Hammerfest is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The municipality encompasses parts of three islands: Kval�ya, S�r�ya, and Seiland. Hammerfest was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The law required that all cities should be separated from their rural districts, but because of low population, and very few voters, this was impossible to carry out for Hammerfest in 1838. (See also Vads� and Vard�.) The rural district of Hammerfest (S�r�ysund) was separated from the city on 1 January 1852, but it was merged back into the city on 1 January 1992 (but without the area of Kvalsund, which was separated from S�r�ysund as a municipality of its own in 1869).
The town is named after an old anchorage. The first element is hammer, referring to a number of large rocks, good for mooring boats, called Hamran (Old Norse: Hamarr- steep mountainside). The Hamran were covered up in land reclaiming during the early post-war years. The last element is fest, from Old Norse festr which means 'fastening' (for boats).he coat-of-arms is from relatively modern times. They were granted on 16 December 1938. The arms of Hammerfest, a silver polar bear on a red background, were prepared for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the town's foundation in 1939. The polar bear was chosen as a symbol for the fishing in the polar seas north of Norway. The polar bear itself is not native to mainland Norway
