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Flekkefjord is a town and municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway, and is the westernmost towns of the geographical region Sørlandet.
Flekkefjord was originally founded as a smuglers town for exporting oak to the Napolean-supported Netherlands some 200 years ago.
The port was perfect for the use, due to its wrey rare geografical location; the tidal wave that comes in from the Atlantic splits on the British Islands. This causes one stream to go in the English channel, the other one to go around the islands. The stream of the English channel reaches the coast of Norway before the wave traveling around the British Islands. These two tidal waves meet in Flekkefjord, this causing them to neutralise the tidal effect. The result is simple yet strange, no difference in the tidal ocean height throughout the day, all year around.
This rare fenomena was the reason behind Flekkefjords founding as a smuglerstown in the lucrative branch of oak, the warship-timber in those days, as the ships could come and leave at any hour of the day, not taking concern to the tidal currency. This was unknown to the British warships that were blockading the Norwegian coast for Napolean-supporting ships.
After the war the Dutch were heavily at presence in Flekkefjord, and kept exporting oak and pine. The pine was used mainly to make foundations for the booming Amsterdam house construction, resulting in most of Amsterdams houses from the nineteen century are founded on pines from Flekkefjord-exporters.
Today Flekkefjord has lost its previous smugler-glory, and is now a small, cosy, quiet, law-obeying and town.
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