Öckerö Municipality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This page deals with both Öckerö Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Öckerö
 Öckerö in western V. G. County in Sweden  Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden |
Coat of arms |
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| Municipal facts | ||
| Seat | Öckerö | |
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| County | Västra Götaland County | |
| Province | Bohuslän | |
Area
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26 km² 287th of 290 |
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Population
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12,147 x of 290 |
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| Population density | 469/km² | |
Öckerö Municipality is located in Västra Götaland County, in western Sweden. It consists of islands in the Gothenburg archipelago, just outside of Gothenburg. With a total area of 26 km² it is one of the smallest municipalities of Sweden.
Contents |
[edit] Specifics
The municipality consists of ten islands. They are considered to stretch from a renowned lighthouse called Vinga fyr up to the coastal town of Marstrand in the municipality of Kungälv. The ten islands are named
- Björkö (Gothenburg)
- Fotö
- Grötö
- Hyppeln
- Hälsö
- Hönö
- Kalvsund
- Källö-Knippla
- Rörö
- Öckerö.
NB that "ö" means "island" in Swedish language.
Of these, Hönö is the largest with some 4,800 inhabitants, and Öckerö is also fairly large with 3,100. However, all ten are inhabited by people all year around. Most islands have bridge connection between each other. However, there is no road connection to the mainland, just car ferries from western Gothenburg. The ferry connections are good with a dense schedule. A local referendum in 2003 in the Öckerö Municipality about the plans for a bridge gave the answer no, don't build a bridge.
[edit] History
During the Viking Age the islands of Öckerö belonged to the Norwegian kings, and the part of the coast was known as Älvsyssel. In the 13th century the King Håkan Håkansson of Norway built himself a house on Öckerö, because he was often around there with his navy.
In 1658 or thereabout, the area became Swedish together with Bohuslän.
In the midth 18th century, the fishing of herring blossomed into a full scaled industry, and the islands fishing communities flourished for some 50 years.
In the 1950s the coat of arms were designed. As the main industry has always been fishing, a boat and herring became symbols. The ten herrings correspond to the ten islands.
[edit] References
- The corresponding article on Swedish Wikipedia has been used as main reference.
[edit] External links
- Öckerö - Official site
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