Askersund is a locality

Urban 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...

 and the seat of Askersund Municipality

Askersund Municipality

Askersund Municipality is a municipality in Örebro County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Askersund....

, Örebro County

Örebro County

Örebro County is a county or län in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanland and Östergötland.- Province :...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 with 3,937 inhabitants in 2005.

Geography

The city is located in the northern bay of Lake Vättern

Vättern

Vättern is the second largest lake in Sweden, after Lake Vänern and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden to the southeast of Vänern pointing at the tip of Scandinavia....

.

The town Askersund traces its origin from the 14th century. In 1643 it was significant enough to received its charter

Charter

A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...

 as one of the cities in Sweden. Despite its small size Askersund is for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city, although Statistics Sweden nowadays defines a city as a locality with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

In the 19th century, Askersund was planned to be the site of one of the two supply fortresses for Karlsborg Fortress

Karlsborg Fortress

Karlsborg Fortress is situated on the Vannäs peninsula in Karlsborg by lake Vättern, the province of Västergötland, Sweden. Construction on the fortress began 1819 to realize the so-called central defense idea adopted by the Swedish military after the Finnish and Napoleonic Wars...

, located on an island in lake Vättern, now belonging to Karlsborg Municipality

Karlsborg Municipality

Karlsborg Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Karlsborg....

.