Stavanger is a municipality in Rogaland. It is located on North-Jæren between Hafrsfjord in the west and Gandsfjorden in the east. The city got it's present borders when Stavanger muinicipality was expanded with the entire Madla and the mainland west of Gandsfjorden.
Stavanger is one of Norway'st oldest cities and in the year 1125 it became the Bishop's headquaters.
The cathedral was built and the medieval town grew around it, and soon after the king built a royal ressidence that Bishop could use as his private home.
In the 19th century the city was growing rapidly and had great economic progress. This was primarily due to herring fishing, construction of a huge shippingfleet and a succesfull tin can industry. Then came a backlash and it was not until 1890s that the city again experienced great economic progress. This time with Christian Bjelland factories in the tin can production that became the biggest industry in Stavanger around the turn of the century. There was also huge growth in the argiculture. This was muche due to Jærbanen (a railway built from 1874 to 1878) linking Jæren more closely to Stavanger. Until the 1950s Stavanger was a typical industrial town with shipbuilding and tin can industry as the most important contributions to the city's economic growth. Unfortunately, the city experienced stagnation and decline at the end of the 1960s which was due to failure in the canning industry.
Fortunately several oil companies had began to establish themselves in the city, and there were also many ship owners who was leading in transportation of crude oil. And on the December the 23th 1969 it was discovered oil in the Ekofisk field. This was a new era for the Norwegian oil industry and in the 1970s Stavanger became headquarters for the Norwegian Oil Fund's activities in the North Sea.
Today the city is the administrative center for economic activity at home and abroad, and go under the name "Norway's Oiltown".
The city has many educational institutions as a regional college, Rogaland Research, engineering college, teaching college and other secondary schools.
Stavanger is Norway 4.largest city with over 120 000 inhabitants.
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