Helsingborg

Helsingborg

Coat of arms
Helsingborg
Coordinates:
Country Sweden
Province Scania
County Skåne County
Municipality Helsingborg Municipality
Charter 1085
Area[1]
 • Total 38.41 km2 (14.8 sq mi)
Population (2011-01-01)[2]
 • Total 129,177
 • Density 2,529/km2 (6,550.1/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Website www.helsingborg.se

Helsingborg (Swedish pronunciation: [hɛlsiŋˈbɔrj]) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 129,177 inhabitants in 2011.[2] Helsingborg is the centre of an area in the Øresund region of about 320,000 inhabitants in north-west Scania, and is Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with the Danish city Helsingør clearly visible on the other side of the Øresund about 4 km to the west.

Historic Helsingborg, with its many old buildings, is a scenic coastal city. The buildings are a blend of old-style stone-built churches and a medieval fortress (Kärnan) in the city centre, which has stood guard in Helsingborg for over 600 years, and more modern commercial buildings. The streets vary from wide avenues to small alley-ways. Kullagatan, the main pedestrian shopping street in the city, was the first pedestrian shopping street in Sweden.

Contents

History

Helsingborg is one of the oldest cities of Sweden. It has been the site of permanent settlement officially since 21 May 1085.[3] Helsingborg's geographical position at the narrowest part of The Sound made it very important for Denmark, at that time controlling both sides of that strait. From 1429 the Danes introduced the Sound Duty (Sound Dues), a levy on all trading vessels passing through the sound between Elsinore and Helsingborg.[4] This was one of the main incomes for the Danish Crown.

Following the Dano-Swedish War (1657-1658) and the Treaty of Roskilde Denmark had to give up all territory on the southern Scandinavian peninsula, and Helsingborg became a Swedish city. King Charles X Gustav of Sweden landed here on the 5th of March 1658 to take possession of the Scanian lands and was met by a delegation led by the bishop of the Diocese of Lund, Peder Winstrup. At that time the town had a population of barely 1,000 people.[5]

The new situation, being a border town, caused problems for the city. The days of conflict were not over. The Danes made many attempts to regain the lost provinces. The last time was in 1710, when 14,000 invaders landed on the shores near Helsingborg. The Battle of Helsingborg was fought on the 28th of February just outside the city, which was badly affected. It took long time to recover and in 1770 the city had 1321 inhabitants and was just slowly growing.[5]

On the 20th of October 1811 Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France and crown prince-elect of Sweden (later king Charles XIV John) took his first step on Swedish soil in Helsingborg on his journey from Paris to Stockholm.[6]

From the middle of the 19th century onwards, however, Helsingborg was one of the fastest growing cities of Sweden, increasing its population from 4 000 in 1850 to 20 000 in 1890 and 56 000 in 1930 due to industrialization. From 1892 a train ferry was put in service, connecting Helsingborg with its Danish sister city Helsingør. A tramway network was inaugurated in 1903 and closed down in 1967. Plans are underway to reintroduce trams in the city.[7]

Industry

Helsingborg is a major regional centre of trade, transport and business. In 2001 Campus Helsingborg, a branch of University of Lund, opened in the former Tretorn rubber factory buildings, originally founded by Henry Dunker. Three ferry companies take people and cargo to and from Denmark around the clock. The route is popular with day-trippers going to Elsinore or Copenhagen, or simply enjoying the views from the ferries. IKEA, the retailer of furniture and home interiors, has its international corporate headquarters in Helsingborg. Nicorette the nicotine chewing gum, has a manufacturing plant there. Ramlösa is a mineral water from Ramlösa Brunn, a southern suburb of the city. Mobile phone developer Spectronic is also situated in Helsingborg.

Sports

The following sports clubs are located in Helsingborg:

Notable natives

Subdivisions

The City of Helsingborg is subdivided into 32 districts.

The districts of Helsingborg (Classification and census from 9 January 2006)
1 Norr (3600) 12 Centrum (3347) 22 Närlunda (1125)
2 Mariastaden (2302) 13 Eneborg (3816) 23 Eskilsminne (1835)
3 Ringstorp (2802) 14 Wilson Park (1988) 24 Gustavslund (2772)
4 Berga (1720) 15 Rosengården (4388) 25 Planteringen (2663)
5 Drottninghög (2708) 16 Husensjö (1564) 26 Elineberg (2115)
6 Dalhem (4530) 17 Sofieberg (1606) 27 Ramlösa (4593)
7* Tågaborg (7113) 18 Adolfsberg (4319) 28 Miatorp (2406)
8 Stattena (2549) 19 Söder (3665) 29 Högasten (1034)
9 Fredriksdal (4202) 20 Högaborg (4017) 30 Ättekulla (3274)
10 Slottshöjden (3621) 21 Fältabacken (930) 31 Råå (3021)
11 Olympia (1843)

Sights

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005" (in Swedish) (xls). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/statistik/MI/MI0810/2005A01B/T%c3%a4torternami0810tab1.xls. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
  2. ^ a b Befolkning i Helsingborg 1 januari 2011
  3. ^ "Helsingborgs stad - History of Helsingborg". Helsingborg.se. 2007-05-21. http://www.helsingborg.se/templates/StandardPage.aspx?id=549&epslanguage=EN. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
  4. ^ Faringdon, Hugh. (1989) Strategic Geography Routledge. ISBN 0415009804
  5. ^ a b "CyberCity / Helsingborg / Befolkning". .historia.su.se. 2008-01-14. http://www2.historia.su.se/urbanhistory/cybcity/stad/helsingborg/befolkning.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
  6. ^ "Helsingborgs stad - Bernadotte jubileum 2010". Helsingborg.se. 2010-04-12. http://www.helsingborg.se/templates/StandardPage.aspx?id=80759&epslanguage=SV. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
  7. ^ "Helsingborgs stad - Spãrväg kan vara verklighet ãr 2020". Helsingborg.se. 2010-02-10. http://www.helsingborg.se/templates/StandardPage.aspx?id=68465&epslanguage=SV. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 

External links

Helsingborg is one of 133 places with the historical city status in Sweden.
Localities:
Allerum  · Bårslöv  · Domsten  · Gantofta  · Hasslarp  · Helsingborg (seat)  · Hittarp  · Kattarp  · Mörarp  · Ödåkra  · Påarp  · Rydebäck (part of)  · Tånga och Rögle  · Utvälinge  · Vallåkra  · Viken (part of)
Municipalities
Municipal seats
as of 2005, according to Statistics Sweden [1]
1. Stockholm 1,252,000
2. Gothenburg 510,500
3. Malmö 258,000
4. Uppsala 144,839
5. Västerås 107,000
6. Örebro 98,200
7. Linköping 97,400
8. Helsingborg 91,500
9. Jönköping 84,400
10. Norrköping 83,600
11. Lund 76,200
12. Umeå 75,600
13. Gävle 68,700
14. Borås 63,400
15. Södertälje 60,300
16. Eskilstuna 60,200
17. Täby 58,600
18. Karlstad 58,500
19. Halmstad 55,700
20. Växjö 55,600
21. Sundsvall 49,300
22. Luleå 45,500
23. Trollhättan 44,500
24. Östersund 43,800
25. Borlänge 39,400
26. Falun 36,400
27. Upplands Väsby 36,000
28. Tumba 35,300
29. Kalmar 35,200
30. Skövde 33,100