Köping Stars Players

''Köping'' was a Swedish denomination for a market town since the Middle Ages, derived from the Old Norse word '' kaupang''. The designation was officially abolished with the municipal reform of 1971, when Sweden was subdivided into the Municipalities of Sweden (currently amounting to 290).

As present-day Finland was once a part of Sweden, the Finnish word ''kauppala'' has the same meaning. In modern Finnish, the word ''kaupunki'', borrowed from the Old Norse word ''kaupang'', is the main word for town and city. Swedish ''köping'' and the English toponym ''chipping'' are also cognates as is the Norwegian word ''kjøpstad'' and the Danish toponymical suffix '' -købing''.

Sweden

History

In 1863 the first local government acts were implemented in Sweden. There were two acts, one for cities and one for rural areas. Of the around 2,500 municipalities, 89 had city rights and thus had the right to call themselves ''stad'' (city). Under the "rural" act there were also eight localities given the status of ''köping'', which positioned them between a rural municipality and a town (see municipalköping). The number of localities designated as ''köping'' rose dramatically during the 20th century and reached its peak in 1959, when they were 95. Many new settlements during the industrialization of Sweden, as well as some of the suburbs in the metropolitan areas, first received the title of ''köping'' and it was also made part of their name (such as Linköping or Nyköping). They later grew further and received town privileges, but kept the ''köping'' ending of their names. See the list below. It has been found that a vast majority, nearly 70%, of such designated market-towns lie within an area of in south-central Sweden, especially in the highly economically productive region immediately west and south of Stockholm, in Södermanland, Örebro, Östergötland, and Jönköping counties.

A large-scale merger of Swedish municipalities in 1971 removed the distinctions between towns, market towns and rural municipalities. Many of the former market towns are now seats of municipalities. In contrast to the term ''stad'', ''köping'' is seldom used in everyday speech today.

Toponyms containing the word ''köping''

Municipal Seats

* Linköping (104,232 inhabitants)
* Jönköping (89,396)
*Norrköping (87,247)
*Nyköping (29,891)
* Lidköping (25,644)
*Enköping (21,121)
* Köping (17,743)
* Falköping (16,350)
* Söderköping (6,992)

Minor Localities

* Malmköping (1,977)
*Köpingsvik (599)
*Äsköping (342)

Localities/Parishes in the Diocese of Lund

*Löddeköpinge (6,290)
*Hököpinge (1,105)
*Dalköpinge
*Kyrkoköpinge
*Sireköpinge
*Stora Köpinge :sv:Stora Köpinge socken

Köping titles issued 1863–1959

See also

*Municipalities of Sweden
* List of cities in Sweden
*Stad (Sweden)
*Urban areas of Sweden

References

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Koping

Former subdivisions of Sweden

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