Älvdalen 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' ...

Dalarna County Dalarna County () is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden (Svealand). It borders on the counties of Uppsala, Jämtland, Gävleborg, Västmanland, Örebro and Värmland. It also borders on the Norwegian counties of Hedmark and Trøndelag to ...

in central

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 ...

. Its seat is located in the town of Älvdalen. The two parishes ''Särna'' and ''Idre'' were ceded to Sweden from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

under the treaty of Brömsebro on 13 August 1645. In 1971 the three municipalities ''Särna'', ''Idre'' (which itself had been split off from Särna in 1916) and ''Älvdalen'' were amalgamated to form the present municipality. Älvdalen literally means ''River Valley'', a name stemming from the area around the town Älvdalen, situated along the Österdal River, in the municipality's southern part. The middle part of the coat of arms is meant to depict the landscape: streams and hills.

Geography

Geographically, it is considered divided into three parts. From north to south: the mountainous ( fjäll) part, the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

part, and the valley (Älv) part.

North

The northern part is located within the Scandinavian mountain range. It has cultural influences from the native

Sámi people The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are the traditionally Sámi languages, Sámi-speaking indigenous people inhabiting the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula ...

Idre Idre is a locality and ski resort situated in Älvdalen Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden with 794 inhabitants in 2010. It was also a historical parish and former municipality. History The two parishes ''Särna'' and ''Idre'' were originall ...

, with about 800 inhabitants is a notable skiing resort. This part has some high mountains including Storvätteshågna at 1,204 meters and ''Städjan'' at 1,131 m. The Töfsingdalen National Park is also located in the northernmost parts. The Northern part is the northernmost point of

Svealand Svealand (), or Swealand, is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south-central Sweden and is one of the three historical lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tive ...

, one of the three crowns under the Swedish throne.

Central

The forest part has forests, with the

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Fulufjället also belonging to this part. Its influences come from it bordering to

, and its history has many examples and remains from its border conflicts. To symbolize this, the lower part of the coat of arms depict a crossbow. The point furthest away from any seas in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

is located here. The town

Särna Särna is a locality situated in Älvdalen Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden with 719 inhabitants in 2010. History The two parishes ''Särna'' and ''Idre'' were originally part of Norway but were occupied by an expedition of Swedish peasants ...

is located along the Österdal River, with 930 inhabitants. Like Idre, its main industry is tourism. The town once belonged to Norway, but in 1644 it was occupied by 200 Swedish

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

s, which in effect made it a Swedish town, although it was official granted first with new borders of 1751.

South

The southern area is populated by 5,000 persons, of whom most speak or understand the Elfdalian (or ''Övdalsk'', ''Älvdalsmål'') dialect/language, which is very different from standard Swedish. This area may be said to have the most interesting culture, with the town Älvdalen and several notable villages such as Evertsberg, Blyberg, Klitten, Brunnsberg, Västermyckeläng and

Åsen Åsen is a village in Levanger Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located between the lakes Hammervatnet and Hoklingen. The European route E06 highway and the Nordlandsbanen railway line both pass through the village. The ...

Localities

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Älvdalen 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 5,481 Swedish citizens of voting age resident in the municipality. 40.8 % voted for the left coalition and 56.4 % for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...
elections

References

External links

Älvdalen Municipality
– Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvdalen Municipality Municipalities of Dalarna County 1644 establishments in Sweden