Ljungby Municipality

Infobox_Kommun2
fullname=Ljungby kommun


county=Kronoberg County
province=Småland
capital=Ljungby


arearank=48th
area=2,003.98
arealand=1,757.90
populationrank=89th
population=27,121
densityrank=201st
populationdensity=15.4
website=http://www.ljungby.se/
footnotes=Area and population as of December 31, 2006

Ljungby Municipality ("Ljungby kommun") is a municipality in Kronoberg County, southern Sweden, where the town Ljungby is seat.

In 1971 the "City of Ljungby" (1936-1970) was amalgamated with the rural municipalities surrounding it, thus creating the present municipality. In 1974 a minor adjustment of the boundaries took place. There are 19 original entities within the area.

Geography

Ljungby Municipality contains a little more plains than average in Småland. Lakes, forests and plains are never far away. The tenth largest lake in Sweden, Bolmen, is located in the north-western part of the municipality. The town Ljungby is visited by thousands of tourists, mainly German, every summer.

History

Ljungby Municipality traces its history back to the Viking Age. Vikings followed the river Lagan and lived in its vicinity, and one of the locations were in what is now Ljungby Municipality.

In the 14th century several important medieval roads went through the municipality. In that century, an inn was established, and this was to form the center of Ljungby town.

During the 19th century the area closest to Ljungby itself consisted mostly of sand without any vegetation, and the government released funds to plant trees which would tie together the sand and make it suitable for plants.

Localities

There are 8 urban areas (also called a Tätort or locality) in Ljungby Municipality.

In the table the localities are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2005. The municipal seat is in bold characters.

Notability

*Metallica bassist Cliff Burton died on a country road within the municipality when the band's bus crashed on September 27, 1986.
*The opera singer Christina Nilsson was discovered while performing at the Ljungby market.

Born here

*John Lind, Governor of Minnesota (1899–1901), born in Kånna Parish
*Olof Johansson (b. 1931), politician, former president of the Swedish Centre Party
*Olov Svebilius, Archbishop of Uppsala 1681–1700
*Peter Westerstrøm, mass murderer executed in Norway in 1809

References

* [http://www.scb.se Statistics Sweden]

External links

* [http://www.ljungby.se/ Ljungby Municipality] - Official site