Esbjerg

Esbjerg , city (1992 pop. 72,205), Ribe co., SW Denmark, a port on the North Sea. It is a commercial and industrial center, and Denmark's largest fishing port. Esbjerg's main development came after the construction (late 19th cent.) of its harbor. Esbjerg has ferry connections to the Faeroe Islands and serves as a base for Danish exploration of oil and gas in the North Sea.

Esbjerg, Denmark Eysburgh Known as Eysburgh in 1502, the present name was first associated with an estate on the west coast of Jutland which derived its name from the Jutlandish for ‘Bank, bjerg, where the Bait is put on the Hook’. When the city‐port was founded in 1868 to facilitate Jutland's exports after the loss of North Schleswig to Germany, it was given the same name. It has been suggested, however, that the name has evolved from an older name such as Eskebjerg ‘Ash Tree Bank’ from the Old Scandinavian eski ‘Place of Ash Trees’. There is, however, no certain derivation.