Åsele Municipality
Encyclopedia
Åsele Municipality is a municipality
Municipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...

 in Västerbotten County
Västerbotten County
Västerbotten County is a county or län in the north of Sweden. It borders the counties of Västernorrland, Jämtland, and Norrbotten, as well as the Norwegian county of Nordland and the Gulf of Bothnia.- Provinces :...

 in northern 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....

. Its seat
Administrative centre
An administrative centre is a term often used in several countries to refer to a county town, or other seat of regional or local government, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located....

 is located in Åsele
Åsele
Åsele is a locality and the seat of Åsele Municipality in Västerbotten County, Sweden with 1,920 inhabitants in 2005. Its elevation is 313 m .- References :...

.

History

The first Swedish settlement in Åsele Municipality (it was already inhabited by the native Sami people
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

) was in Gafsele
Gafsele
Gafsele is a small Swedish village in Åsele Municipality, Västerbotten County, in the province of Lapland in northern Sweden. Gafsele was founded by the finn Nils Andersson in 1674....

 south of Åsele. The settlers were Nils Andersson and his wife Brita. They came from Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 in 1674, trying to avoid the war with Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.

Fredrika
Fredrika
Fredrika is a locality situated in Åsele Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 254 inhabitants in 2005....

 is a parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 in the municipality. It was created in 1799 and named in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden
Frederica of Baden
Friederike Dorothea Wilhelmina of Baden was Queen consort of Sweden from 1797 to 1809. Daughter of Karl Ludwig of Baden and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, she was the younger sister of Empress Elisabeth Alexeievna , wife of Tsar Alexander I of Russia.-Biography:She was born in Karlsruhe...

. Other nearby parishes were named Dorotea
Dorotea
Dorotea is a locality and the seat of Dorotea Municipality in Västerbotten County, Sweden, with 1,571 inhabitants in 2005...

 and Vilhelmina
Vilhelmina
Vilhelmina is a locality and the seat of Vilhelmina Municipality in Västerbotten County, Sweden with 3,633 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...

, but Åsele refused to take any of these names, as they were very proud of themselves and the town.

In 1974 the former market town (köping
Köping
This article deals with the Swedish denomination for a market town. For the city, see Köping, Sweden. For the municipality, see Köping Municipality....

) Åsele (1959-1970) was amalgamated with Dorotea and Fredrika. In 1980 the Dorotea part was detached, forming a new Dorotea Municipality
Dorotea Municipality
Dorotea Municipality is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Dorotea.When the first local government acts were implemented in Sweden in 1863 Dorotea parish was made a rural municipality. In 1974 it was merged into Åsele Municipality. Already in 1980 it...

.

Geography

Geographically, the Ångerman River
Ångerman River
The Ångerman River is one of Sweden's longest rivers with a total length of 460 kilometers. It also has the largest amount of water running through it....

 flows from Vilhelmina through Åsele Municipality, and many electric power stations
Hydropower
Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...

 are built around it.

The town Åsele is located in the middle of the municipality. It has a nice looking church, a small historical (open air) museum and a golf course.

Localities

There are two localities
Urban areas in Sweden
Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...

 (or urban areas) in Åsele Municipality:
# Locality Population
1 Åsele
Åsele
Åsele is a locality and the seat of Åsele Municipality in Västerbotten County, Sweden with 1,920 inhabitants in 2005. Its elevation is 313 m .- References :...

1,920
2 Fredrika
Fredrika
Fredrika is a locality situated in Åsele Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 254 inhabitants in 2005....

 
254


The municipal seat in bold
Emphasis (typography)
In typography, emphasis is the exaggeration of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text—to emphasize them.- Methods and use :...


Other

The municipality has recently received some recognition as the future site of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

's largest Thai Buddhist
Buddhism in Thailand
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school. Nearly 95% of Thailand's population is Buddhist of the Theravada school, though Buddhism in this country has become integrated with folk beliefs as well as Chinese religions from the large Thai-Chinese population.Buddhist temples in Thailand...

 temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

.

External links

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