The town of Egersund was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was merged with the surrounding municipality of Eigersund January 1, 1965.
Egersund has one of the best natural harbours in Norway, and used to be the largest harbour in Norway when measured in quantity of fish brought in each year (surpassed by �lesund during 2006). Several internationally known companies have divisions here, like Navico (earlier Robertson autopilots) and Jeppesen Norway formerly C-MAP Norway (producer of electronic sea-maps). In addition, the Aker Solutions corporation owns and runs a large installation here which specializes in the building of parts foroil platforms. Most of the industry is related to the sea and to boats
