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Pronounced as hδmrfest, Hammerfest town in Finnmark county lays in north Norway, on Kvaløy island. It is the northernmost town of Europe, but its harbour is always ice-free because of the warming effect of the North Atlantic Current (terminal section of the Gulf Stream), which also causes midwinter temperatures to remain only slightly below freezing.

Chartered in 1789, Hammerfest was heavily damaged by British naval bombardment in 1809. Between 1816 and 1852 Norway, Sweden, and Russia conducted surveys in the area to establish a meridian arc between Hammerfest and the Danube River at the Black Sea. A meridian stone column at Fuglenes (a section of the town) commemorates the completion of this work.

The city was destroyed by fire in 1890. Norway's first municipal hydroelectric generating station was included in its reconstruction. Retreating German forces also destroyed Hammerfest in 1944. It has since been rebuilt and is now the commercial centre of western Finnmark.

The town has a road connection with the National Highway and with Finland and air services to other parts of Norway. Tourism, fish-oil processing, and livestock raising are the town's economic mainstays.

As there is no sunlight from November 21 to January 21 tourists are attracted by its uninterrupted daylight from May 17 to July 29. 

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