Borlänge is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivi ...

Dalarna County Dalarna County ( sv, Dalarnas län) 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 Hed ...

, Sweden with 44,898 inhabitants as of 2020. It is the seat of the

Borlänge Municipality Borlänge Municipality (''Borlänge kommun'') is a municipality in Dalarna County in central Sweden, with an area of 586.4 km². The municipality has a population of 47,640 (2007). The municipal seat is Borlänge. The present municipality w ...

with a total population of 51,604 inhabitants as of 2017.

History

Stora Tuna Church - Dalecarlia Cathedral 1990 (2)

Originally Borlänge was the name of a tiny village, and the first historical information about it is from 1390. The village was insignificant up until about 1870. In 1872 the construction of ''Domnarfvets Jernverk'', the

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

of neighbouring village

Domnarvet The ironworks around 1900Domnarvets Jernverk (Domnarvets ironworks), is a steelworks in Borlänge, Sweden. Since 1978 Domnarvet is a part of SSAB. The works was founded in 1872-78 and was originally a part of Stora Kopparbergs Bergslag Stora En ...

started. In 1875 a railway between

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabi ...

and

Ludvika Ludvika () is a bimunicipal city and the seat of Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County within the country of Sweden, with 14,498 inhabitants in 2010. Overview The conurbation of Ludvika extends over the border of Smedjebacken Municipality, where ...

, via Borlänge was inaugurated. Thanks to its railway station the village of Borlänge became highly important in servicing the ironworks. In 1898, Borlänge was granted privileges by the national Swedish government as a market town (Swedish: ''

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 Muni ...

'') with about 1,300 inhabitants, but still today it belongs to the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Swed ...

's regionally historically dominant parish of Stora Tuna, centered on a large medieval

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Ch ...

by that name (meaning ''great enclosed farmyards''), now located in a rural district east of the city. In 1898, the

Stora Kopparbergs Bergslag Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and S ...

- the owner of the ironworks in Domnarvet at the time - built a

papermill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

in an adjacent village to Borlänge called Kvarnsveden, upstream from Domnarvet. Many area residents

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1944, the City of Borlänge was incorporated after the market town joined the industrial towns of Domnarvet and Kvarnsveden. In 1971 the municipality of Borlänge was established when the Stora Tuna municipality merged with the City of Borlänge. From the 1940s onward, politics in the municipality has been dominated by the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

. In the early 1970s, the ''Kvarnsvedens Pappersbruk''

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

and the ''Domnarvets Jernverk''

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fi ...

had a high demand for employees. Between 1970-1974, the Tjärna Ängar

Million Programme The Million Programme ( sv, Miljonprogrammet) was an ambitious public housing program implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to ensure the availability of affordable, high quality housing ...

district was built. In the 1990s, Borlänge had the highest crime rate per thousand inhabitants in Sweden, dominated by violence and theft. During all of the 20th century Borlänge has been a typical heavy industry community with relatively good economic growth; today the service industry is also thriving and in considerable expansion.

Demographics

According to the Borlänge Municipality, as of 2017, Borlänge has a population of 51,604 inhabitants. 11,693 residents in the city are of foreign origin, comprising 22.7% of the total population. Of these individuals, 8,837 were born abroad and 2,856 were born in Sweden. Most of the residents of foreign background come from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, other Nordic countries, and other parts of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. According to the Borlänge Municipality, in the 1990s, most foreign-born residents of Borlänge arrived from

Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...

, due to the

civil wars A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. During the 2000s, immigrants in the city primarily came from

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The Somalia-born immigrants mainly arrived via family reunification. This migration had decreased by the following decade, with most newcomers in Borlänge now consisting of asylum immigrants from Syria and

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

. As of 2016, there are 472 refugees in the municipality, most of whom originate from Syria (218), Eritrea (121), and Somalia (56). The newer asylum immigrants in the city largely emigrated from Syria and Eritrea. As of 2017, the most common countries of origin for total foreign-born individuals residing in Borlänge are : Somalia (3,114) :

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

(1,570) : Syria (1,032) : Iraq (1,028) : Turkey (926) : Eritrea (350) :

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

(322) :

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

(240) : Ex-Yugoslavia (197) :

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

(174).

Districts

Borlänge's official districts and their inhabitants from 1975-2010:

Tjärna ängar

According to the Borlänge Municipality, many of the city's inhabitants with a foreign background live in the neighborhoods of Jakobsgårdarna and Tjärna Ängar (nicknamed "Lilla

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

" because of its many Somalia-born inhabitants). An agreement between the Borlänge Municipality and the

Swedish Migration Board The Swedish Migration Agency ( sv, Migrationsverket; previous English name: Swedish Migration Board), is a Swedish government agency, established on 1 July 1969. Its task is to evaluate and decide on applications from people who want to seek a tem ...

to receive 30 refugees per year has contributed to the population growth, with many arriving via family reunification. Additionally, people have relocated to the city from other areas. Many are young, with few individuals older than 60 years of age. Over a five-year period, the number of inhabitants in Tjärna Ängar increased considerably, as 1,000 young persons relocated to the neighborhood. The new arrivals principally came from two or three foreign backgrounds, and included university students and people who had emigrated from abroad. In its December 2015 report, the

