land's biggest port in terms of tonnage handled. At the end of the 19th century, Arendal was recognized as a major shipping centre with many wealthy shipowners. Around the turn of the twentieth century, when thousands of Norwegians sought to take advantage of the more stable economic climate of the United States by emigrating, many of those from Arendal took their economic traditions with them. In New York City and the surrounding areas, a great deal of Americans who claim Norwegian Ancestry can trace their roots to Arendal, as a great deal of Norwegian sailors, trimmers, shipbuilders and carpenters from Arendal settled in areas of New York such as Brooklyn, the Staten Island neighborhood of Port Richmond, and several industrial centers in Northern New Jersey such as Jersey City, Bayonne, Perth Amboy and Elizabeth. In 1939, it had the 4th largest Norwegian tanker fleet; only Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger were larger.
Today the town has small boat manufacturing, mechanical industry, electronics industry as well as one of the world's largest silicon carbide refining plants.
Formannskapsdistrikt
The town of Arendal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1875, a small area with 22 inhabitants was transferred from the municipality of Arendal to the neighboring municipality of Austre Moland and another small area with 52 residents was transferred to the neighboring municipality of �yestad.
On 1 January 1902, the rural municipality of Barbu (population: 6,787) was merged into the municipality of Arendal. In 1944, a small area of Moland with a population of 21 inhabitants was transferred to Arendal. On 1 January 1992, the neighboring rural municipalities of His�y (pop: 4,026), Moland (pop: 8,148), Trom�y (pop: 4,711), and �yestad (pop: 8,679) were merged into the municipality of Arendal which had a population of 12,478, bringing the total population of the new municipality of Arendal to
