Mönsterås Municipality () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg County, Kronoberg, Jönköping County, Jönköping, Blekinge County, Blekinge and Östergötland County, Östergötland. To the ...

, south-eastern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, with its seat located in the town Mönsterås. Mönsterås was an original market town ''

köping ''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 Munic ...

'', which in 1952 was united with the rural municipality by the same name. By the local government reform of 1971 it became a municipality of unitary type and amalgamated with ''Fliseryd'' and ''Ålem'' in 1974. The municipal arms show the ridge which the town centre with its church has been situated on since the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

age. The cross symbolizes the

Knights Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

, a

monastic order Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...

that was built in the town in the fifteenth century and had a large influence on its development. It is an etymological design showing the origin of the name of the municipality: ''Mönster'' comes from monastery while ''ås'' means ridge.

Geography

The coastal line is signified by an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

with some 300 islands and islets, whereof two are

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s. On the island farthest from land, the

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

of Dämman was built in 1873; an automatic lighthouse has replaced its function, but the house itself is visited by tourists and conferences. The geography of the rest is by some parts covered with forests, as the

Småland Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...

province generally is. There is also some

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

areas closer to the sea. There are two rivers flowing through the municipality towards to sea:

Emån Emån is a river in southern Sweden, rising just north of Bodafors in the highlands of Småland and running approximately 229 kilometers to the Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of D ...

and Alsterån, that designate the wildlife and geography.

Localities

There are 5

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s (also called a Tätort or locality) in Mönsterås Municipality. In the table the localities are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2007. The municipal seat is in bold characters.

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Mönsterås Municipality's electoral districts in the

2022 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn elected the Prime Minister of Sweden. Under the constitution, regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The pr ...

sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics. In total there were 13,242 residents, including 10,143 Swedish citizens of voting age. 43.6% voted for the left coalition and 55.2% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

References

Statistics Sweden

External links

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Mönsterås Municipality
- Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Monsteras Municipality Municipalities of Kalmar County