Gävle
Gävle | |
|---|---|
  Gävle Gävle (Sweden) | |
| Coordinates: 60°40′29″N 17°08′30″E / 60.67472°N 17.14167°E | |
UTC+2 (CEST) | |
| Postal code | 80x xx |
| Area code | (+46) 26 |
| Website | www |
Gävle (/ˈjɛvleɪ/ YEV-lay,[citation needed] Swedish: [ˈjɛ̌ːvlɛ] (
listen)) is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020,[3] which makes it the 13th most populated city in Sweden.[1] It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland (Sweden's Northern Lands), having received its charter in 1446 from Christopher of Bavaria. However, Gävle is far nearer to the greater Stockholm region than it is to most other major settlements in Norrland and has a much milder climate than associated with said region.
In recent years, the city has received much international attention due to its large
History
It is believed that the name Gävle derives from the word gavel, meaning river banks in Old Swedish and referring to the Gavleån (Gävle River). The oldest settlement was called Gävle-ägarna, which means "Gavel-owners". This name was shortened to Gävle, then Gefle, and finally Gävle.
Gävle is first mentioned as a town in official history books in 1413 but only received its official town charters in 1446.[4]
For a long time, Gävle consisted solely of small, low, turf or shingle roofed wooden buildings. Boat-houses lined the banks of Gavleån, Lillån, and Islandsån. Until the 18th century the town was built, as was the practice then, around the three most important buildings: the church, the regional palace, and the town hall.
In the 1400s Gävle grew as a city and flourished due to trade allowed by its harbor and river. However, in the 1500s Sten Sture forbade Gävle from pursuing international trade. The city at this time was only allowed to trade with Stockholm and Åbo, which at the time was a part of Sweden. The restrictions were lifted in 1531 when 6 ships were allowed to trade iron, copper and pelts and in 1546 Gustaf Vasa allowed unlimited trade to and from Gävle with the exception of copper. [5]
In 1569 a fire destroyed many of the archaeological records of Gävle from the middle ages. [5]
Over the last 300 years, Gävle has been ablaze on three occasions. After the fire of 1776, the town was rebuilt with straight streets and
After the catastrophe of the fire Gävle developed its characteristic
In July 1719 Hugo Hamilton, who built Fredriksskans fort, defended Gävle against Russian attacks. After attacking along the coast, the Russian forces, numbering 5000 and under the command of Peter von Lacy, attacked Gävle from the south along the road from Harnäs which they had recently occupied. Hamilton stopped them outside of the city near Järvsta.[6] The Russians instead tried to attack the city from the sea but the 10 cannon battery at Fredriksskans were sufficient to turn away their forces 3 times.[7] A final attempt was made to take the city by landing forces to the north at Engesberg. Hamilton quickly moved the defending forces northward to stop the attack.[8] On the 2nd of August von Lacy gave up and sailed homewards with his forces.
An extensive redevelopment of the central town area was started during the 1950s. Around 1970 Gävle became a large urban district when it was united with the nearby municipalities of Valbo, Hamrånge, Hedesunda, and Hille. New suburbs like Stigslund, Sätra, Andersberg, and Bomhus have grown up around the central city.
In the middle of the 1800s to the beginning of the 1900s, there was a bad harvest and a high unemployment rate in Sweden.[9] At the same time, political and religious oppression occurred, and religious encounters outside the State Church were not allowed. This led many Swedes to emigrate to other countries such as the United States. During the early emigration era, Gävle was one of the cities from which people left on their journey to the US. People from parts of Gästrikland and other neighboring counties made their way to the harbor town of Gävle and then commenced their departure to America.[10]
50,000 Russians who were in Germany at the outbreak of the First World War traveled up through Sweden to Gävle where they gathered at the harbor before setting off via steamboat back to Russia.[11]
The Harbor in Gävle was used for trade during the first world war and as a result some ships from Gävle were sunk during the German unrestricted submarine warfare campaign. One such example was the sailing vessle Jönköping which was sunk on its way to Raumo from Gävle with a cargo of cognac and champagne for the Tsar. [12] A Finnish cargo vessel was sunk off the coast in Gävle.
In June 1945, 800 Soviet prisoners of war transited from Oslo to Gävle where they were transported aboard the boat Aldebaran across the Baltic Sea to the Soviet Union. [13]
In 1986 as a result of the
Geography
Gävle is situated by the Baltic Sea near the mouth of the river Dalälven. At 60 degrees north and 17 degrees east, Gävle has the same latitude as Helsinki and the same longitude as Vienna and Cape Town. Bordering municipalities are Söderhamn, Ockelbo, Sandviken, Heby, Tierp and Älvkarleby. Twenty kilometers west of Gävle lies Sandviken.
Climate
Gävle has a similar climate to the rest of central Sweden with winter highs just below freezing and summer highs a bit above 20 °C (68 °F). The average yearly precipitation is around 600 mm (23.62 in). Under the Köppen climate classification Gävle is classified as humid continental (Dfb),[15] in spite of the significant maritime influence. It is also one of the northernmost cities of significant size in the world with this climate type, since areas north of the 60th latitude for the most part are dominated by various subarctic climate types. Under the 1961-1990 normals, Gävle's fourth warmest month was just around the isotherm of 10 °C (50 °F) to not be classified as subarctic, but temperatures did go up sufficiently to be clear humid continental since.
