The village of Vardø, on the island of
Vardøya, was made important because of the
Vardøhus Fortress that was built on the island in the early 14th century. The village grew up around the fortress and became a major trading post between the Norwegians in Finnmark county and the nearby
Russians. In the 17th century, Vardø was a centre of several high-profile witch trials, most notably the
1621 witch trial and
1662 witch trials. On 1 January 1838, the town and the surrounding rural district were established as the new municipality of
Vardø by og landdistrikt, meaning "Vardø town and rural district" (see
Formannskapsdistrikt). This arrangement did not entirely satisfy the new formannskapsdistrikt law, so in 1839, the town was separated from the rural district to form its own town-municipality. Since the
Vardø landdistrikt outside the town had too few residents (according to the law), one municipal government was shared between the two until 22 May 1868 when a royal resolution was passed making them completely separate and self-governing. On 1 January 1874, a small area of
Vardø landdistrikt (population: 48) was transferred to the town of Vardø. On 1 January 1964, the eastern part of
Båtsfjord Municipality (population: 621) was merged with the town of Vardø, forming the new (present-day)
Vardø Municipality. ==Etymology==