Vetlanda () is a locality and the seat of Vetlanda Municipality,

Jönköping County Jönköping County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in September 2017. The capita ...

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 13,050 inhabitants in 2010.

History

Vetlanda was still nothing more than a village for several centuries. With the 1840s population boom in Småland, and the industrial revolution winning ground in Sweden, the industry expanded and people settled in the village. With the railways crossing Vetlanda in the late 19th century the population further blossomed, and Vetlanda got the title of a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

on New Year's Day 1920, at which time its population amounted to 3,015. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was selected as an ear of wheat, a derivation of the arms for the old jurisdiction Östra Härad ( sv), wherein ''Vitala'' was rumoured to have been the centre, that depicted three ears of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

. The present spelling ''Vetlanda'' did not come into use until the 1920s, before that it was known as ''Hvetlanda'', a form that can be found in several companies and organizations. In the 19th century, wood

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

got a stronghold in Vetlanda, a

position Position often refers to: * Position (geometry), the spatial location (rather than orientation) of an entity * Position, a job or occupation Position may also refer to: Games and recreation * Position (poker), location relative to the dealer * ...

it still has today. Manufacturing is large in Vetlanda: besides wood industries there are also strong metal industries and other factories. In 2021, the city was a scene to a mass stabbing attack.

Sport

Bandy

Vetlanda has a sports teams that competes in the highest league in its sport, Vetlanda bandyklubb. VBK has won the Swedish bandy championship three times, 1986, 1991 and 1992 and

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

once, 1991. Skirö-Nävelsjö Bandy, playing in the second-tier Allsvenskan, is also situated in Vetlanda. In

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, the B-pool of the Bandy World Championship was played in Vetlanda.

Motorcycle speedway

Vetlanda Speedway are a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team that compete in the

Swedish Speedway Team Championship The Swedish Speedway Team Championship is the team championship of motorcycle speedway, speedway in Sweden. History The Championship was introduced in 1950. In 1982 the Championship was renamed with a new league called the Elitserien (speedwa ...

and are eleven times champions of Sweden. They are based at the Vetlanda Motorstadion.

Rowing

The city used to have one of the oldest rowing clubs in the country, ''Vetlanda Roddarsällskap'', which disbanded in 1982.

Notable natives

* Elitserien ice hockey player Alexander Ytterell (born July 1, 1991) * NHL ice hockey player Johan Franzén (born December 23, 1979) * NHL ice hockey player Mattias Tedenby (born February 21, 1990) * NHL ice hockey player Erik Karlsson (born May 31, 1990) * Sculptor Peter David Edstrom (born March 27, 1873) * Singer and media personality

Lena Philipsson Maria Magdalena Filipsson (born 19 January 1966), known by her stage name Lena Philipsson (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter and media personality. She represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contes ...

(born January 19, 1966) * Music producer and songwriter Putte Nelsson (born December 5, 1971) * Thomas H Jonasson Speedway Rider (born November 27, 1988)

References

{{Attached KML Populated places in Vetlanda Municipality Municipal seats of Jönköping County Swedish municipal seats