While precipitation usually is moderate, in August 2021, Gävle was hit by a
| Climate data for Gävle (2002–2021 averages; extremes since 1901) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 11.0 (51.8) |
12.5 (54.5) |
18.3 (64.9) |
27.1 (80.8) |
28.9 (84.0) |
36.4 (97.5) |
34.4 (93.9) |
34.0 (93.2) |
28.0 (82.4) |
22.7 (72.9) |
15.0 (59.0) |
11.7 (53.1) |
36.4 (97.5) |
| Mean maximum °C (°F) | 6.2 (43.2) |
8.0 (46.4) |
13.6 (56.5) |
18.3 (64.9) |
24.0 (75.2) |
27.1 (80.8) |
28.8 (83.8) |
27.4 (81.3) |
22.9 (73.2) |
16.3 (61.3) |
11.2 (52.2) |
7.4 (45.3) |
29.8 (85.6) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −0.4 (31.3) |
0.7 (33.3) |
4.7 (40.5) |
10.0 (50.0) |
15.1 (59.2) |
19.5 (67.1) |
22.2 (72.0) |
21.2 (70.2) |
16.6 (61.9) |
9.7 (49.5) |
4.5 (40.1) |
1.3 (34.3) |
10.4 (50.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −3.8 (25.2) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
0.2 (32.4) |
4.9 (40.8) |
9.7 (49.5) |
14.2 (57.6) |
16.7 (62.1) |
15.8 (60.4) |
11.7 (53.1) |
6.0 (42.8) |
1.9 (35.4) |
−1.5 (29.3) |
6.1 (42.9) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −7.1 (19.2) |
−6.5 (20.3) |
−4.3 (24.3) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
4.2 (39.6) |
8.7 (47.7) |
11.2 (52.2) |
10.4 (50.7) |
6.8 (44.2) |
2.2 (36.0) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
−4.3 (24.3) |
1.7 (35.1) |
| Mean minimum °C (°F) | −20.1 (−4.2) |
−18.9 (−2.0) |
−14.7 (5.5) |
−6.3 (20.7) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
2.5 (36.5) |
5.0 (41.0) |
3.1 (37.6) |
−0.9 (30.4) |
−5.5 (22.1) |
−10.0 (14.0) |
−15.0 (5.0) |
−23.7 (−10.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −30.4 (−22.7) |
−33.7 (−28.7) |
−29.9 (−21.8) |
−17.9 (−0.2) |
−7.3 (18.9) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
1.0 (33.8) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−5.7 (21.7) |
−15.1 (4.8) |
−22.5 (−8.5) |
−30.3 (−22.5) |
−33.7 (−28.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 36.5 (1.44) |
26.8 (1.06) |
26.1 (1.03) |
23.1 (0.91) |
43.7 (1.72) |
67.2 (2.65) |
61.5 (2.42) |
92.7 (3.65) |
45.4 (1.79) |
67.2 (2.65) |
46.0 (1.81) |
40.7 (1.60) |
576.9 (22.73) |
| Average extreme snow depth cm (inches) | 31 (12) |
39 (15) |
31 (12) |
13 (5.1) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
2 (0.8) |
10 (3.9) |
20 (7.9) |
47 (19) |
| Source 1: SMHI Open Data[21] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: SMHI climate data 2002–2018[22] | |||||||||||||
Economy
Trade from the port of Gävle increased markedly during the 15th century when copper and iron began to be exported from the port. In order to ensure that all trade was via Stockholm, sailing to foreign ports from Gävle and a few other ports was forbidden.
During the 16th century, Gävle was one of the most important port and merchant towns with many shipping companies and shipyards.
In 1787 Gävle was awarded "free and unrestricted sailing rights" to and from foreign ports. This led to an increase in trade, which in turn led to an increase in buildings, industrial developments, trade and shipping.
From 1910-1979 Gefle Porslinfabrik produced porslin products. The factory, locally named 'Pottan' struggled during the First World War to get clay that would allow them to continue producing high quality products. Due to high transport and coal costs the factory had to raise the prices of their products by 40%.[23]
Today there are few shipping companies or shipyards left, but an important port remains. It has over 1000 ships calling per year and is among the top ten common ports in Sweden.
Major companies
- BillerudKorsnäs (pulp and paper industry)
- Kraft General Foods Scandinavia (Gevalia coffee)
- Cale Industri (parking meters)
Demography
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Culture
Gävle has, considering its size, a large and well nourished cultural life, being a cradle for many musicians such as
Arts and museums
The prison museum of Sweden, the county museum of Gävleborg, and the national railway museum are the three largest museums in the city. The prison museum is located near Gävle Castle and depicts the history of crime and punishment in Sweden. The county museum (located downtown) hosts an art collection spanning from the 1600s to present time and well as a section dedicated to cultural history. Finally, the Swedish Railway Museum (Rälsgatan 1), hosts a collection that began to accumulate in 1906 in Stockholm and which was moved to Gävle in 1970.
Gävle has a theater dating back to the 1800s. It is still used for performances today, including classic theater, opera, variety and stand-up.
There is also a concert hall in Gävle which was inaugurated in 1998. It is home to the 1912
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