Why go
This history helps when a map or statistic labelled “Tromsø” seems to cover far more than the city streets. Tromsøya’s centre was once a small municipality within a rural district. Gradual transfers and then the 1964 merger brought Tromsøysund, Ullsfjord and most of Hillesøy into a single local authority.
The full story
Tromsø became a separate municipality in 1838, although the urban settlement was surrounded by a rural municipality then called Tromsøe landdistrikt and later Tromsøysund. The two were governed separately. As the city grew, pieces of the rural district moved into the city municipality, including parts of Tromsøya. The sequence of small transfers is less useful on a visit than the change it prepared: in 1964 the city joined Tromsøysund, most of Ullsfjord and most of Hillesøy. That merger produced a municipality reaching well beyond the historic core. It also explains why old accounts can use “Tromsø” for different areas. A population count for the pre-merger city is not directly comparable with one for the later municipality, and a destination map may include islands and rural settlements outside the compact city. When planning time on the ground, use the narrower place names—Tromsøya, Tromsdalen or Kvaløya—to locate what you actually intend to see.