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Jokkmokk Municipality is a Swedish municipality in northern Sweden where the town Jokkmokk is seat with 3,200 inhabitants. The name is Sami language for the words "river" and "creek", because the town is situated in a river creek.
Geography
The municipality has an area of 17,735km² (slightly larger than Hawaii) and is Sweden's second largest. It is situated in the Scandinavian mountain range in the Swedish Lapland and is sparsely populated. A large part of the area has been the habitat of reindeer herding Sami people for thousands of years and has for that reason been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under the name Laponian area. The largely untouched nature is popular with outdoorsy people.
History
The name Jokkmokk is present in the Jokkmokk Lapland Court District, a historical jurisdiction. When the municipality was given its current borders in 1971, its municipal arms were made to depict the hydro plants, the key of Luleå (to which Jokkmokk belonged until 1673), and the typical Sami people hammers.
Other attractions
Jokkmokk is known for its Sami market held the first weekend every February. This market has been held for 400 consecutive years and celebrated that fact in 2005. Jokkmokk is also home to two of the most well-known national parks in Sweden - Sarek and Padjelanta. Apart from these national parks it also has widespread areas of largely untouched wilderness.
Municipal towns
Population figures from 2000
See also
External links
- Jokkmokk - Official site
Municipalities of Sweden | Municipalities of Norrbotten County | Sami language municipalities
"Jokkmokk Municipality"