Östra Göinge Municipality

Östra Göinge Municipality
Östra Göinge kommun
Municipality

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Skåne
Seat Broby
Area[1]
 • Total 451.15 km2 (174.19 sq mi)
 • Land 431.96 km2 (166.78 sq mi)
 • Water 19.19 km2 (7.41 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2014.
Population (June 30, 2016)[2]
 • Total 14,134
 • Density 31/km2 (81/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Scania
Municipal code 1256
Website www.ostragoinge.se

Östra Göinge Municipality (Östra Göinge kommun) is a municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in Broby.

The present municipality was formed in 1974 when the former municipalities of Broby, Glimåkra, Hjärsås and Knislinge were amalgamated.

There are 8 smaller population centers (urban areas) in the municipality, where approximately 80 percent of the population lives, surrounded by sparsely populated rural areas.

Geography

Östra Göinge Municipality is part of Göinge, a region in northern Scania which borders the provinces Småland and Blekinge. The landscape is gently undulating and densely forested with deciduous and coniferous trees, interspersed with open areas of flat and fertile agricultural land. Even though this is a typical northern Scanian landscape, Östra Göinge's abundance of small forest tarns, winding brooks and large lakes make it similar to the province Småland as well. The large, scenic river Helgeån runs through the municipality, offering ample opportunities for fishing of pike, perch and pike-perch, as well as brown trout, eel, whitefish and chub.

History

The Snapphane, Scanian resistance fighters of 17th century, took refuge in the forests of Östra Göinge. Considered rebels and bandits by the Swedish army, the Snapphanar were protected by the local population and their bravery is still cherished in the municipality. All of Göingebygden endured hardship and suffered devastation during the times after the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, during Scania's transition from being a Danish to becoming a Swedish ruled territory.

The dialect of Göingebygden has historically been distinguishable from the southern Scanian dialects as well as the northern Småland dialects, perhaps because the population took pride in the area's historical autonomy and resilient resistance.

The coat of arms for Östra Göinge depicts two palm branches crossing each other, a traditional symbol of peace and unity designed for and given to the area after it became Swedish. The lower part of the coat of arms depicts hammers, and was added when the municipality was joined with an adjacent municipality in 1976.

Localities

There are 8 urban areas (also called a Tätort or locality) in Östra Göinge Municipality. In the table they are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2005. The municipal seat is in bold characters.

# Locality Population
1 Knislinge 3,016
2 Broby 2,931
3 Glimåkra 1,483
4 Sibbhult 1,383
5 Hanaskog 1,316
6 Immeln 291
7 Hjärsås 233
8 Östanå 221

Industry

A famous, very fine-grained black diabase is mined in Östra Göinge. Because of the extremely high quality of the diabase from this area, it is in high demand worldwide and has become popular with artists all over the globe, one of the more well-known being Takashi Naraha from Japan. It is primarily used for gravestones, monuments, sculptures, and other forms of stone artworks, but also to decorate buildings. The Empire State Building is partly covered with diabase from the area and the US Marine Corps War Memorial has a foundation of diabase from Göingebygden.

Scania AB and Tarkett have a presence in Östra Göinge.

References

  1. ↑ "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (Microsoft Excel) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
  2. ↑ "Folkmängd i riket, län och kommuner 30 juni 2016" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.

Coordinates: 56°15′N 14°04′E / 56.250°N 14.067°E / 56.250; 14.067

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