This is a list of towns and cities in Norway. The Norwegian language word means a town or city - there is no distinction between the two words as there is in English. Historically, the designation of town/city was granted by the king, but since 1996 that authority was given to the local municipal councils for each municipality in Norway. In Norway today, there are 108 towns/cities, but they have no legal authority or powers and they are not an administrative body, it is simply a designation. All local government rests with the municipality which may or may not have a town/city located within it.[1]
Historically, the words (market town), Norwegian: [[ladested]] (small seaport), or Norwegian: [[bergstad]] were used for a town or city. Each of these were granted certain special rights based on their classification and they did hold administrative authority within their borders. A ladested was subordinate to a kjøpstad and over time some of the ladesteds were "upgraded" to the status of kjøpstad in order to gain more trading rights. In 1665, Norway had 20 towns. There were 9 full market towns (kjøpstad): Bergen, Oslo, Trondheim, Tønsberg, Stavanger, Skien, Fredrikstad, Halden, and Kristiansand. There were two mountain towns