Umeå

Umeå
The Old Town Hall
Nickname(s): Björkarnas Stad (The city of birches)
Umeå is located in Sweden
Umeå
Coordinates:
Country Sweden
Province Västerbotten
County Västerbotten County
Municipality Umeå Municipality
Charter 17th Century
Area[1]
 - Total 33.46 km2 (12.9 sq mi)
Population (2010-01-31)[1]
 - Total 75,645
 - Density 2,261/km2 (5,856/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Website www.umea.se

Umeå (Swedish pronunciation: [ʉːmе.оː]  ( listen); Finnish: Uumaja, Northern Sami: Ubmi) is a university town in Västerbotten, Sweden.

Umeå is the biggest city in Norrland, the capital of Västerbotten County and the seat of Umeå Municipality. The city proper has 75,000 inhabitants (2005) out of a municipal total of 114,075 (2009).[2]

Umeå is a center of education, technical and medical research in Sweden, with two universities and over 30,000 students. The city is elected European Capital of Culture of 2014.

Umeå has been expanding for several decades and is one of Sweden's fastest growing cities. Growth sped up in 1965, when the university was established. In the last 30 years, housing in Umeå has doubled and this rate of growth continues. As of 2008, 700 to 800 new apartments are constructed each year.[3]

Contents

History

The first written mention of Umeå is from the 14th century. The northern parts of Sweden, including the counties of Västerbotten and Norrbotten, were settled by Sami people before this time, though not necessarily in the city's exact location. Umeå in its first form was a parish with a wooden church and trade post located in the section of town now known as Backen (or Kyrkbacken). Its location near the coast and on a river was probably one of the reasons that people chose to settle there.[4]

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 it lost its town privileges in the 1590s.[4]

In 1622, a city was again founded by King Gustav II Adolf [5] In 1638, it had about 40 houses.[4] It suffered from Russian attacks in 1714 and in 1720 when it was burnt to the ground. At the close of the Finnish War in 1809 the Russian army under Barclay de Tolly took Umeå and held it from June to August.[6]

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 were planted along wide avenues to prevent future fires from spreading.[7] For this reason Umeå is sometimes known as "Björkarnas Stad", the "City of Birches" or "Little Stockholm"[8] and the Umeå ice-hockey team, Björklöven, means "The Birch Leaves".

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 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. The near connections to Finland effects the population of the city - several Sweden Finns live in Umeå.

Climate data for Umeå
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) -5
(23)		 -4
(25)		 0
(32)		 6
(43)		 12
(54)		 17
(63)		 20
(68)		 18
(64)		 13
(55)		 7
(45)		 0
(32)		 -4
(25)		 6.7
(44.1)
Average low °C (°F) -11
(12)		 -11
(12)		 -8
(18)		 -3
(27)		 2
(36)		 8
(46)		 11
(52)		 10
(50)		 5
(41)		 1
(34)		 -4
(25)		 -9
(16)		 -0.8
(30.6)
Source: MSN Weather[9]

Transport

The road infrastructure in Umeå is well-developed, with two European highways (E4 and E12) passing through the city.[10] About 7 km from the city centre (4 km) is the Umeå City Airport.[11] It is the 7th largest airport in Sweden by annual number of passengers, with 815,154 passengers in 2009.

The railway infrastructure is not currently as well developed as the roads. The only rail connection to the rest of the country is an inland line, on which it takes approximately 10 hours by night train to reach Stockholm. However, Umeå is part of the biggest railway construction project in Sweden, the Bothnia Line (or Botniabanan), which is currently being constructed from Sundsvall along the High Coast via Örnsköldsvik to Umeå. This new railway line will be 190 km long, with 140 bridges and 25 km of tunnels. The Bothnia Line will be able to cope with speeds of up to 250 km/hour, and will give Umeå a fast train connection to Stockholm (5½ hours) and the rest of Europe.

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 the home of the heavy metal band Meshuggah, which was labelled by the Rolling Stone as "one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands";[12] as well as Cult of Luna. Umeå is also where hardcore punk band Refused originated. House of Metal is a metal festival in Umeå which has grown quite big. Over well-known metal bands from Umeå include Nocturnal Rites and Persuader.

The main museums in Umeå are: Museum of the county of Västerbotten,the museum of Umeå, The Museum of Visual Culture and the Museum of Skiing.

Umeå is a centre for cultural activities, with annual film and music festivals. At the moment the world's northmost mosque is about to be built in the eastern parts of Umeå. The city has been elected the European Cultural Capital for 2014.[13]

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

A characteristic birch tree-lined avenue.
View of the river by its estuary Umeå.
Umeå church.

A 1996 study of over 67,000 Swedish students between the ages of 16 and 20 found that there is a particularly high concentration of vegans in Umeå. 3.3% of the students in Umeå were vegan, three to four times as many as are found in other cities in Sweden.[14][15]

Sports

The city of Umeå currently hosts two well-known sports teams. The women's soccer team Umeå IK was the top ranked ladies club soccer team in the world in 2008. The men's hockey team Björklöven was very successful in the 1980s but has been less successful in recent years. Björklöven are currently playing in the Swedish second-tier league Allsvenskan while Umeå IK plays in the top Swedish women's football league Damallsvenskan.

