Country Sweden Seat Åsele ISO 3166 code SE Province Lapland | County Västerbotten County Time zone CET (UTC+1) Municipal code 2463 | |
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Åsele Municipality (Swedish: Åsele kommun) is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Åsele.
Contents
Map of %C3%85sele, Sweden
History
The first Swedish settlement in Åsele Municipality (it was already inhabited by the native Sami people) was in Gafsele south of Åsele. The settlers were Nils Andersson and his wife Brita. They came from Finland in 1674, trying to avoid the war with Russia.
Fredrika is a parish in the municipality. It was created in 1799 and named in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden. Other nearby parishes were named Dorotea and Vilhelmina, but Åsele refused to take any of these names, as they were very proud of themselves and the town.
In 1974 the former market town (köping) Åsele (1959-1970) was amalgamated with Dorotea and Fredrika. In 1980 the Dorotea part was detached, forming a new Dorotea Municipality.
Geography
Geographically, the Ångerman River flows from Vilhelmina through Åsele Municipality, and many electric power stations are built around it.
The town Åsele is located in the middle of the municipality. It has a nice-looking wooden church, a small, historical (open-air) museum and a 9-hole golf course.
Localities
There are two localities (or urban areas) in Åsele Municipality:
The municipal seat in bold
Other
The municipality has recently received some recognition as the future site of Europe's largest Thai Buddhist temple.