Backa was one of Gothenburg’s 20 districts, and one of the seven parts of the island Hisingen

Hisingen

Hisingen is the fourth-largest island of Sweden , with an area of , and the most populous, forming part of Gothenburg Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is bordered by the Göta älv in the south and east, the Nordre älv in the north, and the Kattegat in the west...

, but from January 1, 2011 Backa merged with two other districts of Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

, Kärra-Rödbo and Tuve-Säve to form Norra Hisingen. This change was part of bigger reconstruction turning the 20 districts of Gothenburg to only 10 districts.

Living in Backa

In 2008 there were 23,570 people living in Backa. The population structure is slowly changing and the amount of elders will increase, and Backa has decided to increase the need of accommodations to the elders with special needs.

Both high and low block of flats can be found in Backa, with rented apartments and with condominiums, and the district includes many residential areas.

There is a sports clubs and other associations; in year 2008 there was approximately 160 associations that engageed people in everything from sports activities such as Hisings Backa FC, which has many active youths playing soccer, to culture and religion questions.

How to get to Backa

You can get to Backa through Göta älvbron, which is a bridge that connects Hisingen with the rest of Gothenburg, by walking, bicycling, taking the bus or by driving the car. By car you follow the motorway E6

European route E6

European route E 6 is the designation for the main north-south road in Norway, and the west coast of Sweden, running from the southern tip of Sweden, at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to Finnmark. The route ends close to the Norwegian border with Russia...

 trough Tingstadtunneln.

History of Backa

The first time Backa is mentioned is in Röde bok which is a record over the Oslo-bishop Eysteins’s freehold properties. Backa belonged to Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 in the 1300s and many wars were fought between Norway, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 and Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 during that period. Backa then became a strategically important area where especially Göta Älv

Göta älv

The Göta is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat at the city of Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden. It is located in Götaland, with the river itself being a site of early Geatish settlement. The length is 93 km. Often the combination of Göta älv and Klarälven is mentioned...

 and the river mouth were waged over. It was not until 1658 that the Backa became a part of Sweden.

In 1938 Gothenburg city took a principle decision about incorporating Backa with Gothenburg but due to the people living in Backa and the municipal commissioner, who believed that everything was good in Backa, it took 10 more years until it was turned into a suburb of Gothenburg. Up to the 1960s Backa was still a district with farmland, due to its fertile area, but because of the Million Programme

Million Programme

The Million Programme is the common name for an ambitious housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to make sure everyone could have a home at a reasonable price. The aim of the programme was to build a million new dwellings in a...

, which was a project where Sweden planned to build one million accommodations during the years 1965 - 1975, houses and building were being constructed in Backa, and this in turn lead to the population increasing rapidly. The north part of Backa expanded 1968-1971, while in the south part they constructed the square Brunnsbo Torg with surrounding accommodations between the years 1963-1965.

Backa Kyrka

In 1864 the construction of Backa Kyrka was done, but it was not inaugurated until four years later; in 1868. According to drawings by the architect J F Åbom, the church was valued to cost 40453 Swedish crowns. Many reparations and changes have been made to the church ever since it was built; the originally high tower was replaced with the current one in 1927; the current retable became established in 1906, and in 1955 the cross was built on the roof of the church. For the 100th year anniversary in 1964, the church received generous allowances, which was used to repaint the roof and the benches.

Before Backa Kyrka was built there two other churches that stood around the area where the current one is; Medeltidskyrkan, which was built around 1692, and 1700-tals kyrkan, which was later destroyed to make room for the new and bigger church.

Selma Lagerlöfs Torg

At Selma Lagerlöfs Torg a center with shops, library, school, kindergarten, health insurance fund and post office has been built. A cultural house, called Backa Kulturhus, can also be found at Selma Lagerlöfs Torg where children can playact and dance.

Folkets Hus

Backa Folkets Hus (People's House) or Tingstads Folkets Hus, which it was called in the beginning, was inaugurated in 1924 after years of collecting money to build a meeting hall for all people living in Backa and outside Backa as well. At that time people could go there to dance, play chess and to watch film shows. In 1971 Backa Folkets Hus was sold to Gothenburg and the union dissolved, but after a few years’ people went back to the meeting hall and this resulted in recreating it. Many school youths went there in the beginning of the 1990s. There they could be in charge of activities such as graffiti and break dance.