Umeå facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Umeå
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From top: View over downtown showing Ume River, The Museum of Visual Arts, "Skin 4" at Umeå Arts Campus, Umeå City Church, the Heart Smiley, Umeå Town Hall
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| Nickname(s):
Björkarnas Stad (town of birches)
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 Umeå
Location in Västerbotten
Umeå
Location in Sweden
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| Country |  Sweden |
| County | Västerbottens län |
| Municipality | Umeå Municipality |
| Charter | 17th Century |
| Area | |
| • Urban | 31.8 km2 (12.3 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 12 m (39 ft) |
| Population
(31 December 2020)
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| • City | 130,224 |
| • Rank | 13 |
| • Density | 2,818/km2 (7,300/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code |
900 01 - 908 50
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| Area code(s) | (+46) 90 |
Umeå is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the main city of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Umeå is located on the Ume River. It is the largest city in Norrland, which is the northern part of Sweden. It is also the thirteenth largest city in all of Sweden. In early 2023, about 132,235 people lived in Umeå and its surrounding areas.
The city grew a lot after Umeå University was started in 1965. The number of homes doubled between 1980 and 2010. Umeå is a big university town. It is a center for education and research in northern Sweden. About 40,000 students go to the two universities here. This means students make up about 30% of the city's population!
Important scientific discoveries have happened in Umeå. For example, CRISPR gene editing was developed by researchers at Umeå University. One of these researchers, Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Umeå was also named the European Capital of Culture in 2014, sharing the title with Riga in Latvia.
Contents
Discovering Umeå's Past
People have lived in the Umeå river valley for a very long time. The oldest rock carvings near Umeå are about 5,000 years old. These carvings can be found ten kilometers west of the city at Norrforsen. There are also signs of old settlements and farms from the Bronze Age. This was a time when the climate was warmer. People grew barley and wheat, and they hunted animals like moose and beaver.
The first time Umeå was mentioned in writing was in the 1300s. Before this, the northern parts of Sweden were mostly home to the nomadic Sami people. The name "Umeå" might come from an old Norse word, Úma, which means "roaring." So, the city's name could mean "The Roaring River."
People from Germanic areas started settling along the Bothnian Bay by boat. This is why many towns on the coast have Germanic names. Southern Westrobothnia, where Umeå is, has been settled by Germanic people since at least the 1300s. It might even be older, from the Viking Age.
Umeå first started as a parish with a wooden church and a place for trade. This area is now called Backen. Its location by the coast and on a river was a good reason for people to settle there. For a few hundred years, Umeå was a place where goods from the Sami people were traded. It was the last settled place before the wild northern lands began. However, a proper city was not built right away. It even lost its special city rights in the 1590s.
Rebuilding the City
In 1622, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden officially founded the city again. By 1638, it had about 40 houses. Umeå faced attacks from the Russians in 1714 and 1720. In 1720, the city was completely burned down. During the Finnish War in 1809, the Russian army took over Umeå for a few months.
In 1874, the city started to improve its layout. Then, on June 25, 1888, a big fire destroyed the eastern parts of Umeå. About 2,300 out of 3,000 people lost their homes. After the fire, almost 3,000 silver birch trees were planted. These trees were placed along wide streets to help stop fires from spreading in the future. This is why Umeå is sometimes called "Björkarnas Stad," which means "the City of Birches." The local ice-hockey team, Björklöven, is even named after the birch leaves!
Exploring Umeå's Location
Umeå is located where the Ume River flows into the Gulf of Bothnia. This is in the southern part of Västerbotten. Umeå is about 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Stockholm. It is also about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. It is the largest city north of the Stockholm-Uppsala area. Many people call it the main center of northern Sweden.
The nearby town of Holmsund is Umeå's port. From Holmsund, you can take a ferry to Vaasa in Finland. Because of this close connection, many Sweden Finns live in Umeå.
Umeå's Climate
Umeå has a subarctic climate. This means it has short, fairly warm summers. The winters are long and very cold. However, they are usually not as harsh as in other places at the same latitude that are further from the sea.
The average temperature in January is about -7°C (19°F). In July, the average is about 16°C (61°F). Even though it's far north, the summers are warmer than you might expect. The highest temperature ever recorded was 32.2°C (90°F) on July 23, 2014. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -38.2°C (-37°F) on February 15, 1978.
People in Umeå
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The number of people living in Umeå has grown steadily since the 1960s. This is when the university was built. Because of the university, many people from other parts of Sweden and other countries have moved to Umeå.
In 2015, about 10.4% of the people in Umeå were born outside of Sweden. The largest group of foreign-born residents came from Finland. Other large groups came from Iraq, Iran, and Somalia.
