Langesund became its own customs center in 1570, and in the 1580s was considered the country's largest export port for timber, with a lot of shipping traffic particularly from Dutch schooners. The Dutch also worked on a large salt factory that King
Christian IV had built on Langøya in 1602 to refine imported salt. In the early days, Langesund was one of the most important shipping towns in
Norway. In 1765, the growing village was granted rights as a
ladested (town status). At the end of the 17th century, large shipbuilding was started. As the timber trade fell away, shipbuilding and shipping became the town's main industries.
Peter Wessel Tordenskiold had one of his ships built in Langesund, the
Løvendals Gallej. It was known as Longsound in English during the 1800s.
Name The town is
Langesund which means "the long strait". The first element is which means "long". The last element is which means "
strait" or "
sound".
Municipal self-government (1838–1964) The town of Langesund was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1878, the island of Langøya, just off shore from the town (population: 22) was transferred from the neighboring rural municipality of
Bamble to the town of Langesund. In 1949, the town was enlarged by
annexing an adjacent area of
Bamble Municipality (population: 127). 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 Langesund (population: 2,281) was merged with the nearby town of
Stathelle (population: 724) and the surrounding rural municipality of
Bamble (population: 5,237) to form a new, larger
Bamble Municipality. While it existed, this municipality was responsible for
primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient
health services,
senior citizen services,
unemployment,
social services,
zoning,
economic development, and municipal
roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a
municipal council of
directly elected representatives. The
mayor was
indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.
Municipal council The
municipal council of Langesund was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political
party. {{Kommunestyre table {{Kommunestyre table {{Kommunestyre table {{Kommunestyre table {{Kommunestyre table {{Kommunestyre table {{Kommunestyre table ==Attractions==