Vansbro Municipality

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

**Vansbro Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms Image:Vansbro City Arms.png
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Vansbro
	60° 31′ N 14° 13′ E
	County	Dalarna County
	Province	Dalarna
	Area Rank	1,548 km² 59th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	7,122 252nd of 290
	Population density	4.6/km²

Vansbro is a Municipality in Dalarna County, in central Sweden. Its seat is in Vansbro, pop 2,100.

The town is situated by the end of the rivulet Vanån (Van River), the main tributary of the Västerdal River.

1 Municipal towns
2 History
3 Sister cities
4 Notability
5 External links

[edit] Municipal towns

Vansbro, pop. 2,100
Dala-Järna, pop. 1,500
Nås, Sweden, pop. 465
Äppelbo

Dala-Järna was formerly known as Järna but added Dala not to be confued with that town in Södertälje Municipality.

[edit] History

Many of the parishes and towns of today can be traced several centuries back. Around Järna has been found ovens from the Viking Age or older, showing that the town had been used in the processing of iron for a long time, and probably leading to its name (Järn means iron in Swedish).

Nås parish was mentioned in 1479, Järna parish in 1417, Äppelbo as Äppelboda parish 1417.

Äppelbo (literally "Apple Village") was in the 1690s the seat for the Västerdal regiment, Western Dalarnas regimente. Swedish warlike kings Charles XII and Gustaf IV Adolf made use of the men when they fought around in Europe.

Modern iron works were not established until the early 19th century, and had a short history that ended before the end of the century. The industry then became dominated by wood industry. Around the year 1900, three large saw mills were built in the town, making it prosper. With the railroad located through the town Vansbro in 1898, it further enhanced communications for industries.

Vansbro Municipality with its current borders were created with the municipal reform of 1971. Several small villages and parishes were united with the municipality. The largest town Vansbro, at the time been dominated by wood industry for some 80 years, became the seat and gave it its name. The coat of arms show the sign of iron, an axe (symbolizing wood industries) and a sword.

[edit] Sister cities

Its sister city is Velké Meziříčí, in the Czech Republic.

[edit] Notability

In Dala-Järna one of the distinct Dalacarlia dialects are spoken.

Vansbro is known in the annual "Vanbro Swim" [1]. Inaugurated in 1950, the competitors swim 2,000 meters in Vanån and 1,000 meters in the Västerdal River.