Oskarshamn Municipality

From Free net encyclopedia

**Oskarshamn Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Image:Svcmap kalmar.png Oskarshamn in Kalmar County Image:Kalmar Municipalities.png Map outlining municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms Image:Oskarshamn City Arms.png
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Oskarshamn:
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Kalmar County
	Province	Småland
	Area Rank	1,054 km² 99th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	26,300 91st of 290
	Density	25/km²

This page deals with both Oskarshamn Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Oskarshamn

Oskarshamn Municipality is a municipality in Kalmar County, in south-eastern Sweden where the town Oskarshamn (pop.17,000) is seat.

1 History
- 1.1 Coat of arms
- 1.2 Recent history
2 Industry
3 Notability
4 External links

[edit]

History

The location of Oskarshamn was known as Döderhultsvik since the Medieval age. In 1645, the city of Kalmar, to the south, made a request to the Royal Government on holding commerce in the bay there, which was granted, giving it merchancy rights as a köping. There followed 200 years of merchancies in the town, during which it was governed and dependant on Kalmar; while the surrounding towns and municipalites made frequent requests to grant it a charter, consequently turned down each of the attempts made in the years: 1786, 1798, 1800, 1815, 1818, 1823, 1825, 1830 and 1838. In 1843 it got some independence, with a local council, but the council itself was occupied by citizens of Kalmar. In 1854, the King Oscar I of Sweden promised to grant it a charter as soon as it had fulfilled certain demands, including building a prison and a council hall, among other things. When they had accomplished the feats, the charter was granted, and the city became one of the Cities of Sweden starting 1856, on May 1.

[edit]

Coat of arms

Oskarshamn was then named after King Oscar I of Sweden. The top of the coat of arms show the insignia of the King. In the other fields there are symbols for shipping (the anchor), trade (the staff of Mercury) and wealth (the cornucopia).

Its current design stems from 1942, but it basically only differes from the old in the alignment of the symbols.

[edit]

Recent history

Industrialization began with the inauguration of the railway line to Nässjö. From then on, industries as well as the harbour began to expand. When some of the old industries closed down in 1970´s, Oskarshamn received a nuclear power plant OKG and three reactors were built between 1966-1985. It is now considered to be a possible location of a future place to have the Swedish nuclear waste storage deep beneath the ground.

[edit]

Industry

The main industry has always been dominated by its harbour. There is a ferry line between the town and Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland, for more information see http://www.destinationgotland.se/

It has two local newspapers: Oskarshamns-Tidningen (conservative) and Nyheterna (social democratic).

[edit]