Eksjö
Encyclopedia
Eksjö is a locality
Urban areas in Sweden
Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...

 and the seat of Eksjö Municipality
Eksjö Municipality
Eksjö Municipality is a municipality in Jönköping County, southern Sweden, where the town Eksjö is seat.The present municipality was created in 1971 when the former City of Eksjö was amalgamated with three neighboring municipalities....

, Jönköping County
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 capital is Jönköping.- Provinces :...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 with 9,676 inhabitants in 2005.

History

The city of Eksjö most likely appeared sometime in the medieval ages when it was the centre for the thing
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...

, a regional council. Its first mentioned is from the 14th century. It was given its charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...

 in the early 15th century by the King Erik av Pommern.

In the 16th century Eksjö was one of the six Swedish cities in the province of Småland
Småland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...

. The others were Jönköping
Jönköping
-Notable people:*Lillian Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor*John Bauer, illustrator, painter*Amy Diamond, singer*Agnetha Fältskog, ABBA*Carl Henrik Fredriksson, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Eurozine*Anders Gustafsson, kayaker, Olympian...

, Kalmar
Kalmar
Kalmar is a city in Småland in the south-east of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 62,767 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of 233,776 inhabitants .From the thirteenth to the...

, Vimmerby
Vimmerby
- External links :* - Official site* - Theme Park...

, Västervik
Västervik
Västervik is a city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 20,694 inhabitants in 2005.- History :Västervik was first mentioned in 1275. The town was then located at the current location of Gamleby. In 1433 Eric of Pomerania decided to give it a charter and move it to its...

, and the seat of the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

: Växjö
Växjö
Växjö is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden with 64 200 inhabitants in 2010. It is the administrative, cultural and industrial centre of Kronoberg County. Furthermore it is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Växjö. It has a population of about 64 200, out of a...

.

After the crowning of King Gustav Vasa in the 1524, the partisan leader Nils Dacke
Nils Dacke
Nils Dacke was the leader of a 16th century peasant revolt in Småland, southern Sweden called the Dacke War , fought against the Swedish king Gustav I. It was the most widespread and serious civil war in Swedish history and almost toppled the king.-Background:Gustav Vasa had come to power at the...

 led a rebellion. Dacke took control of the area and was supported by the locals, also in Eksjö. After Dacke had been killed by the Royal army, his body parts were hung in public places, as to quench any notions of new uprising. Eksjö was one of the towns were body parts of Dacke were on public display.
This may also have contributed to the decision of Gustav Vasa to revoke the city charter of Eksjö in 1544. There are several monuments and folk museums honouring these times around the province and in Eksjö municipality, and in the dense Smålandian forests where Dacke lived.

During the Nordic Seven Years' War Eksjö was burnt to the ground in 1568 and subsequently rebuilt at a somewhat different location. The construction was led by the Dutch Arendt de Roy
Arendt de Roy
Arendt de Roy or Arendt van Roy, architect born in Flanders, died in Vadstena, Sweden. He was the first architect at Vadstena Castle and was succeeded by Hans Fleming. He is buried at the Vadstena Abbey....

.

The city emerged as a centre for the oxen trades but never really prospered and remained a small town until a heath outside the town became the point of assembly for the Småland Regiment (Smålands Regemente). The city continued to be in the center of military establishments, with the coming of the engineering battalion and the Husars of Småland, in southern Sweden, hence the lack of large industrial establishments.

Notable People from Eksjö

  • Niklas Hjalmarsson
    Niklas Hjalmarsson
    Niklas Hjalmarsson is a Swedish ice hockey defenseman currently playing for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League.-Playing career:Hjalmarsson was drafted 108th overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks...

    , Professional ice hockey defenceman for the Chicago Blackhawks
    Chicago Blackhawks
    The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...


Sights

Like many other Swedish cities it was struck by fire in the 19th century, with half of the city burning down in 1856. But a large part of the city, the northern parts, are largely intact, with some parts still remaining since the construction of the city in 1568.
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