Arvidsjaur Municipality

Arvidsjaur Municipality
Arvidsjaurs kommun
Municipality

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Norrbotten County
Seat Arvidsjaur
Area[1]
 • Total 6,126.32 km2 (2,365.39 sq mi)
 • Land 5,655.97 km2 (2,183.78 sq mi)
 • Water 470.35 km2 (181.60 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2014.
Population (June 30, 2016)[2]
 • Total 6,482
 • Density 1.1/km2 (2.7/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Lapland
Municipal code 2505
Website www.arvidsjaur.se
Reindeers outside a disco.

Arvidsjaur Municipality (Swedish: Arvidsjaurs kommun, Northern Sami: Árviesjávrrie gielda) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is Arvidsjaur.

History

Arvidsjaur Municipality was for a long time only inhabited by the Sami people. They were back then a hunting people, living off the abundance of fish and wildlife in the area. Archaeological discoveries suggest that people have been moving through the area for several thousands of years. The name Arvidsjaur itself comes from a Sami word which means "generous water" and was originally the name of the adjacent lake.

In the 14th and 15th century some farmers settled in the area. They acquired furs and skins from the hunters, and traded them off to southern regions, allegedly in vast numbers.

The Christianization of Arvidsjaur Municipality was slow, as it was in Norrland as a whole, because of the low population, the harsh climate and the long distances. It was also commonly believed that Norrland was inhabited by magicians.

Not until 1577 did the first settler, Per Käck, settle in Arvidsjaur. The settlers built the first chapel at the marketplace at the time, in 1560. The first church was inaugurated in 1604.

The Swedish minister and missionary Petrus Læstadius (1802–1841; brother of Lars Levi Læstadius, founder of the largest Christian revival movement in Norrland) collected old stories and myths in the area in the 19th century, which create the basis for our knowledge from that time.

Geography

Arvidsjaur Municipality is located about 110 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, in the center of the northernmost land, Norrland. It is also part of the geographic area Lapland, which consists of the northern parts of Sweden, Norway and Finland. Sami people are an indigenous minority group who mainly live on breeding reindeers. Arvidsjaur Municipality still contains several Sami villages, and as a tribute to the Sami people a reindeer is the basis for the municipal coat of arms.

Localities

There are three localities (or urban areas) in Arvidsjaur Municipality:[3]

# Locality Population
1 Arvidsjaur 4,644
2 Glommersträsk 306
3 Moskosel 299

The municipal seat in bold

Politics

Result of the 2010 election

Moderate Party 13,35%

Centre party 7,23%

Liberal People's Party 4,13%

Christian Democrats 2,00%

Swedish Social Democratic Party 54,02%

Left Party 11,13%

Green Party 2,61%

Sweden Democrats 4,67%

Other Parties 1,07%

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 30 juni 2016" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arvidsjaur Municipality.

Coordinates: 65°35′N 19°07′E / 65.583°N 19.117°E / 65.583; 19.117

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/2/2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.