Country Sweden Seat Vetlanda ISO 3166 code SE Province Småland | County Jönköping County Time zone CET (UTC+1) Municipal code 0685 | |
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Points of interest Kleva gruva, Bäckaby kyrka, Hultaby Borgruin, Drags Udde‑ Nature re | ||
Vetlanda Municipality (Vetlanda kommun) is a municipality in Jönköping County, in southern Sweden where the town of Vetlanda is the seat.
Contents
Map of Vetlanda, Sweden
The municipality was created in 1971, when the City of Vetlanda (instituted in 1920) was amalgamated with the surrounding rural municipalities to form a unitary municipality. In 1863, when the first local government acts in Sweden came into force, there were more than 20 entities within the area of the present municipality.
Vetlanda is the birthplace of Johan Franzén, professional ice hockey center playing for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.
Geography
Vetlanda Municipality is the largest municipality in Jönköping County. The municipality is situated on the South Swedish highlands, an area situated some 250 meters above sea level and also includes Eksjö Municipality and Nässjö Municipality. It is a sight worthy nature that is visited by tourists for the scenery alone.
The distance to any of the three largest Swedish cities Malmö (south-west), Gothenburg (west) and Stockholm (north-east) is rather similar; about 300 km.
History
The history of Vetlanda goes back to at least the medieval age when it was the seat for the regional assembly called þing (thing). According to the imaginations of Petter Rudebeck (1660–1710), Vetlanda was before that known as Vitala, and the centre of a mythological kingdom. However, all later archeological research have failed in finding any evidence of it. But the myth was popular during the 18th and 19th century, which displays in the naming of several companies and locations around the municipality.
Localities
There are 12 urban areas (also called a Tätort or locality) in Vetlanda Municipality.
In the table the localities are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2005. The municipal seat is in bold characters.
Sports
Vetlanda boasts successful clubs in bandy (Vetlanda BK) and in motorcycle speedway (Vetlanda Speedway).