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The town is situated in Rogaland fylke (county), south-western Norway. As a North Sea port, Haugesund is a shipbuilding and repair centre and has a 928-foot (283-metre) dry-dock that was the largest in Scandinavia at its completion in 1979.

The name Haugesund was already known when Harald Hårfagre settled at the King's estate at Avaldsnes on the island of Karmøy in the year 872. On his death in the year 930, he was buried by the Karmsund sound. In later years a national monument was erected on Haraldshaugen, his burial site. The area is rich in monuments to historical saga, and as the people of Haugesund say: "a lot of royal nosebleeds have flowed here!"

But no one planned to build a town on this site - at least not until the 19^th century. At that time, the rich crops of spring herring which were fished directly from the shore created a need to house all the activities connected with the herring. The community grew rapidly and in the year 1854, Haugesund became a separate municipality with 900 inhabitants, and at the same time obtained the status of a town. The bill of this new municipality was approved by King Oscar I on the 26^th of August 1854, which is still the town's anniversary date. But the town has had to go through many stages in its evolution.

During the rich herring years, the need for good transportation to deliver herring to the world became vitally important. Thus, shipping started. In the 1870's the rich herring industry ceased, but by then shipping was well established and the people of Haugesund now concentrated on this aspect of business. It expanded rapidly. By the 1890's, the peak of the town's sailing fleet numbered 238 with a total of 31,648 commercial cargo hauls.

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