Östra Göinge Municipality

There are 8 smaller population centers (urban areas) in the municipality, where approximately 80 percent of the population lives, surrounded by sparsely populated rural areas.

Geography

Östra Göinge Municipality is part of Göingebygden, an area in northern Scania which borders the provinces Småland and Blekinge. The landscape is gently undulating and densely forested with deciduous and coniferous trees, interspersed with open areas of flat and fertile agricultural land. Even though this is a typical northern Scanian landscape, Östra Göinge's abundance of small forest tarns, winding brooks and large lakes make it similar to the province Småland as well. The large, scenic river Helgeån runs through the municipality, offering ample opportunities for fishing of pike, perch and pike-perch, as well as brown trout, eel, whitefish and chub.

History

The Snapphane, Scanian resistance fighters of 17th century, took refuge in the forests of Östra Göinge. Considered rebels and bandits by the Swedish army, the Snapphanar were protected by the local population and their bravery is still cherished in the municipality. All of Göingebygden endured hardship and suffered devastation during the times after the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, during Scania's transition from being a Danish to becoming a Swedish ruled territory.

The dialect of Göingebygden has historically been distinguishable from the southern Scanian dialects as well as the northern Småland dialects, perhaps because the population took pride in the area's historical autonomy and resilient resistance.

The coat of arms for Östra Göinge depicts two palm branches crossing each other, a traditional symbol of peace and unity designed for and given to the area after it became Swedish. The lower part of the coat of arms depicts hammers, and was added when the municipality was joined with an adjacent municipality in 1976.

Localities

There are 8 urban areas (also called a Tätort or locality) in Östra Göinge Municipality. In the table they are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2005. The municipal seat is in bold characters.

#	Locality	Population
1	Knislinge	3,016
2	Broby	2,931
3	Glimåkra	1,483
4	Sibbhult	1,383
5	Hanaskog	1,316
6	Immeln	291
7	Hjärsås	233
8	Östanå	221

Industry

A famous, very fine-grained black diabase is mined in Östra Göinge. Because of the extremely high quality of the diabase from this area, it is in high demand worldwide and has become popular with artists all over the globe, one of the more well-known being Takashi Naraha from Japan. It is primarily used for gravestones, monuments, sculptures, and other forms of stone artworks, but also to decorate buildings. The Empire State Building is partly covered with diabase from the area and the US Marine Corps War Memorial has a foundation of diabase from Göingebygden.

Scania AB and Tarkett have a presence in Östra Göinge.

References

Statistics Sweden

↑ "Statistiska centralbyrån den 1 januari 2010" (Microsoft Excel) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
↑ "SCB, Befolkningsstatistik 30 juni 2012" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2010-08-19.

External links

Östra Göinge - Official site
Coat of arms

v t e Municipalities and seats of Scania County

Municipalities	Ängelholm Åstorp Båstad Bjuv Bromölla Burlöv Eslöv Hässleholm Helsingborg Höganäs Höör Hörby Kävlinge Klippan Kristianstad Landskrona Lomma Lund Malmö Örkelljunga Osby Östra Göinge Perstorp Simrishamn Sjöbo Skurup Staffanstorp Svalöv Svedala Tomelilla Trelleborg Vellinge Ystad

Municipal seats	Ängelholm Arlöv Åstorp Båstad Bjuv Broby Bromölla Eslöv Hässleholm Helsingborg Höganäs Höör Hörby Kävlinge Klippan Kristianstad Landskrona Lomma Lund Malmö Örkelljunga Osby Perstorp Simrishamn Sjöbo Skurup Staffanstorp Svalöv Svedala Tomelilla Trelleborg Vellinge Ystad

Counties of Sweden Sweden

v t e Localities in Östra Göinge Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden

Localities	Broby (seat) Glimåkra Hanaskog Hjärsås Immeln Knislinge Sibbhult

Coordinates: 56°15′N 14°04′E / 56.250°N 14.067°E / 56.250; 14.067

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