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Umeå
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Umeå ( , , ) is a university city in Västerbotten, Sweden.
Umeå is the biggest city in Norrland and the capital of Västerbotten County. The city has about 76,000 inhabitants and is the seat of Umeå Municipality (with a total population of 111,571).
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.
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Encyclopedia
Umeå ( , , ) is a university city in Västerbotten, Sweden.
Umeå is the biggest city in Norrland and the capital of Västerbotten County. The city has about 76,000 inhabitants and is the seat of Umeå Municipality (with a total population of 111,571).
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. , 700 to 800 new apartments are constructed each year.
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.
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.
In 1622, a city was again founded by King Gustav II Adolf In 1638, it had about 40 houses. 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.
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. For this reason Umeå is sometimes known as 'Björkarnas Stad', the 'City of Birches' 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 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.
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 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. 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.
Media
Umeå is the centre 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.
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.
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:
Sister cities
In the Park of the Sister Cities (Vänortsparken) is the artwork Tellus—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.
Gallery
Famous people from Umeå
Athletes
Bands and musicians
See also
External links
- , official site
- , official site
- , official site
- , official site
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