Editing Larvik (section)

==History==
[[File:Istrehågan,_Tjølling_(14550732106).jpg|thumb|left|[[Istrehågan]] contains rock carvings dated to 1500-500 BCE.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Attractions |url=https://www.visitvestfold.com/en/larvik/see-and-do/Attractions/?TLp=200315&Rock-carvings-and-standing-stones-at-Haugen-Farm |publisher=VisitVestfold.com}}</ref>]]
[[File:Helgeroa_-_no-nb_digifoto_20151126_00250_NB_MIT_FNR_13928.jpg|thumb|left|[[Helgeroa]] Harbour in 1953.]]
Various remains from the [[Stone Age]] have been discovered throughout the municipality of Larvik, for instance by [[Torpevannet]] near the village of [[Helgeroa]]. [[Raet]] goes through all of Vestfold County before peaking out of the ocean in [[Mølen]] in Larvik. Ancient peoples have carried rocks from Raet and constructed vast numbers of burial mounds at Mølen. During the [[Roman Iron Age]], ancient peoples erected a stone monument resembling a ship at [[Istrehågan]], one of Norway's greatest remains ({{lang|no|oldtidsminne}}) from prehistoric times.<ref name="grevens by">{{Cite book |last=Krohn-Holm |first=Jan W. |url=https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2018032048156 |title=Larvik: Grevens By |publisher=Leif Holktedahls Forlag |year=1971 |location=Oslo, Norge |language=no |oclc=ocm13071070}}</ref>{{rp|8}}

About {{convert|4|km}} southeast of the town is [[Skiringssal]], an archaeological site where archaeologists first discovered burial mounds and an ancient Viking hall, and later uncovered the nearby remains of an ancient town, [[Kaupang]]. This is now known as the oldest known merchant town in Norway. There was international trade from this area, over 1,200 years ago.<ref name="grevens by" />{{rp|12}} Skiringssal has remains from the oldest town yet discovered in the [[Nordic countries]],<ref name="DTW">{{Cite book |last=Taylor-Wilkie |first=Doreen |title=Insight Guides Norway |publisher=Insight |year=2018 |isbn=9781780052106 |pages=157 and 304}}</ref> and it was one of Scandinavia's earliest urban sites.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Skre |first=Dagfinn |title=Kaupang in Skiringssal |publisher=Aarhus University Press |year=2007 |isbn=9788779342590 |page=13 |language=no}}</ref>

Larvik (which historically used the [[Danish language|Danish]] spelling: ''Laurvig'') was an old coastal village. In 1671, the village received [[kjøpstad]] (market town) status in 1671 when [[Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, Count of Laurvig|Ulrik Fredrik Gyldenløve]] bought the Fritsø estate. He later became the first [[Count]] of Laurvig. The count built a new residence in 1674, "Herregården", which can still be visited today.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evensberget |first=Snorre |title=DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Norway |publisher=Penguin |year=2012 |isbn=9780756693305 |page=125}}</ref><ref name="snl" /> The whole Larvik area was owned by a [[Countship of Larvik|Danish Count]] ({{lang|no|grevskap}}) until 1817. Since the rest of Norway had come under Swedish rule in 1814, the county was purchased by four local businessmen in 1817.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-26 |title=Unike dokument viser Larviks danske hemmelegheit |url=https://www.nrk.no/vestfoldogtelemark/unike-dokument-viser-larviks-danske-hemmelegheit-1.15550853}}</ref> Then in 1821, it became part of the newly created [[Vestfold|Jarslberg og Laurvigs amt]] (county).

[[File:Johan Christian Dahl - Larvik by Moonlight - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|''Larvik by Moonlight'', 1839 painting by [[Johan Christian Dahl]]]]
Larvik is also the site of the [[Treschow (noble family)|Treschow]] estate, "Fritzøehus", which is currently owned by the heirs of [[Mille-Marie Treschow]], reportedly "Norway's richest woman". The Treschow estate was created in 1835 when Willum Frederik Treschow bought the county from the Danish crown, who in turn had bought the county from the local consortium "grevlingene", four local entrepreneurs who proved unable to manage the ownership financially (the consortium had bought the county from the Danish crown in 1817 originally, the crown taking over the county when the last of the counts had to sell it because of debt).

Larvik, along with neighbouring cities of [[Sandefjord (town)|Sandefjord]] and [[Tønsberg (town)|Tønsberg]], were the three dominant [[whaling]] cities of Norway in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tønnessen |first1=Johan Nicolay |title=The History of Modern Whaling |last2=Johnsen |first2=Arne Odd |publisher=University of California Press |year=1982 |isbn=9780520039735 |page=84}}</ref>