Hultsfred Municipality

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This page deals with both Hultsfred Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Hultsfred

**Hultsfred Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Hultsfred in Kalmar County Map outlining municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Hultsfred
	57° 30´ N 15° 51´ E
	County	Kalmar County
	Province	Smalandia
	Area Rank	1,127 km² 91st of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	14,591 x of 290
	Density	13/km²

Hultsfred Municipality is a municipality in Kalmar County, in south-eastern Sweden. The seat is in Hultsfred with 5,300 inhabitants. The municipality was created through a unification of different municipalities in 1971.

Hultsfred is known as the site of the largest rock festival in Sweden, the Hultsfred Festival.

[edit] Geography

Basically every one of the towns of Hultsfred is situated on the railway. Besides Hultsfred, in the mid north of the municipality, there are the towns of Virserum in the south-west and other ever smaller settlements such as Lönneberga, Silverdalen and Molilla. The population of the municipality has however been decreasing with some 2,000 people in the last 10 years, as many people prefer to move to larger cities of Sweden.

Much of the geography is taken up with forests, a notability for the entire province of Småland, with some few scattered areas suitable for agriculture.

[edit] History

In the age known as the Nordic Bronze Age, the area had some shipping of furs to northern Germany and the Roman army, but not much is known from that time other than the area being inhabited; there has also been older finds from 3,000-4,000 BC. However, from the medieval age, around 1100 AD, there still remains a few churches.

The area continued to be inhabited mainly by farmers until the 20th century. In the 17th and 18th there was some production of iron in Kalmar Country, totalling about 10 mines; of those 2 were located to the municipality of Hultsfred. Hultsfred was a center for some military exercising companies during the 19th century, and some remaining building can be visited in the vicinity of Silverån. When the railroads through Sweden were built late in that century, Hultsfred received a population boost.

There are several folks museums around the area that keeps trace of its history.