Country Sweden Seat Överkalix ISO 3166 code SE Province Norrbotten | County Norrbotten County Time zone CET (UTC+1) Municipal code 2513 | |
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Överkalix Municipality (Swedish: Överkalix kommun, Finnish: Ylikainuun kunta) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Överkalix.
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Map of %C3%96verkalix, Sweden
In 1870 a part of old Överkalix Municipality was detached from it, forming a municipality called Korpilombolo (now in Pajala Municipality). The municipality was not affected by the two subdivision reforms of the 20th century.
The coat of arms was designed in 1944 and based on the arms of the parish. Its exact meaning is not known, but many northern arms feature bears, reindeer or other animals.
Geography
Överkalix Municipality is situated along the south-going Kalix River. The unmodified scenic nature along the river attracts tourists and fishers every year. Within the municipality one also finds two of the river's most powerful waterfalls, Jockfall (9 metres fall) and Linafall (16 metres fall).
Continuing north along the Kalix River one finds the iron ore mines. Travelling south towards the coast one finds larger towns, with Luleå being the closest, located some 100 kilometres south. Transportation is reliable thanks to the E10 highway.
The area otherwise contains much coniferous forests.
Language
Due to its proximity to Finland, Finnish is an official minority language in the municipality and most names have a Finn counterpart.
The local Swedish dialect is known as Överkalixmål, the Överkalix language.
Localities
There are four localities (or urban areas) in Överkalix Municipality:
The municipal seat in bold
Industry
The municipality itself is the largest employer with around 430 employees. Thereafter follows Isolamin AB, a company making wall, ceiling and floor elements, with 110 employees. Other sectors:
Traditionally the industry was dominated by forest industries, but this has decreased since the 1960s. It is estimated that the service sector will continue to expand and be the dominating sector some day. Many of those companies are in the field of computers and telecommunication.