Öckerö Municipality (''Öckerö 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 ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of

Öckerö Öckerö () is an island and a locality and the seat of Öckerö Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 3,488 inhabitants in 2010. Sports The following sports clubs are located in Öckerö: * Öckerö IF Öckerö IF is a Swedish ...

on the main

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

, which is also called Öckerö. The municipality consists of islands in the Northern Gothenburg Archipelago just outside Gothenburg. With a total area of 26.03 km² it is one of the smallest municipalities of Sweden. The municipality is one of very few in Sweden which has not been amalgamated and thus still has the same area as the unit formed out of a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

(''socken'') by the first local government acts of 1862. In the period 1915–1959 there were a number of ''municipalsamhällen'' (a sort of

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

s within a rural municipality handling matters of urban character) in the municipality.

Geography

The municipality consists of ten year-round inhabited islands. They are considered to stretch from the Vinga Lighthouse up to the coastal town of

Marstrand Marstrand () is a seaside locality situated in Kungälv Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,320 inhabitants in 2010. The town got its name from its location on the island of Marstrand. Despite its small population, for histori ...

in the municipality of

Kungälv Kungälv () (old no, Konghelle) is a city and the seat of Kungälv Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 22,768 inhabitants in 2010. In 2021, the main Kungälv - Ytterby - Kareby conurbation had a combined population approachin ...

. The ten islands are named: # Björkö #

Fotö Fotö is an island and a locality in Öckerö Municipality, Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of S ...

# Grötö # Hyppeln #

Hälsö Hälsö () is an island and a locality situated in Öckerö Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 611 inhabitants in 2010. Hälsö is situated in the northern part of the archipelago and offers nice harbour walks along small and wind ...

Hönö Hönö is a locality situated in Öckerö Municipality, Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Swede ...

# Kalvsund # Källö-Knippla #

Rörö Rörö is a locality situated in Öckerö Municipality, Västra Götaland 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 Kin ...

N.B. that "ö" means "island" in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, hence there are many names ending with "ö". E.g. ''Björkö'' means "Birch Island". Of these, Hönö is the largest with some 4,800 inhabitants, and Öckerö is also fairly large with 3,100. However, all ten are inhabited by people all year around. Most islands have bridge connection between each other. However, there is no road connection to the mainland, just car

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

from western Gothenburg. The ferry connections are good with a dense schedule. A local referendum in 2003 in Öckerö Municipality rejected the plans for a future bridge to the mainland.

History

During the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

the islands of Öckerö belonged to the Norwegian kings, and the part of the coast was known as ''Älvsyssel''. In the 13th century the King Hakon Hakonarson built himself a house on Öckerö, because he was often around there with his navy. In 1658 or thereabout, the area became Swedish together with Bohuslän. In the middle of the 18th century, the

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

of herring blossomed into a full scaled industry, and the islands fishing communities flourished for some 50 years. In the 1950s the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

were designed. As the main industry has always been fishing, a boat and herring became symbols. The ten herrings correspond to the ten islands. Ömål, also called öbo, is a Swedish Götamål dialect spoken on the islands of the Öckerö municipality. It has some features of the Gothenburg Swedish dialect (Göteborgska), but also features from English.

References

*The corresponding article on Swedish Wikipedia has been used as main reference.

External links

Öckerö Municipality
- Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Ockero Municipality Municipalities of Västra Götaland County