Umeå

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Umeå
The Old Town Hall
Nickname(s): Björkarnas Stad (The city of birches)
Umeå
Coordinates: 63°50′N 20°15′E / 63.833°N 20.25°E / 63.833; 20.25Coordinates: 63°50′N 20°15′E / 63.833°N 20.25°E / 63.833; 20.25
Country	Sweden
Province	Västerbotten
County	Västerbotten County
Municipality	Umeå Municipality
Charter	17th Century
Area [1]
- Total	33.46 km2 (12.9 sq mi)
Population (2005-12-31)[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 city 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 75,645 inhabitants (2005) out of a municipal total of 112,728 (2008).

Umeå is a center 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. As of 2008^[update], 700 to 800 new apartments are constructed each year.^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 Geography 3 Transport 4 Culture 4.1 Media 4.2 Sports 5 Education and research 6 Economy 7 Sister cities 8 Famous people 8.1 Athletes 8.2 Bands and musicians 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] History

The first mention of Umeå is in the 14th century. The northern parts of Sweden, including Umeå, were largely unsettled 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.^[3]

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.^[3]

In 1622, a city was again founded by King Gustav II Adolf ^[4] In 1638, it had about 40 houses.^[3] 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.^[5]

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.^[6] For this reason Umeå is sometimes known as 'Björkarnas Stad', the 'City of Birches' or small stockholm ^[7] 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 / 63.833°N 20.25°E / 63.833; 20.25 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.

Weather averages 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)
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 (31)
Source: MSN Weather[8] 2009-01-01

[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 hardcore band Refused, as well as progressive metal band Meshuggah, and Cult of Luna. 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 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.^[9]

[edit] Media

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, Västerbottenskuriren 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. 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.

[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.

Notable companies based in Umeå:

• Komatsu Forest, European HQ
• Siemens Financial Services, Scandinavian HQ
• Volvo Lastvagnar
• Astra
• Handelsbanken, HQ in the northern region of Sweden
• ÅLÖ

[edit] Sister cities

• Osmangazi, Turkey
• Vaasa, Finland
• Harstad, Norway
• Helsingør, Denmark
• Würzburg, Germany
• Petrozavodsk, Russia
• Saskatoon, Canada
• Kashan, Iran
• Oxford, UK
• Guanajuato, Mexico

In the Park of the Sister Cities (Vänortsparken) is the artwork Tellus: it is 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] Famous people

• Ibrahim Baylan, politician
• Linda Bergkvist, artist
• Kjell-Olof Feldt, politician
• Sara Lidman, novelist
• Stig Lindberg, artist
• Jonas Sjöstedt, politician
• Elin Nilsson, dancer

[edit] Athletes

• Bjorn Berg
• Marta Vieira da Silva
• Malin Moström
• Hanna Ljungberg
• Per Elofsson
• Daniel Tjärnqvist - NHL player
• Jesper Blomqvist
• Jörgen Brink
• Gunnar Nordahl
• Assar Rönnlund

[edit] Bands and musicians

• Arish "band"
• Asterisk* band
• Cult of Luna band
• Isolation Years band
• Komeda band
• Khoma band
• Meshuggah band
• Naglfar (band)
• Nocturnal Rites band
• The Perishers (band)
• Plector band
• Persuader band
• Refused band
• Sahara Hotnights band
• The (International) Noise Conspiracy band
• DS-13 band
• Eva Dahlgren
• Johan Edlund^{[citation needed]}
• Frida Hyvönen
• Daniel Lindström
• Dennis Lyxzén
• Lisa Miskovsky
• Nicklas Nygren
• David Sandström
• Mats Öberg
• Morgan Ågren
• Brian Burns

[edit] See also

• NorrlandsOperan
• Battle of Ratan and Sävar
• Umeå Hardcore
• Umeå Open

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Umeå

• Umeå, official site
• Umeå Capital of Culture 2014, official site
• Umeå Region, official site
• Umeå Tourist Office, official site
• The Bothnian Railway link
• Umeå Airport
• Umeå University
• Umeå Plant Science Center(UPSC)
• Umeå International School of Public Health (UISPH)
• Umeå Centre for Global Health Research (CGH)

v • d • e 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

v • d • e Municipalities and seats of Västerbotten County Municipalities Åsele · Bjurholm · Dorotea · Lycksele · Malå · Nordmaling · Norsjö · Robertsfors · Skellefteå · Sorsele · Storuman · Umeå · Vännäs · Vilhelmina · Vindeln Municipalities Åsele · Bjurholm · Dorotea · Lycksele · Malå · Nordmaling · Norsjö · Robertsfors · Skellefteå · Sorsele · Storuman · Umeå · Vännäs · Vilhelmina · Vindeln Counties of Sweden · Sweden

v • d • e Administrative seats of Swedish counties (län) Falun • Gävle • Gothenburg • Halmstad • Jönköping • Kalmar • Karlskrona • Karlstad • Linköping • Luleå • Malmö • Nyköping • Örebro • Östersund • Stockholm • Sundsvall • Umeå • Uppsala • Västerås • Växjö • Visby

v • d • e 30 most populous cities of Sweden as of 2005, according to Statistics Sweden [1] 1. Stockholm 1,252,000 2. Gothenburg 510,500 3. Malmö 258,000 4. Uppsala 128,400 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

v • d • e 50 most populous cities in Scandinavia  Denmark ·  Norway ·  Sweden 1.  Stockholm 1,252,000 2.  Copenhagen 1,167,569 3.  Oslo 857,000 4.  Helsinki 578,126 5.  Gothenburg 510,500 6.  Malmö 258,000 7.  Espoo 242,372 8.  Århus 228,700 9.  Bergen 223,600 10.  Tampere 209,744 11.  Vantaa 196,228 12.  Stavanger 185,900 13.  Turku 175,738 14.  Trondheim 156,800 15.  Odense 152,100 16.  Oulu 137,360 17.  Uppsala 128,400 18.  Jyväskylä 128,245 19.  Ålborg 121,500 20.  Reykjavík 120,165 21.  Västerås 107,000 22.  Fredrikstad1 100,500 23.  Lahti 100,252 24.  Örebro 98,200 25.  Linköping 97,400 26.  Drammen 94,900 27.  Kuopio 92,018 28.  Helsingborg 91,500 29.  Skien 86,300 30.  Jönköping 84,400 31.  Norrköping 83,600 32.  Pori 76,434 32.  Lund 76,200 33.  Umeå 75,600 34.  Joensuu 72,368 35.  Esbjerg 71,900 36.  Lappeenranta 70,354 37.  Gävle 68,700 38.  Kristiansand 66,500 39.  Hämeenlinna 66,210 40.  Borås 63,400 41.  Södertälje 60,300 42.  Eskilstuna 60,200 43.  Rovaniemi 59,351 44.  Vaasa 58,746 45.  Täby 58,600 46.  Karlstad 58,500 47.  Randers 55,900 48.  Halmstad 55,700 49.  Växjö 55,600 50.  Kolding 55,000 1 with Sarpsborg. Data according to Statistics Sweden [2] · Statistics Denmark [3] · Statistics Norway [4]