Umeå

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Umeå
The Old Town Hall
The Old Town Hall
Nickname: 
Björkarnas Stad (The city of birches)
CountrySweden
ProvinceVästerbotten
CountyVästerbotten County
MunicipalityUmeå Municipality
Charter17th Century
Area
[1]
 • Total33.46 km2 (12.92 sq mi)
Population
 (2005-12-31)[1]
 • Total75,645
 • Density2,261/km2 (5,860/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Websitewww.umea.se

Umeå (Swedish pronunciation: [ʉːmе.оː] ⓘ; 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. The city is elected European Capital of Culture for 2014.

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, 700 to 800 new apartments are constructed each year.[2]

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'.

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 20.250°E / 63.833; 20.250 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
Source: MSN Weather[8]

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.

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 many metal bands such as Meshuggah,Cult of Luna, Naglfar and Nocturnal Rites. 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, 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 has been elected the European Cultural Capital for 2014.[9]

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.

Umea Comets has the top coach from Belfast City Northern Ireland, Tony McGaharan. At the Tender age of 22 he has moved up the coaching ranks rapidly and has brought over a star Point Guard from his home town Ashiling Murray. This Christmas he will play host to the Lagan College All Star Team. Brännbollscupen.

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

Youth

Veganism

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.[10][11]

Sports

The city of Umeå currently hostes two well-knowns sports teams. It's the hockey team Björklöven which was very successful in the 80's and the ladies soccer team Umeå IK which is currently the #1 ranked ladies club soccer team of the world. Björklöven are currently playing in the Swedish second-tier league Allsvenskan while Umeå IK plays in the Swedish Damallsvenskan (ladies version of the top Swedish footbal league).

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:

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Sweden

Twin towns — Sister cities

Umeå is twinned with:

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.

Famous people

Athletes

Bands and musicians

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005" (xls) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  2. ^ More about Umeå - Umeå kommun
  3. ^ a b c Template:Sv 1300-1652 Umeå kommun - Umeå official website. Retrieved August 26, 2008
  4. ^ living in Umeå - International Office
  5. ^ Template:Sv 1714-1809 - Umeå kommun - Umeå official website. Retrieved August 26, 2008
  6. ^ Did you know that...? - Umeå University
  7. ^ http://www.umearegionen.se/download/18.5df2398c11695225c37800073434/eng.pdf
  8. ^ "Weather Information for Umeå". MSN Weather. Retrieved 1 January 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Umeå 2014 - Umeå - Capital of Culture 2014
  10. ^ Larsson, Christel (2001). Young vegetarians and omnivores. Dietary habits and other health-related aspects (PDF). Umeå, Sweden: Umeå University. p. 40. ISBN 91-7191-983-X. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
    Country, cityStudy designYearaAge(years)nb…Ve…
    Sweden (I)gTelephone interview with school matrons.199616-2067 370…0.1…
    Sweden, Umeå (I)gTelephone interview with school matrons.199616-203 450…2.1…
     {{cite book}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 230 (help)
  11. ^ Larsson, Christel (2001). "Food habits of young Swedish and Norwegian vegetarians and omnivores". Public Health Nutrition. 4 (5): 1005–14. PMID 11784414. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Umeå.
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