Simrishamn 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 Simrishamn Municipality

Simrishamn Municipality

Simrishamn Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in the city Simrishamn....

, Skåne County

Skåne County

Skåne County is the southernmost administrative county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the historical province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö...

, 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 6,546 inhabitants in 2005. Simrishamn is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city.

Simrishamn is a picturesque coastal town, built around the main street (Storgatan), that passes the market square, itself being the center of the town.

History

Simrishamn is first mentioned (as Symbrishafn) in 1161 and as a town in 1361. Simris has been interpreted as "the mouth of the slow-flowing (river)", meaning present-day Tommarpsån. It has been speculated that the name should have something to do with the Cimbri

Cimbri

The Cimbri were a tribe from Northern Europe, who, together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. The Cimbri were probably Germanic, though some believe them to be of Celtic origin...

, a Germanic tribe, but that is a very unlikely theory. In 1658, when Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

 under the Treaty of Roskilde

Treaty of Roskilde

The Treaty of Roskilde was concluded on 26 February or 8 March 1658 during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Charles X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde...

 was permanently transferred from Denmark

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...

 to Sweden, the town had a population of about 200 people. The growth was relatively small until about 1810 when it reached 700 inhabitants, growing to 1365 in 1850 and 1966 in 1890. The local government reform

Municipalities of Sweden

The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...

 of 1971 made Simrishamn the seat of Simrishamn Municipality

Simrishamn Municipality

Simrishamn Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in the city Simrishamn....

with about 20,000 inhabitants.

External links

• Simrishamn - Official site
• Österlen - Official site