Åsele Municipality

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Åsele Municipality
Åsele kommun
—  Municipality  —

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Västerbotten County
Seat Åsele
Area[1]
 • Total 4,574.11 km2 (1,766.07 sq mi)
 • Land 4,276.95 km2 (1,651.34 sq mi)
 • Water 297.16 km2 (114.73 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2010.
Population (June 30, 2010)[2]
 • Total 3,085
 • Density 0.67/km2 (1.7/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Lapland
Municipal code 2463
Website www.asele.se

Åsele Municipality (Swedish: Åsele kommun) is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Åsele.

Contents

[edit] History

The first Swedish settlement in Åsele Municipality (it was already inhabited by the native Sami people) was in Gafsele south of Åsele. The settlers were Nils Andersson and his wife Brita. They came from Finland in 1674, trying to avoid the war with Russia.

Fredrika is a parish in the municipality. It was created in 1799 and named in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden. Other nearby parishes were named Dorotea and Vilhelmina, but Åsele refused to take any of these names, as they were very proud of themselves and the town.

In 1974 the former market town (köping) Åsele (1959-1970) was amalgamated with Dorotea and Fredrika. In 1980 the Dorotea part was detached, forming a new Dorotea Municipality.

[edit] Geography

Geographically, the Ångerman River flows from Vilhelmina through Åsele Municipality, and many electric power stations are built around it.

The town Åsele is located in the middle of the municipality. It has a nice looking church, a small historical (open air) museum and a golf course.

[edit] Localities

There are two localities (or urban areas) in Åsele Municipality:[3]

# Locality Population
1 Åsele 1,920
2 Fredrika 254

The municipal seat in bold

[edit] Other

The municipality has recently received some recognition as the future site of Europe's largest Thai Buddhist temple.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Statistiska centralbyrån den 1 januari 2010" (in Swedish) (Microsoft Excel). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0802/2010A01/mi0802tab3_2010.xls. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 
  2. ^ "SCB, Befolkningsstatistik 30 juni 2010" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Pages/TableAndChart____244147.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-19. 
  3. ^ Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
  4. ^ Fact sheet on the official site

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 64°09′N 17°21′E / 64.15°N 17.35°E / 64.15; 17.35

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