Umeå

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Umeå
The Old Town Hall
The Old Town Hall
Nickname: Björkarnas Stad (The city of birches)
Umeå (Sweden)
Umeå
Umeå
Coordinates: 63°50′N 20°15′E / 63.833, 20.25
Country Sweden
Municipality Umeå Municipality
County Västerbotten County
Province Västerbotten
Charter 17th Century
Area [1]
 - Total 33.46 km² (12.9 sq mi)
Population (2007-12-31)[2]
 - Total 111,771
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Website: www.umeå.se

Umeå (IPA: [ʉːmе.оː] listen (help·info), Finnish: Uumaja, Northern Sami: Ubmi) is a university city in Västerbotten, Sweden.

Umeå is the biggest city in Norrland and the capital of Västerbotten County. The city has about 76,000 inhabitants and is the seat of Umeå Municipality (with a total population of 111,571).

Umeå is a centre of education, technical and medical research in Sweden, with two universities and over 30,000 students.

Umeå has been expanding for several decades and is one of Sweden's fastest growing cities. Growth sped up in 1965, the same year that the university was established. In the last 30 years, housing in Umeå has doubled and this rate of growth continues. 700 to 800 new apartments are at present constructed each year. [3]

Contents

[edit] History

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The first mention of Umeå is in the 14th century. The northern parts of Sweden, including Umeå, were largely unexplored at that time, but Umeå did form a parish with a wooden church. Umeå functioned as an outpost to the Norrland wilderness. Partly this was due to its location on the coast.

For the next couple of centuries Umeå was a place consisting of scattered parishes, where merchandise originating with the Sami people was traded, and was the last inhabited place before the northern wilderness took over. However, no real city was built at the location selected by the king, and Umeå's city rights were lost in the 1590s.

In 1622, the city was founded by King Gustav II Adolf [4] In 1638, it had about 40 houses. It suffered from Russian attacks: in May 1720 it was burnt down, and at the close of the Finnish War in 1809 the Russian army under Barclay de Tolly took Umeå.

On 25 June 1888 a fire devastated the eastern parts of Umeå and at least 2,300 of the 3,000 inhabitants became homeless. In the restoration following the fire, silver birch trees where planted along wide avenues to prevent future fires from spreading. For this reason Umeå is sometimes known as the 'City of Silver Birches' and the Umeå ice-hockey team, Björklöven, means 'The Birch Leaves'.

[edit] Geography

Umeå is situated on the inlet of the Gulf of Bothnia at the mouth of the Ume River, in the south of Västerbotten. Umeå is about 600 km north of Stockholm at 63°50′N, 20°15′E and about 400 km south of the Arctic Circle. It is the largest city north of the Stockholm-Uppsala region, and is sometimes referred to as the regional centre of northern Sweden. The nearby community of Holmsund serves as its port. From here a ferry line connects it with the neighbouring city of Vaasa (Swedish: Vasa) in Finland.

[edit] Transport

The infrastructure is well equipped with two European highways (E4 and E12) passing Umeå. Near the city centre (4 km) lies the Umeå Airport (810,704 passengers, 2007) It is the 7th largest airport in Sweden, and the number of passengers is steadily increasing.

The railway infrastructure is not so well built, the only connection is a curvy railway, reaching Stockholm in 10 hours using night trains, but not other cities in shorter distance. The biggest railway project in Sweden is being built from the High Coast via Örnsköldsvik to Umeå. This new railway will be 190 km long, with 140 bridges and 25 km of tunnels. The Bothnia Line (or Botniabanan) will be able to cope with speeds of up to 250 km/hour. The line will give Umeå a fast train connection with Stockholm (5½ hours) and the rest of Europe.

[edit] Culture

Umeå has become a capital of culture in northern Sweden. The Opera of northern Sweden, the Norrland Opera, is based in the city. The annual Umeå Jazz Festival is one of the larger scandinavian festivals for modern jazz. Umeå is also the home of worldwide known progressive metal band Meshuggah. The main museums in Umeå are: Museum of the county of Västerbotten,the museum of Umeå, The Image Museum and the museum of Skiing.

Umeå is a centre for cultural activities, with annual film and music festivals. and is Umeå is a multi-cultural city with over 100 different nationalities.[citation needed] At the moment the world's northmost mosque is about to be built in the eastern parts of Umeå. The city aims at being elected the European Cultural Capital for 2014.[citation needed]

[edit] Media

Umeå is the centre of television in northern Sweden, SVT Nord and TV4's northern region office are both based in the city. The main papers of the county of Västerbotten, Västerbottens Kuriren and Västerbottens Folkblad are also based in Umeå.

[edit] Sports

Umeå is home to Umeå IK, one of the best women's football teams in the world, with several national and international championship titles in recent years. The top men's football team is Umeå FC, currently playing in the Division 1, which is the third highest league for men in Sweden. IF Björklöven is the main ice hockey team, currently playing in the Swedish second-tier league Allsvenskan. Umeå is also the host of the annual Brännbollscupen.

[edit] Education and research

Umeå University has about 29,000 students and 4,200 staff. The establishment of the university in the mid 1960s led to a population expansion from about 50,000 inhabitants to today's 110,750. The expansion continues, with about 1000 new inhabitants every year, and has made Umeå a modern, somewhat intellectual city in contrast to the traditional basis on heavy industry for cities along the coast of northern Sweden (Norrland).

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences or Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet is a university in Sweden. Although its head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several campuses in different parts of Sweden, the other main facilities being Umeå. It is, unlike other state owned universities in Sweden, funded through the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture.

The university hospital serves the entire region of northern Sweden.

[edit] Economy

Key research fields of the University are life sciences (especially medical and cell and the molecular biology of plants), human technology interaction, social welfare, ecology and gender perspectives.

The Umeå University works collaboratively with companies such as ABB, Volvo, Skanska, Ericsson, and Ohrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU in Umeå, with Umeå Plant Science Center, is another major site of research and education.

Umeå has a high level of education, few traffic jams (but an increasing urban sprawl and increase in car traffic), relatively short intra-urban distances, a large network of bicycle tracks, and a wide variety of leisure opportunities. The airport is located close to the city and a new railway line is being constructed.

Companies based in Umeå:

[edit] Sister cities

In the Park of the Sister Cities (Vänortsparken) is the artwork Tellus - a map of the world, with each sister city's location. Each sister city also has a designated area in the park showing something that is typical for it.

[edit] Gallery

The Old Umeå Town Hall

A characteristic birch tree-lined avenue

View of the river by its estuary Umeå

[edit] Famous people from Umeå

[edit] Athletes

[edit] Bands and musicians

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005 (xls) (Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
  2. ^ Population in the country, counties and municipalities on 31/12/2007 and Population Change in 2007 - Statistics Sweden
  3. ^ More about Umeå - Umeå kommun
  4. ^ living in Umeå - International Office

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Coordinates: 63°50′N, 20°15′E

Umeå is one of 134 towns with the historical City status in Sweden.
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Localities in Umeå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden
Localities:
Botsmark  · Bullmark  · Ersmark  · Flurkmark  · Hissjön  · Holmsund  · Hörnefors  · Innertavle  · Obbola  · Röbäck  · Stöcke  · Stöcksjö  · Sävar  · Sörfors  · Sörmjöle  · Tavelsjö  · Tomtebo  · Täfteå  · Umeå (seat)  · Västibyn