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The status of city (stad) in Sweden was granted by a Royal Charter until it was abolished in 1971. The privilege meant that the city independantly could pursue merchandice. The legal term was abolished in 1971, in favour of the municipalities, or kommuner. By that time, a total of 134 towns had the city privileges (see list of cities in Sweden).
To receive the privilege of city, there were several requirements that a town needed to fulfil. Apart from being of a certain size, it was also necessary to have certain necessities. The criteria varied throughout the centuries as they were at the discretion of the parliament (the Riksdag) or the monarch, but it could include a council hall and a prison.
Before a city became chartered it usually had previously been given the status of köping (merchant town). Exceptions would be when a city was founded under Royal supervision, in which case the city would often bear the name of the monarch, such as Kristianstad or Karlskrona (named after kings Christian IV of Denmark and Karl IX of Sweden).
History
At the end of the medieval age, circa 1450, Sweden (excluding Finland or Ostland) had 41 chartered cities. By around 1650 there were 60. With the incorporation of the southern Scanian lands in 1658, the number reached 81. The number was 103 by 1917.
After the reform, the cities and all other forms of municipalities were designated as "kommun" municipalities. Some Swedish municipalities use the name city in some instances. The municipalities which use this term are Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Haparanda, Solna, Vaxholm, Västerås, Borås, Lidingö and Mölndal.
Populations
In 1850, the largest cities were: Stockholm (93,000 inhabitants), Gothenburg (26,000), Norrköping (17,000), Karlskrona (14,000), Malmö (13,000).Statistics from Statistics Sweden website *, accessed June 2006
In the year 1900 the largest cities were:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, article Sweden
- Stockholm (300,624),
- Gothenburg (130,609),
- Malmö (60,857),
- Norrköping (41,008),
- Gävle (29,522).
- Helsingborg (24,670),
- Karlskrona (23,955),
- Jönköping (23,143),
- Uppsala (22,855),
- Örebro (22,013),
- Lund (16,621),
- Borås (15,837)
- Halmstad (15,362).
Today
Formally, the term "city" has been discontinued. In daily speech, however, the term "city" (Swedish: stad) is used as frequently as ever. Previously, a "city" formally included the surrounding area, much as a municipality today, while nowadays, the "city" in the vulgar language usually refers only to the urban area. Naturally complications arise when a municipality decides to call itself "city", when the "city" only refers to the urban area in daily speech.
Municipalities, which derive their names from former cities, sometimes display a mural crown, the heraldic sign of rank for a town or a city, on its shield, here exemplified by Karlskrona.
References
See also
- List of cities in Sweden, with the year they were chartered.
Sources
- Corresponding article on Swedish Wikipedia
"City status in Sweden"