Jönköping

Jönköping tenth plus big city of Sweden is it and constitutes an example of the “Swedish medium-sized city”.

Jönköping is an industrial town which counts 81 372 inhabitants for 123 000 in the commune and 331 000 in the whole of the county.

It is located in the southernmost part of Sweden, with the southern extremity of the lake Vättern, the second plus big lake of the country (localization: ).

Geography

Jönköping is a common city and Swedish on southern bank of the lake of Vättern, in the province of Småland. It is the capital of the Comté of Jönköping and the chief town of the Commune of Jönköping. 81 372 people live in the city, the commune sheltering close to 123 000 inhabitants and the county 331 000. It is one of the 10 larger Swedish city. It is located at the center of the Scandinavia between Stockholm (330 km), Gothenburg (140 km), Copenhagen (290 km), and Oslo at the southern end of the lake Vättern, one of the two Swedish big lakes of the south (with the lake Vänern). There exist many connections to join Jönköping, by rail (inter) but especially by road. The Swebus company allows to join the close capitals easily: lines 777,830 and 831 between Stockholm and Gothenburg and line 832 serves Copenhagen.

History

Passed

The May 18th 1284, Jönköping receives from the king Magnus III of Sweden the right to integrate the Villes of Sweden.

The name of the city, " Jönköping" comes from the union of two old terms of the language. " Jön-" is a term derived from the name of the split of " Junebäcken" , located today at the west of the city. The term " - köping" meant in the past commercial center or commercial city. This second half of name of the city testifies a commercial length last.

Jönköping owes its development with its advantageous geographical location. It was located at the crossing of important roads connecting the provinces of the Östergötland and the Västra Götaland. Positioning on southern banks of the Vättern is indeed very strategic since this lake divides these two provinces. Jönköping was thus historically a meeting place for these provinces but also to make it possible to the peasants to sell their products at the city. This geographical position is in very significant counterpart. During the many wars which in particular opposed Sweden to the Denmark, the town of Jönköping was often the target of attacks.

More recently the city known a great commercial rise, it is precisely in Jönköping that were invented the Swedish Allumette S (or of safety) by Gustaf Erik Pasch in 1844.

Present

Nowadays the city remains an important logistic center of the Sweden, once again thanks to its geographical location. Nearly 9800 companies have their seat in the county. The majority are SME but one counts some international firms such as IKEA, Saab, Electrolux and Husqvarna.

The Elmia Center is located at the east of the city (between Jönköping and Huskvarna), it accommodates important economic living rooms regularly but also various cultural events, sportsmen in particular. It is in Elmia that the match of Hockey is played of HV 71, professional club evolving/moving in the Elitserien.

The town of Jönköping is very coed. Approximately 7.175 students (figures 2004) were registered at the university of Jönköping in 2004. Approximately 1/10e of the students is foreign. On the whole, 60,9% of the students are girls. The University of Jönköping is made up of four divisions (figures 2004):

International Jönköping School Business: 1.925 students (46,5% girls)
The School off Educationand Communication: 2.207 students (75,8% girls)
The School off Engineering: 1.446 students (29,5% girls)
The School off Health Sciences: 1.597 students (86,2% girls)

The city also counts many bars and discotheques. The current communal legislation obliges the discotheques and clubs to be closed at two o'clock in the morning. Some discotheques: Akademien, Bongo Bar, the APT, Karlsonn (also called Club K), Twin City, Huset, Centrum, the Alta Knell.

Monuments and Places

The town of Jönköping does not count many monuments or places particularly interesting. One can however quote:

Sofiakyrkan (the church of Sophie).
Stadsparken (the park of the city).
Tändstickomrödet (the place of the matches).

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