Farum is a town in the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. The town has a population of 18,521 (1 January 2011).

The town is part of Furesø municipality

Furesø municipality

Furesø Kommune is a municipality in Denmark. It has a population of 37,667 and an area of 55.68 km² . The municipality belongs to the Copenhagen Capital Region and lies 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. Its mayor is Ole Bondo Christensen, a member of the Social Democrats political party...

. Until 2006, it constituted Farum municipality

Farum municipality

Farum municipality was a municipality in the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. On January 1, 2007 it merged with Værløse municipality to form the new Furesø municipality as a consequence of Denmark's Municipal Reform....

.

History

Farum has existed for more than 1000 years. The name Farum refers to the founding fathers, sea merchants, who migrated from Bremen, Germany. At the time there was clear passage from the sea to Farum. This has since been filled with silt

Silt

Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

 and by civic demands for more land. Around 1100, the community's first stone church was built: parts of it remain in the present church of Farum. In the 14th century, a damming project flooded the old ford and redirected much of the traffic bound for Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 towards Fiskebæk, a short distance further south.

During recurrent wars with Sweden in the 17th century the area suffered enormous damage.

In 1800, the town was transferred from Copenhagen knight district to Frederiksborg County

Frederiksborg County

Frederiksborg Amt is a former county in the north of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Effective January 1, 2007, the county was abolished and merged into Region Hovedstaden ....

. Around this time, the economy of the area revived with renewed cultivation of the fertile agricultural land. Throughout the 19th century, the community expanded economically. In 1906, the community was linked to the capital by the railway between Copenhagen and Slangerup

Slangerup

Slangerup is a town with a population of 6,822 in Frederikssund municipality in Region Hovedstaden in the northern part of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark.-The town of Slangerup:...

: in 1977, this became the Hareskovbanen

Hareskovbanen

Hareskovbanen is one of six radial S-train lines in Copenhagen. It connects the city center to a number of northwestern suburbs and the cities of Værløse and Farum, with the terminus placed in the latter.-Stations:...

 radial of Copenhagen's S-train

S-Train

The S-train network is a combined urban rapid transit and suburban rail network of Metropolitan Copenhagen, Denmark. It connects the city center with the inner suburbs of Copenhagen, and has close to half of the stations within the urban city. The first line was opened in 1934...

 system.

In the early 1950s, the population was about 4000. Through the 1960s and 1970s, the community turned into a commuter town due to its proximity to Copenhagen and the population expanded past 10,000. By 1980, the population was over 16,000.

Farum in recent times

Today, Farum is divided into three parts: Farum West, Farum East, and the Midpoint. Farum East and Farum West are separated by a highway that effectively divides the city. The Midpoint (Danish Midtpunktet) is a large complex of arpartments built in a very special way. One-third of the population lives in these blocks, which house most of Farum's immigrants.

Farum West is the old part of Farum, with the old village and church. The area has grown over the years, and most of the sports facilities are here. To the north of Farum West lies the high-tech industrial area.

The town is now influenced strongly by the large number of immigrants living in the city. In the Midpoint over 50 different languages are spoken. The majority of the immigrants are Turks

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 and people from the Middle-East. This has given Farum a large number of exciting shops and exotic food. In recent years, many people from eastern Europe have settled in the town.

Farum is also the hometown of the football club FC Nordsjælland

FC Nordsjælland

Football Club Nordsjælland is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum, Denmark. Founded as Farum Boldklub from the merger of the town's two football clubs Farum IK and Stavnsholt BK in 1991, the club changed its name to F.C...

, which plays in the highest Danish league, Danish Superliga

Danish Superliga

The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...

. They play at Farum Park

Farum Park

Farum Park is a football stadium, located in Farum, Denmark and is the home ground of F.C. Nordsjælland. It has a capacity of 10,100 of which 9,800 are seated. Though being a relatively new stadium, Farum Park does not have under-soil heating. The DBU is allowing the use of artificial turf from...

, in Farum West.

From 1985 to 2002, the Mayor of Farum was the controversial Peter Brixtofte

Peter Brixtofte

Peter Brixtofte was a Member of the Danish Parliament representing Venstre from 1973 to 1977, from 1979 to 1981, during 1983 and from 1990 to 8 February 2005. Brixtofte served as Tax Minister from 19 November 1992 to 24 January 1993. He is best known as the former Mayor of Farum...

. Brixtofte was later charged with corruption and jailed.