Åtvidaberg

Åtvidaberg
Åtvidaberg
Coat of arms
Country	Sweden
Province	Östergötland
County	Östergötland County
Municipality	Åtvidaberg Municipality
Area
• Total	5.42 km2 (2.09 sq mi)
Population  (31 December 2010)
• Total	6,859
• Density	1,265/km2 (3,280/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Åtvidaberg is a locality and the seat of Åtvidaberg Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,859 inhabitants in 2010. The name is a compound word which can be translated as "towards wide mountains" or, jokingly, "ate wide mountains", thanks to the homonym nature of the Swedish word "åt".

History

With the copper finds in the medieval age, a mining district was initiated. The town Åtvidaberg became the seat of a mining industry community.

The town's development was to be directed by the noble family Adelswärd. Through investments in the 19th and early 20th century the town developed into a modern industrial town.

In the 1970s the industry was dominated by Facit, making calculators. It was a major sponsor of the football team Åtvidabergs FF, one of Sweden's strongest team in the 1970s. When Facit went bankrupt in the second half of the 1970s, it led to the downfall and degradation of the team.

At the end of the 19th century almost one third of the population of Åtvidaberg Municipality in Sweden emigrated to Ishpeming, Michigan in the United States as copper mines in the Åtvidaberg area closed down.[9] In 1994 this was commemorated by a plaquette at the Mormorsgruvan mine of Åtvidaberg.