Getting Around Umeå
Umeå has good roads, including two major European highways (E4 and E12). The city's bus system is centered at Vasaplan in the city center. Buses travel on many routes throughout the city.
Umeå Airport is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the city center. It is the 7th busiest airport in Sweden. In 2010, over 840,000 passengers used the airport.
The Bothnia Line is a railway that connects Umeå from the south. It opened in 2010. This new railway is 190 kilometers (118 miles) long. It has 140 bridges and 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) of tunnels. This line gives Umeå a fast train connection to Stockholm, taking about 6.5 hours. A new train station, Umeå East Station, was built near the university hospital and Umeå University.
The Wasaline ferry takes about four hours to travel to Vaasa, Finland. Umeå is also part of the Blue Highway. This is a tourist route that goes from Mo i Rana, Norway, through Finland, to Pudozh, Russia.
Umeå's Culture and Arts
Umeå is a lively place for culture and arts. The Norrland Opera, which is the opera house for northern Sweden, is located here. There is also the Umeå Theatre Company, which performs in English. The Museum of Contemporary Art and Visual Culture is also in Umeå.
The annual Umeå Jazz Festival is one of the biggest jazz festivals in Scandinavia. Umeå is also known for its metal music scene. Famous metal bands from Umeå include Cult of Luna and Meshuggah. In the 1990s, Umeå was also a big center for hardcore punk music.
In 2009, Umeå was chosen as a European Capital of Culture for 2014. It shared this honor with Riga.
Umeå is important for television in northern Sweden. The regional offices for SVT Nord and TV4 are both in the city. The main newspapers for Västerbotten County, Västerbottens-Kuriren and Västerbottens Folkblad, are also based in Umeå.
The video game Unravel was inspired by the landscapes around Umeå.
Sports in Umeå
Umeå is home to several major sports clubs. The women's football club, Umeå IK, is very well-known. The men's hockey team, IF Björklöven, was very successful in the 1980s. They now play in Sweden's second-tier league. Umeå IK plays in the top Swedish women's football league.
IBK Dalen and IKSU are two of Sweden's top floorball teams. Both teams have reached the Swedish Championships finals multiple times. Other sports clubs in Umeå include IFK Umeå, Umeå FC, and Umedalens IF.
In 2018 and 2020, SVT Sport named Umeå Sweden's best sports city.
In 2011, a baseball and softball team was started in Umeå. The city also hosts the FIA World Rally Championship's Rally Sweden. Since 2022, Rally Sweden has been held in Umeå. It moved here because Umeå usually has more reliable snow for the rally.
Learning and Research in Umeå
Umeå University is a large university with about 37,000 students and 4,200 staff members. When the university was built in the mid-1960s, Umeå's population grew a lot. It went from about 50,000 people to over 120,000 today. The city continues to grow, with about 1,100 new people moving in each year. This growth has made Umeå a modern and intellectual city.
The university's library is very important for northern Sweden. It receives a copy of every new book printed in Sweden.
The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) also has a campus in Umeå. This university focuses on agriculture and related sciences. It is funded by the government's Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation.
The Norrland's University Hospital in Umeå serves the entire northern region of Sweden. It is a major hospital and research center.
Umeå's Economy and Businesses
Research at Umeå University focuses on many important areas. These include life sciences (like medical and plant biology), how people interact with technology, social welfare, and environmental studies.
Umeå University works with big companies like ABB, Volvo, Skanska, Ericsson, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Umeå also has a major research center called Umeå Plant Science Centre.
Many notable companies have a presence in Umeå:
- GE Healthcare: They make important systems for studying cells and DNA.
- Handelsbanken: This bank has its main office for northern Sweden here.
- Komatsu Forest: This company, which makes forestry machines, has its European headquarters in Umeå.
- Siemens Financial Services: This company has its Scandinavian headquarters here.
- Volvo Trucks: A major truck manufacturer.
- Nasdaq Technology AB: A technology company related to stock exchanges.
- Ålö AB: They make equipment for tractors.
Famous People from Umeå
Many talented people come from Umeå, including:
- Athletes
- Sebastian Aho (ice hockey)
- Jesper Blomqvist (football)
- Per Elofsson (cross-country skiing)
- Hanna Ljungberg (football)
- Mikael Lustig (football)
- Anja Pärson (alpine skiing)
- Musicians
- Eva Dahlgren
- Frida Hyvönen
- Lisa Miskovsky
- Tove Styrke
- Fredrik Thordendal (from Meshuggah)
- Politicians
- Ibrahim Baylan
- Jonas Sjöstedt
- Ola Ullsten
- Other Notable People
- Stieg Larsson (novelist, wrote The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
- David Sandberg (film director and actor)
- Amanda Kernell (film director and screenwriter)
- Forsen (video game streamer)
See also
In Spanish: Umeå para niños
