Jönköping
Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 93,797 inhabitants (2015). Jönköping is situated at the southern end of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipality, which has a population of 141 081 (2019) and is Småland's most populous municipality. Jönköping is also the seat of Jönköping County which has a population of 363 599 (2019). Jönköping is the seat of a district court and a court of appeal as well as the Swedish National Courts Administration. It is the seat of the Swedish Board of  Agriculture. History. Jönköping is an old trading centre ("Köping") situated at a natural crossroads for routes following the rivers Nissan and Lagan, and the road connecting the provinces of Östergötland and Västergötland, a result of the town's geographical position at the southern end of lake Vättern, which divides the two provinces. On 18 May 1284 Jönköping became the first City in Sweden to be granted its rights by king Magnus Ladulås, who ruled mostly from Vättern's largest island Visingsö. The first part of the city's name, "Jön", is derived from a creek, "Junebäcken", in Talavid, in what  is now the western part of the city. The second part of the name "köping", is, as mentioned above, an old word for a trading centre or market place. The geographical position of the city also left it vulnerable to attack via the river routes that led south, mainly from Danes. At that time the provinces of what is today southern Sweden — Scania, Halland and Blekinge — belonged to Denmark. The city was plundered and burned several times until it was fortified during the 16th and 17th centuries. Jönköping was known for its matchstick industry between 1845 and 1970. The phosphorus  match was invented in 1831, and these matches became very popular because one could strike it against any surface to ignite it. However, the problem was that they ignited too easily, caused a lot of accidents and was toxic. In 1844, Swedish professor Gustav Erik Pasch patented a new invention, ”Safety matches - Strike against the box only”. To prevent the matches from igniting so easily, Gustav Erik Pasch separated the chemicals in the match head and placed the phosphorus on a separate surface on the outside of the box for striking ignition. Johan Edvard and Carl Frans Lundström took Pasch 's patent and improved it. Later, they manufactured their new Safety matches in their factory in Jönköping. Today it is an important Nordic logistical center, with many companies' central warehouses (such as Elkjøp, IKEA, Electrolux and Husqvarna) situated there. Present. The urban area of Jönköping today includes the eastern industrial town of Huskvarna, with which it has grown together. Elmia, a major trade fair and exhibition centre, is situated in Jönköping. Elmia Wood is the world's largest forestry fair, and those for subcontractors, trucks, caravans and railways are the biggest of their kind in Europe. Since 2001, Elmia has  been the site of the world's largest LAN party, DreamHack, with two events every year, Dreamhack Summer and Dreamhack Winter. Demography. Population. As of 2018, Jönköping has a total population of 139,222. Climate. Jönköping's climate was humid continental (Köppen "Dfb") with long, cold winters and short, warm summers during the 1961–1990 period. However, the window between subarctic and oceanic is very small in this marine-influenced climate type, and in recent years the climate has more resembled very cold oceanic. However, figures are slightly skewed due to the weather station being located at the airport which is at  an elevation of , whereas the city centre is at . This likely renders up to between half a degree to a full degree milder temperatures in the urban centre.