down in the town's fire of 1810.

On 1 January 1838, the small ladested was granted self-governing rights. In 1921, Mandal was designated as a kjøpstad, giving it full town status under the law. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the town of Mandal was merged with the neighboring municipality of Halse og Harkmark and most of the municipality of Holum to form a new, larger municipality of Mandal. Today, the town is also a tourist destination, especially due to its Sjøsanden beach.