Arjeplog Municipality
Encyclopedia
Municipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
in Norrbotten County
Norrbotten County
Norrbotten County is the northernmost county or län of Sweden. It borders Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast. It also borders the counties of Nordland and Troms in Norway to the northwest, and Lapland Province in Finland to the northeast.The name...
in northern Sweden. Its seat
Administrative centre
An administrative centre is a term often used in several countries to refer to a county town, or other seat of regional or local government, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located....
is located in Arjeplog
Arjeplog
Arjeplog is a locality and the seat of Arjeplog Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,947 inhabitants in 2005.It is a popular winter test site for the European car industry....
.
The area which now is Arjeplog Municipality used to be a single parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
(Swedish: socken), which was made into a municipality when the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863. It has not been amalgamated with any other entity.
History
People lived in the area of today's municipality as early as 10,000 years ago, following the end of the last ice age. For a long time it was only populated by a fishingFishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
and hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
people, the Sami people
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
, who have their own language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
and breed reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
s in northern Sweden, and today have special rights as a Swedish minority group
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
.
The population in today's municipality was only a few hundred people in the 17th and 18th century, most of them Sami, and the rest of Sweden did not know much of them. Not until 1640 did Queen
Queen regnant
A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....
Christina of Sweden
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
order a church to be built in order to Christianize
Christianization
The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
the Sami people in Arjeplog. The church was inaugurated in 1642. At first the deceased were buried
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
under the earthen floor
Earthen floor
An earthen floor, also called an adobe floor, is a floor made of dirt, raw earth, or other unworked ground materials. It is usually constructed, in modern times, with a mixture of sand, finely chopped straw and clay, mixed to a thickened consistency and spread with a trowel on a sub-surface such...
in the church, but eventually the stench became unbearable and the procedure had to end.
Silver
The interest in Arjeplog had been sparked when silverSilver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
was found in the area in the 1620s, and a mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
industry was established there 1635-1659. It has been estimated that the amount of silver mined was 36 kilograms per year.
In August 1659, the Danes
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norwegians
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
– who were in the Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway is the historiographical name for a former political entity consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the originally Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands...
union – attacked and burned down the mining village. The mining industry was then stalled for 120 years.
It was once again taken up in 1719, probably as a means of supporting the war of King
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII also Carl of Sweden, , Latinized to Carolus Rex, Turkish: Demirbaş Şarl, also known as Charles the Habitué was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718...
. The mining was upheld until 1810, when the low profits, harsh climate and the long distances led to its closure. There are still remains from that time in the village Adolfström.
There are also several names in the area such as Silvervägen ("Silver Road") and Silversundet ("Silver Strait") reminding of its silver history. When a Sami museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
was built in the town of Arjeplog in 1965, it was appropriately named Silvermuseet ("The Silver Museum"). It is filled with Sami photos
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
and artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
.
Geography
Arjeplog Municipality is Sweden's fourth largest municipality, but the fourth least populated. It is located by the shoreShore
A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In Physical Oceanography a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore,...
s of Lake Hornavan
Hornavan
Hornavan [′hu:rna:van] is a lake in northern Sweden. It is located in Arjeplog Municipality in the province of Swedish Lapland, administratively known as Norrbotten County.- Geography :...
, Sweden's deepest lake and one of its largest. The municipality is popular because of the scenery of Lake Hornavan, but also of its other untouched nature.
Arjeplog Municipality consists of a terrain dominated by the Scandinavian Mountains
Scandinavian Mountains
The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes, in Swedish Skanderna, Fjällen or Kölen , in Finnish Köli and in Norwegian Kjølen, with the three latter meaning The Keel, are a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula...
and many water areas. It boasts an unparalleled 8,000 lakes and stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s, with three main rivers, namely Pite River
Pite River
The Pite River is a river in northern Sweden, flowing through the Norrbotten County. It is one of the four major rivers in Norrland that have been left mostly untouched by water power plants, the river has a single dam at Sikfors approximately 15 km upstream from the sea.It starts in the large...
, Skellefte River
Skellefte River
The Skellefte River is a river in northern Sweden; one of the major Norrland rivers..Geographically, it starts in the Norrbotten County, also known as the Swedish Lappland province where it drains the lakes Hornavan, Uddjaur and Storavan near Arjeplog; then goes south-east into Västerbotten...
and Lais River. Skellefte River attaches south from Lake Hornavan and extends southeast to Skellefteå
Skellefteå
-Industry:*Boliden AB, a big mining and smelting company*Alimak*Natural User Interface Technologies AB - NUITEQ, a promising emerging technology start-up company-Sports:*Skellefteå AIK, an ice hockey team in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien....
and the Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the Åland Islands, between the Sea of Åland and the Archipelago Sea.-Name:...
on the east coast.
About 80 kilometres north of the town Arjeplog
Arjeplog
Arjeplog is a locality and the seat of Arjeplog Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,947 inhabitants in 2005.It is a popular winter test site for the European car industry....
one finds the national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
s Padjelanta
Padjelanta
Padjelanta is a national park in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Established in 1963 , it is the largest national park in Sweden with an area of 1,984 km2, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laponia established in 1996.- Nature :The park, which borders to Norway in the west, is...
and Sarek
Sarek National Park
Sarek National Park is a national park in Jokkmokk Municipality, in the province Lapland in northern Sweden. Sarek borders the national parks Stora Sjöfallet and Padjelanta...
, both being situated in the western parts of Jokkmokk Municipality
Jokkmokk Municipality
Jokkmokk Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Jokkmokk.The name Jokkmokk is Sami for the words "river" and "bend", since the town is situated close to a bend in the nearby river....
.
Arjeplog Municipality also has 13 nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
s, mostly mountain moorland
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
, where endangered plants
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
grow. Mountain Galtispouda, with a height of 800 metres, is both a popular place of outlook, a nature reserve, and in the winter a popular place for skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
.
Localities
There is only one localityUrban areas in Sweden
Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...
(or urban area) in Arjeplog Municipality:
| # | Locality | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arjeplog Arjeplog Arjeplog is a locality and the seat of Arjeplog Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,947 inhabitants in 2005.It is a popular winter test site for the European car industry.... |
1,947 |
Sister city
Arjeplog Municipality has one sister cityTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
:
Umba, RussiaUmba, RussiaUmba is an urban locality in Tersky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located on the Kola Peninsula at the point where the Umba River flows into the Kandalaksha Gulf. Population:...
External links
- Arjeplog Municipality - Official site
- Arjeplog map
- The Silver Museum