Mönsterås Municipality (''Mönsterås kommun'') is a

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

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland. The counties are mainly administrative units. G ...

, south-eastern Sweden, with its seat located in the town

Mönsterås Mönsterås () is a locality and the seat of Mönsterås Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Ki ...

. 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 Municip ...

'', 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 Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan am ...

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 late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

age. The cross symbolizes the

Knights Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, a

monastic order Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important rol ...

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, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

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, or features of geological or ...

s. On the island farthest from land, the lighthouse 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 province generally is. There is also some agricultural areas closer to the sea. There are two rivers flowing through the municipality towards to sea: Emån and Alsterån, that designate the wildlife and geography.

Localities

There are 5

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

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.

References

Statistics Sweden

External links

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