Swedish Police Authority The Swedish Police Authority ( sv, Polismyndigheten) is the national police force (''Polisen'') of the Kingdom of Sweden. The first modern police force in Sweden was established in the mid-19th century, and the police remained in effect under lo ...

placed the Borlänge's Tjärna Ängar district in the second highest category of urban areas with high crime rates. In the summer of 2016, there was widespread vandalism, cars were torched and when firefighters arrived, they were attacked with stones and had to wait for police to escort them in order to complete their mission. The

Dalarna University College Dalarna University College ( sv, Högskolan Dalarna) is a public university college (''högskola'') located in Falun and Borlänge, in Dalarna County, Sweden. Dalarna University is one of Sweden’s more recent institutions of higher educati ...

has student accommodation in the area where female students are

sexually harassed Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

by the local male youth on a regular basis and avoid going outdoors after sunset. In a 2018 interview, the local police commissioner stated in an interview that clan leaders and religious leaders have taken over the leadership of the area, where 9 out of 10 are born abroad. Police has noted a change in 2017 when crime happens, nobody calls the police but the injured parties settle among themselves according to "an eye for an eye" in a parallel justice system. Although the official number of inhabitants are , inofficially the population may be as high as -, when water usage and the weight of generated household waste is analysed.

Economy

Employers

Borlänge has always been an industrial town surrounding the iron mill of

(

SSAB SSAB AB, earlier ''Svenskt Stål AB'' (English: Swedish Steel), () is a Swedish company, formed in 1978, that specialises in processing raw material to produce steel. The largest shareholders are Aktiebolag Industrivärden and the Government of ...

) and the paper mill of Kvarnsveden (

Stora Enso Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and ...

). As a city with a structure heavily divided by rails and roads, with a modern city center, Borlänge also houses the head office for a state authority - the National

Swedish Transport Administration The Swedish Transport Administration ( sv, Trafikverket) is a government agency in Sweden, controlled by the Riksdag and the Government of Sweden. It is responsible for long-term infrastructure planning for transport: road, rail, shipping and a ...

''Trafikverket''.

Shopping

Borlänge promotes itself as a shopping centre in

Dalarna Dalarna () is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in central Sweden. English exonyms for it are Dalecarlia () and the Dales. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bordered by Norway i ...

. This is possible due to the Kupolen area, situated about 1 kilometer

west West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of the city centre. The Kupolen area includes Kupolen ('The

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a ...

Shopping Centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes ...

, IKEA and a lot of other stores. Though the district was first built to catch the interest from bypassers it has withdrawn the focus from the nearby

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

. In the city centre you will find about 80 shops and 40 restaurants and cafés. Some with a long history; such as Qwarnströms,

Almas Café Almas may refer to: Places * Almas, Tocantins, Brazil * Almas, Ardabil, Iran * Almas, East Azerbaijan, Iran * Almaș, Arad County, Romania * Almaș, Gârcina, Neamț County, Romania * Merişor (Hungarian: ''Almás''), Sita Buzăului, Covasna Cou ...

, Tyllströms and Lindés Ur och Guld, but also newer ones like Selected Style, Brädgårn, Sara 1896 and Önskehuset.

Sport

The city boasts a football team that has been successful in the past, although it is currently going through some hard times.

IK Brage Idrottsklubben Brage, also known as IK Brage or simply Brage, is a Swedish football club located in Borlänge. The club is affiliated with Dalarnas Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Domnarvsvallen. The club colours, reflected in thei ...

, named after the

Norse god In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature ...

, has a history of 18 seasons in the Swedish Premier Division (

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

). Brage plays in green and white and hosts its home games at Domnarvsvallen Stadium in Borlänge, with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile th ...

of 6,500. Another Borlänge team which has had a great deal of success in the sport, with both domestic and foreign fans following their progress, is the multicultural soccer team Dalkurd FF. Other sports clubs located in Borlänge include: *

Forssa BK Forssa BK is a Swedish football club located in Borlänge. Background Forssa Bollklubb were founded on 16 April 1934 at Hushagens school. The club played their first match on 17 May 1934 winning 4–0 against IK Fylking. In 1978 the club played ...

* IF Tunabro * Islingby IK * Kvarnsvedens IK *

Stora Tuna OK Stora Tuna OK is a Swedish orienteering club in Borlänge. It was the orienteering section of Stora Tuna IK until 2009. Tove Alexandersson, Julia Jakob, Annichen Kringstad, and Emil Svensk are orienteers that have run for Stora Tuna OK. Mer ...

In 2013, a Somali national

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

team was formed in Borlänge with the goal of participating in the

2014 Bandy World Championship The 2014 Bandy World Championship was held between 26 January and 2 February 2014, in Irkutsk and Shelekhov, Russia. 17 nations participated in the tournament, playing in two divisions partitioned into two subdivisions. A team representing Somalia ...