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. Unlike other state owned universities in Sweden, it is funded through the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture.

The university hospital serves the entire region of northern Sweden.

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.

Notable companies based in Umeå:

Famous people

Athletes

Bands and musicians

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005" (in Swedish) (xls). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/statistik/MI/MI0810/2005A01B/T%c3%a4torternami0810tab1.xls. Retrieved 2009-05-09. 
  2. ↑ Statistics Sweden
  3. ↑ More about Umeå - Umeå kommun
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 (Swedish) 1300-1652 Umeå kommun - Umeå official website. Retrieved August 26, 2008
  5. ↑ living in Umeå - International Office
  6. ↑ (Swedish) 1714-1809 - Umeå kommun - Umeå official website. Retrieved August 26, 2008
  7. ↑ Did you know that...? - Umeå University
  8. ↑ http://www.umearegionen.se/download/18.5df2398c11695225c37800073434/eng.pdf
  9. ↑ "Weather Information for Umeå". MSN Weather. http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:SWXX0038&q=Ume%c3%a5%2c+SWE. Retrieved 1 January 2009. 
  10. ↑ Sweden Tourism. Map of Sweden. Accessed 2010-04-14.
  11. ↑ Google Maps. Umeå. Accessed 2010-04-14.
  12. ↑ "Meshuggah". Nuclear Blast. http://www.nuclearblastusa.com/bands/meshuggah.html. Retrieved 2008-06-10. 
  13. ↑ Umeå 2014 - Umeå - Capital of Culture 2014
  14. ↑ Larsson, Christel (2001). Young vegetarians and omnivores. Dietary habits and other health-related aspects. Umeå, Sweden: Umeå University. p. 40. ISBN 91-7191-983-X. http://www3.umu.se/KOST/forskning/fulltextCL.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-27. "
    Country, city Study design Yeara Age(years) nb … Ve …
    Sweden (I)g Telephone interview with school matrons. 1996 16-20 67 370 … 0.1 …
    Sweden, Umeå (I)g Telephone interview with school matrons. 1996 16-20 3 450 … 2.1 …
    " 
  15. ↑ Larsson, Christel; Klock K, Nordrehaug Åstrøm A, Haugejorden O, Johansson G (10 2001). "Food habits of young Swedish and Norwegian vegetarians and omnivores.". Public Health Nutrition 4 (5): 1005–14. PMID 11784414. 
  16. ↑ Västerbottens-kuriren, http://www.vk.se/Article.jsp?article=260984, retrieved 2010-03-03

External links

Murkrona.svg Umeå is one of 133 places with the historical city status in Sweden.
Localities in Umeå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden
Localities:
Botsmark  · Bullmark  · Ersmark  · Flurkmark  · Hissjön  · Holmsund  · Hörnefors  · Innertavle  · Obbola  · Röbäck  · Sävar  · Sörfors  · Sörmjöle  · Stöcke  · Stöcksjö  · Täfteå  · Tavelsjö  · Tomtebo  · Umeå (seat)  · Västibyn
Municipalities and seats of Västerbotten County
Municipalities
Åsele · Bjurholm · Dorotea · Lycksele · Malå · Nordmaling · Norsjö · Robertsfors · Skellefteå · Sorsele · Storuman · Umeå · Vännäs · Vilhelmina · Vindeln
 Coat of arms of Västerbotten County
Municipal seats
Åsele · Bjurholm · Dorotea · Lycksele · Malå · Nordmaling · Norsjö · Robertsfors · Skellefteå · Sorsele · Storuman · Umeå · Vännäs · Vilhelmina · Vindeln
Counties of Sweden · Sweden
Administrative seats of Swedish counties (län)
Swedish arms
Falun • Gävle • Gothenburg • Halmstad • Jönköping • Kalmar • Karlskrona • Karlstad • Linköping • Luleå • Malmö • Nyköping • Örebro • Östersund • Stockholm • Sundsvall • Umeå • Uppsala • Västerås • Växjö • Visby
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30 most populous cities of Sweden
as of 2005, according to Statistics Sweden [1]
1. Stockholm 800,000
2. Gothenburg 510,500
3. Malmö 258,000
4. Uppsala 144,839
5. Västerås 107,000
6. Örebro 98,200
7. Linköping 97,400
8. Helsingborg 91,500
9. Jönköping 84,400
10. Norrköping 83,600
11. Lund 76,200
12. Umeå 75,600
13. Gävle 68,700
14. Borås 63,400
15. Södertälje 60,300
16. Eskilstuna 60,200
17. Täby 58,600
18. Karlstad 58,500
19. Halmstad 55,700
20. Växjö 55,600
21. Sundsvall 49,300
22. Luleå 45,500
23. Trollhättan 44,500
24. Östersund 43,800
25. Borlänge 39,400
26. Falun 36,400
27. Upplands Väsby 36,000
28. Tumba 35,300
29. Kalmar 35,200
30. Skövde 33,100