Florø is a town and the administrative centre of Flora municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is also a former municipality that existed for just over 100 years.
The Name
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The municipality is named after the farm Flora (Old Norse Flóðra) since the town of Florø was built on its ground in 1860. The name is probably derived from flóð which means "(strong) stream". The name of the town and former municipality of Florø has the same name, but instead of ending with an "a", it has the Danish word ø meaning "island" added to the end since the town is located on an island
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The History
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Florø was founded as a town (ladested) in 1860. Upon its founding, it was removed from the municipality of Kinn and made into a municipality of its own with a population of 846. On 1 January 1964, the city of Florø was merged with the municipalities of Kinn and Eikefjord and parts of the municipalities of Bru, Vevring, and Bremanger in order to form the new municipality of Flora.
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The Economy
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The basis for the foundation of the town was the rich herring fisheries, symbolised by the three herrings in the municipality's coat of arms. Fishing is still an important part of the economy, in addition to shipbuilding and service industries. After the discovery of petroleum in the North Sea in the 1960s, Florø has been used as a supply base for the petroleum industry.
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