. The

2008 Women's Bandy World Championship The 2008 Women's Bandy World Championship took place in Borlänge, Grängesberg and Karlsbyheden, Sweden, between 13 and 16 February. It was the fourth Women's Bandy World Championship in bandy. Sweden won the final against Russia 5-2 and became ...

was also arranged with Borlänge as the main venue. In 1999 the large

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a ...

competition O-Ringen was held around Borlänge, gathering 15 238 participants. The

1993 World Gliding Championships File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

were held at the Borlänge Airport, east of the town.

Music

As is the case with its twin city,

, music is an important part of Borlänge. It has been the hometown of many new young musicians in Sweden such as

Mando Diao Mando Diao is an alternative rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. The band got their breakthrough with the release of the album '' Hurricane Bar''. Their main fan base is in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. Band members are Björn ...

Sugarplum Fairy Sugarplum Fairy is a pop-rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. The members took the name from a version of the Beatles' song " A Day in the Life" where John Lennon counts the song in by saying "sugar-plum-fairy, sugar-plum-fairy". Sugarplum Fairy ...

and

Miss Li Linda Karlsson (born 21 July 1982), better known by her stage name Miss Li, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Since beginning her career in the early-2000s, she has released a total of eight studio albums, and several of her songs have been feat ...

and offers the possibility to get a degree in popular music at BoomTown Music Education, a branch of the School of Music at Luleå University of Technology. The stoner rock band STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA (stylized S*N*O) was formed 2004 in Borlänge. The annual but now defunct Peace & Love music festival was hosted in Borlänge. The

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band Twilight Force has several members from Borlänge and Falun.

Notable people

Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada (born 23 December 1997) is an Afghan former child actor. He played the role of Hassan, the loyal friend and servant of the richer boy Amir, in the film ''The Kite Runner'' (2007). In one scene, Hassan is attacked and it ...

, actor, The Kite Runner (film) *

Simon Aspelin Simon Aspelin (; born 11 May 1974) is a former professional tennis doubles player from Sweden who turned professional in 1998. His success mainly came in doubles, winning 12 titles and reaching World No. 7 in March 2008. In men's doubles, Aspe ...

, tennis player *

Astral Doors Astral Doors is a Swedish heavy metal band formed in 2002. They have released nine studio albums and an EP. Their latest work is ''Worship or Die'', released in 2019. History Nils Patrik Johansson, Joachim Nordlund and Martin Haglund all ...

, heavy metal band *

Jens Bergenström Jens Bergenström (born November 11, 1980) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey winger who last played for Leksands IF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Playing career Bergenström played with the legendary club Leksands IF since 2004 ...

hockey player *

Jussi Björling Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequentl ...

, tenor * Dozer, stoner rock band * Erik Eriksson, Centre Party's first chairman * Tomas Forslund, ice hockey player * Per Fosshaug,

player *

Lars Frölander Lars Arne Frölander (born 26 May 1974) is a Swedish swimmer. He has competed in six consecutive Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012). Biography Frölander was born in Boden. He grew up in Ornäs in Borlänge Municipality. In ...

, swimmer * Greenleaf, stoner rock band * Lars Jonsson, ice hockey player *

Gabriel Karlsson Gabriel Karlsson Pears (born January 22, 1980) is a former 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 i ...

hockey player *

, rock band *

, musician * Lasse Nilsson, football player * Mattias Ritola hockey player * Rootvälta, reggae band * Sator, rock band (earlier Sator Codex) *

, rock band * Johan Olof Wallin, archbishop, poet and psalmist *

Tess Asplund Tess Asplund (born 1974) is a Swedish activist who gained attention following her protest against neo-Nazis in Borlänge, Sweden. David Lagerlof was the photographer of the viral image of Asplund, which shows her facing uniformed members of the ...

, activist - Borlänge is the site of her protest against neo-Nazis *

Mattias Ekholm Mattias Hans Ekholm (born 24 May 1990) is a Swedish ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Nashville Predators in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 102nd overall, fourth round, in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Predat ...

, - NHL Hockey Player for Nashville Predators *

Nils Patrik Johansson Nils Patrik Johansson (born 14 October 1967) is a Swedish heavy metal singer who has been the lead singer of Astral Doors since 2002 and was the lead vocalist of Civil War from 2012 to 2016. He is also a member of the bands Lion's Share and ...

, heavy metal singer *

Gustaf Norén Gustaf Erik David Norén (born 1 February 1981 in Borlänge) is a Swedish musician (songwriting, vocals, guitar) and actor. He was previously one of the two frontmen of the Swedish band Mando Diao and is one half of the duo ''Gustaf & Viktor Nor ...

, musician

Education

Soltorgsgymnasiet Soltorgsgymnasiet commonly referred to as Soltorg is a natural science and technology focused gymnasium in Borlänge. As of 2007 the school offers interdisciplinary focus of studies. Giving the students extensive freedom of choice of higher educ ...

HagagymnasietRytmusErikslundgymnasiet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borlange Municipal seats of Dalarna County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Borlänge Municipality Market towns in Sweden Cities in Dalarna County fi:Borlängen kunta