Hammerfest, Norway, lays claim to being the northernmost "town" in the world, with over 9,000 inhabitants at a latitude of 70° 39' 48". There are some villages farther north, but none larger than 2000 people.

Hammerfest

The first church in Hammerfest was built in the 17th. c. In 1789, Hammerfest was issued its city charter, to promote trade and prosperity in the north. In 1790, Hammerfest sent its first hunting expedition to Svalbard, and the city was a pioneer in arctic trapping, although Tromsø took over by around 1850. In 1809, British forces burned and sacked the city as part of their blockade policy. During the 19th c., Hammerfest flourished as a minuscule trade center exporting fish to Russia. In 1891, a devastating fire flattened the city. As part of the reconstruction, the city was the first in Europe to install electric street lamps. In 1945, the city was again destroyed, this time as part of the German occupiers' scorched earth policy. Postwar prosperity was ensured by the big Findus fish processing factory, that is now history. At the turn of the millennium, Hammerfest became an important base for gas extraction.