Hemavan ( South Sami: Bïerke) is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

situated in

Storuman Municipality Storuman Municipality (; ; ) is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its administrative centre, seat is located in Storuman. The parish Stensele was created as late as 1822. It was, together with th ...

Västerbotten County Västerbotten County (), sometimes called Westrobothnia, is a county or '' län'' in the north of Sweden. It shares the borders with the counties of Västernorrland, Jämtland, and Norrbotten, as well as the Norwegian county of Nordland and the ...

( Lapland), Sweden with 222 inhabitants in 2010. It is located on European route E12. During the winter months Hemavan caters to many tourists as a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...

, mainly from Sweden and the neighbouring countries of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Hemavan also has the

Hemavan Airport Hemavan Tärnaby Airport is an airport in Hemavan, Sweden. The nearest villages are Hemavan and Tärnaby, both of which are ski resorts. Also many Norwegians from Mo i Rana and surroundings use the airport. It is located in Storuman Municipality ...

, with one flight per day 6 days of the week to and from Stockholm-Arlanda. Hemavan is the starting point of the

Kungsleden Kungsleden (King's Trail) is a hiking trail in northern Sweden, approximately long, between Abisko in the north and Hemavan in the south. The full distance breaks down into 419.3 km of trekking, 18.2 km of lake crossings and a 29.5 km stretch o ...

trail.

History

The area was originally named Björkfors in 1834, named by the

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

Enar Andersson, who later sold the village to another settler family that had come from

Stensele Stensele () is a locality situated in Storuman Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 546 inhabitants in 2010. It lies not far from the municipal seat of Storuman itself. The town boasts Sweden's largest wooden church. History Stensele ...

parish. When the village was provided with postal and telegraph services in 1918, the name was changed to Hemavan because another Björkfors was registered by the Torne River, and Hemavan was based on the area's 17 "avor's" (cut-off bays) in the

Ume River The Ume River (Swedish: ''Ume älv'' or ''Umeälven'') is one of the main rivers in northern Sweden. It is around long, and flows in a south-eastern direction from its source, the lake ''Överuman'' by the Norway, Norwegian border within the Scand ...

, especially the bay that was closest. In the beginning, the villagers subsisted on hunting, fishing, and agriculture. The transport route along the Ume River, which people (including those known as "Norgefararna" who traveled to

Mo i Rana (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ) or (and unofficially , ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city, and the administrative centre of Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just sou ...

for trade) used both summer and winter, could only be traveled with skis, sleds, or horse-drawn carts/sledges before it was improved in the 1930s. With the upgrade of this road, the first tourists came to the village, staying with local residents. Hemavan officially became a ski resort when the Högfjällshotellet (1953), Hemavan inn (Wärdshus), completed in 1954, and the first ski lift was inaugurated same year. In 1993, Hemavan's airport was completed for commercial air traffic, and before this, there was a small airfield for gliders in the 1960s.

Climate

Hemavan has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfc'') with cold winters and mild summers. Due to North Atlantic low-pressure systems dominating winter months, Hemavan receives sizeable amounts of snow in winter and the cover usually thaws in May.

References

External links

Hemavan & Tärnaby
{{Authority control Populated places in Storuman Municipality Ski areas and resorts in Sweden

History

Climate

See also

References

External links