Åsele Municipality

Åsele Municipality
Åsele kommun
Municipality

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Västerbotten County
Seat Åsele
Area[1]
 • Total 4,543.95 km2 (1,754.43 sq mi)
 • Land 4,223.79 km2 (1,630.81 sq mi)
 • Water 320.16 km2 (123.61 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2014.
Population (December 31, 2016)[2]
 • Total 2,875
 • Density 0.63/km2 (1.6/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Lapland
Municipal code 2463
Website www.asele.se
Björnlandet National Park.

Åsele Municipality (Swedish: Åsele kommun) is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Åsele.

History

The first Swedish settlement in Åsele Municipality (it was already inhabited by the native Sami people) was in Gafsele south of Åsele. The settlers were Nils Andersson and his wife Brita. They came from Finland in 1674, trying to avoid the war with Russia.

Fredrika is a parish in the municipality. It was created in 1799 and named in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden. Other nearby parishes were named Dorotea and Vilhelmina, but Åsele refused to take any of these names, as they were very proud of themselves and the town.

In 1974 the former market town (köping) Åsele (1959-1970) was amalgamated with Dorotea and Fredrika. In 1980 the Dorotea part was detached, forming a new Dorotea Municipality.

Geography

Geographically, the Ångerman River flows from Vilhelmina through Åsele Municipality, and many electric power stations are built around it.

The town Åsele is located in the middle of the municipality. It has a nice-looking wooden church, a small, historical (open-air) museum and a 9-hole golf course.

Localities

There are two localities (or urban areas) in Åsele Municipality:[3]

# Locality Population
1 Åsele 1,920
2 Fredrika 254

The municipal seat in bold

Other

The municipality has recently received some recognition as the future site of Europe's largest Thai Buddhist temple.[4]

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 december 2016" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. February 21, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  3. ↑ Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
  4. ↑ Fact sheet on the official site

Coordinates: 64°09′N 17°21′E / 64.150°N 17.350°E / 64.150; 17.350

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