Halden kommune County Østfold Landscape Municipality NO-0101 Administrative centre Halden Mayor (2004) Area km² Population  - Total (2002)  - Density 27,204 /km² www.halden.kommune.no Data from Statistics Norway (http://www.ssb.no/english/municipalities/0101)

Halden, formerly Fredrikshald, is a town and municipality in the county of Østfold, Norway.

History of Halden

Halden's fortress and new town bridge.

Due to its location at the Swedish border, the fortress Fredriksten was built there in the 17th century. The fortress was a replacement for the former border fortress Bohus which had been lost at the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, when the province of Wiken, or Bahusia, was ceded to Sweden. In 1718, the Great Northern War ended at Fredriksten as King Karl XII of Sweden was shot and killed while trying to take the fortress.

Politics in Halden

The political situation in Halden is currently somewhat peculiar. Halden received nationwide attention when the Vice Mayor was forced out of his office by his colleagues, and had to do all his work in a Café in the building next to the City Hall. This, combined with many other strange decisions by prominent Halden politicians, has caused a general distrust in politicians by the population of Halden. As of 2004, Halden is ruled by a rather coalition between Arbeiderpartiet (a Social-Democratic party), Høyre (a Conservative party), and Fremskrittspartiet (a Neoliberalistic party).

Halden's slogan is Halden, IT- og Miljøbyen (Halden, the Information Technology and Environment City). During the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Halden was known for a large amount of pollution, especially done by the cornerstone factory Saugbrugs (part of Norske Skog since 1989). After many projects by both Norske Skog-Saugbrugs and Halden's City Hall attempting to clean up the polluted fjords and rivers, Halden was dubbed Norway's Environment City in 1996. A lot of Norwegian and foreign IT-companies operate in Halden, thus the slogan.

Halden is also the place for one of Norway's two nuclear reactors. However, as Norway does not use nuclear power, the reactor is in Halden only for research purposes.

Sports in Halden

Because of Halden's forests and nature, it is a good place for orienteering. Some of the world's greatest orienteerers come from Halden. The local volleyball club, Halden VBK, also plays in the Premier Division for men, while Comet, Halden's ice hockey club, was recently promoted to the Premier Division. Like most other places in Norway, football is the most popular sport in Halden. Halden has many football clubs, the biggest of them, Kvik/Halden F.K., plays in the Norwegian Second Division.