Boden Municipality

Boden Municipality
Bodens kommun
Municipality

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Norrbotten County
Seat Boden
Area[1]
 • Total 4,285.13 km2 (1,654.50 sq mi)
 • Land 4,007.86 km2 (1,547.44 sq mi)
 • Water 277.27 km2 (107.05 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2014.
Population (March 31, 2015)[2]
 • Total 27,839
 • Density 6.5/km2 (17/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Norrbotten
Municipal code 2582
Website www.boden.se

Boden Municipality (Swedish: Bodens kommun) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Boden.

In 1919 the evolving garrison town of Boden was detached from Överluleå and instituted as a city municipality of its own. In 1967 the rest of Överluleå was merged into the city together with a part of Råneå. In 1971 Edefors (which in 1892 also had been detached from Överluleå) was added and the present municipality was formed.

History

According to recent finds, the oldest human settlements are believed to be from around 5,000 BC. From this early time nothing is known (except some scarce finds). First accounted-for sources are from the 16th century, when Boden is referred to as Bodebyn or Bodarna, which may refer to the sheds (bod means "shed"). In 1543 there were seven farmers in the community (each farmer at that time might have several workers and a family). It was also mentioned that native Sami people were living in the proximity.

Geography

The closest larger city is Luleå, which is located some 35 kilometres (22 miles) southeast on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Luleå is the largest city in Norrbotten County and hosts the main campus of Luleå University of Technology.

The main northern railway line, Stambanan genom övre Norrland, ends in Boden. By rail, Boden is connected to Luleå, and, on the same line, Uppsala, Stockholm, and finally Bräcke in the south.

Language

In Boden Municipality, as in all of Sweden, there is no "official" language, but Swedish is by far the mostly used one. Some people are also, due to the proximity to the Finnish border, proficient in Finnish, and a few speak Sami. Nowadays, due to immigration, a lot of languages from around the world can also be heard.

Southern Boden seen from Rödbergsfortet, part of Boden Fortress.

Localities

There are six localities (or urban areas) in Boden Municipality:[3]

# Locality Population
1 Boden 18,680
2 Sävast 3,121
3 Harads 558
4 Unbyn 481
5 Vittjärv 429
6 Bodträskfors 205

The municipal seat in bold

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Boden Municipality is twinned with:

All of these are northerly located, only Oulu being on a more southern latitude than Boden.

Notable natives

Politics

Result of the 2010 election

Swedish Social Democratic Party 49,83%

Moderate Party 20,89%

Left Party 7,95%

Liberal People's Party 4,72%

Sweden Democrats 4,55%

Green Party 4,22%

Centre Party 3,65%

Christian Democrats 3,21%

Other Parties 0,99

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (Microsoft Excel) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
  2. ↑ "Folkmängd i riket, län och kommuner 31 mars 2015" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. May 11, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
  4. ↑ "Ystävyyskaupungit (Twin Cities)". Oulun kaupunki (City of Oulu) (in Finnish). Retrieved 2013-07-27.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boden Municipality.

Coordinates: 65°50′N 21°43′E / 65.833°N 21.717°E / 65.833; 21.717

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 28, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.