Mandal is the fourth largest town in Agder as well as the administrative centre of Lindesnes municipality.

Mandal has a few suburban villages lying just outside its borders such as Ime immediately to the east and Sånum to the southwest.

The area in which today's town of Mandal is located was not developed during the Middle Ages.

During the 1300s, a trading post called Vester-Risør grew up along the Skogsfjorden, just west of the present-day town.

On 1 January 1838, the small ladested was granted self-governing rights under the new formannskapsdistrikt law.

In 1921, Mandal was designated as a kjøpstad, giving it full town status under the law.