Jönköping


Jönköping is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants. Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland.
The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipality, which has a population of 144,699 and is Småland's most populous municipality. Jönköping is also the seat of Jönköping County which has a population of 367,064. Jönköping is the seat of a district court and a court of appeal as well as the Swedish National Courts Administration. It is also the seat of the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

City government

The headquarters of the Jönköping municipality are located in a city hall. The Rådhuset is an important component of the municipality, serving as a state office for different departments of and in Jönköping. It is dependent on the municipality, but is also its own entity and therefore its head is not the head of the entire municipality. The head of Jönköping is the kommunfullmäktige.

History

Jönköping is an old trading centre situated at a natural crossroads for routes following the rivers Nissan and Lagan, and the road connecting the provinces of Östergötland and Västergötland, a result of the town's geographical position at the southern end of lake Vättern, which divides the two provinces.
On 18 May 1284 Jönköping became the first City in Sweden to be granted its rights by king Magnus Ladulås, who ruled mostly from Vättern's largest island Visingsö. The first part of the city's name, "Jön", is derived from a creek, "Junebäcken", in Talavid, in what is now the western part of the city. The second part of the name "köping", is, as mentioned above, an old word for a trading centre or market place.
The geographical position of the city also left it vulnerable to attack via the river routes that led south, mainly from Danes. At that time the provinces of what is today southern Sweden – Scania, Halland and Blekinge – belonged to Denmark. The city was plundered and burned several times until it was fortified during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Jönköping was known for its matchstick industry between 1845 and 1970. The phosphorus match was invented in 1831, and these matches became very popular because one could strike it against any surface to ignite it. However, the problem was that they ignited too easily, caused a lot of accidents and were toxic. In 1844, Swedish professor Gustav Erik Pasch patented a new invention, "Safety matches – Strike against the box only". To prevent the matches from igniting so easily, Gustav Erik Pasch separated the chemicals in the match head and placed the phosphorus on a separate surface on the outside of the box for striking ignition. Johan Edvard and Carl Frans Lundström took Pasch's patent and improved it. Later, they manufactured their new Safety matches in their factory in Jönköping. Today, the Match Museum is located in Jönköping's first match factory.

Present

The urban area of Jönköping today includes the eastern industrial town of Huskvarna, with which it has grown together.
Elmia, a major trade fair and exhibition centre, is situated in Jönköping. Elmia Wood is the world's largest forestry fair, and fairs for subcontractors, trucks, caravans and railways are the biggest of their kind in Europe. Since 2001, Elmia has been the site of the world's largest LAN party, DreamHack, with two events every year, Dreamhack Summer and Dreamhack Winter.
The city is an important Nordic logistical center, with many companies' central warehouses situated there. Jönköping has one of the highest hotel and restaurant densities in Sweden.
In late 2019, Jönköping was seen as the city with best future prospects in Sweden by WSP.

Demography

Population

As of 2018, Jönköping has a total population of 139,222.
Gender201420152016201720182019
Female66,40466,98767,82368,72269,42670,265
Male65,73666,32367,47468,75969,79670,816
Total132,140133,310135,297137,481139,222141,081

Notable people

Music

Sport

Education

High schools

Tertiary education

Climate

Between 1961 and 1990, Jönköping's climate was humid continental with long, cold winters and short, warm summers. However, the window between subarctic and oceanic is very small in this marine-influenced climate type, and in recent years the climate has more resembled very cold oceanic. Figures are slightly skewed because the weather station is at the airport, which is at an elevation of ; the city centre is at. Temperatures in the urban centre are likely milder, with a difference between half a degree and a full degree.

Sport

Churches