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Umeå

City in Sweden

  • 10 min read
  • 9 chapters
Montage of various landmarks in Umeå.
Jonipoon · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest locality in Norrland and the thirteenth largest in Sweden, with a wider municipal population of 132,235 inhabitants in the beginning of 2023. When Umeå University was established in 1965, growth accelerated, and the amount of housing has doubled in 30 years from 1980 to 2010. As of 2018, Umeå was gaining around 1,000 inhabitants per year and the municipality plans for having 200,000 inhabitants by 2050. The projection of municipality size in 2050 has, however, been questioned as an overestimation in an independent study.

Umeå is a university town and centre of education, technical and medical research in northern Sweden. The two universities located in the city, Umeå University and one of the three main branches of SLU, host around 40,000 enrolled students, which corresponds to around 30% of the total population. CRISPR gene editing was developed by researchers, headed by Emmanuelle Charpentier at Umeå University, being awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Umeå was the European Capital of Culture during 2014, along with Riga in Latvia. Umeå is certified by the EarthCheck Sustainable Destinations program.

As of 2026, honorary consulates from twelve countries are located in Umeå: Denmark (since 1848), Finland (since 1921), Norway (since 1963), France (since 1989), the Republic of Seychelles (since 2001), Iceland (since 2002), Italy (since 2012), Lithuania (since 2012), Latvia (1939–1940; and again since 2014); and Estonia, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Umeå's municipality sees wide international cooperation within its involvement with twin towns and sister cities; which can be defined by its purpose of encouraging the exchange of experience and promote friendship at an international scale. Umeå currently has five twin towns and sister cities; with a foundational core being three Nordic twin cities since 1953: Harstad (town), Norway, Helsingør, Denmark, and Vaasa, Finland. With the remaining two sister cities being Saskatoon, Canada and Würzburg, Germany.

Umeå has been a member of International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) since 2016, one of 25 safe-cities within Sweden. There are currently 89 sanctuaries worldwide and since 2006 it has allowed more than 350 persecuted cultural practitioners to take safe-heaven in one of them.

The city has also been the home of Rally Sweden since 2022, one of the annual World Rally Championship (WRC) stages; and the only WRC stage taking place on snow.

History

People have lived in the Umeå river valley for at least three thousand years. The oldest rock carvings near Umeå, ten kilometers west of the city at Norrforsen, are from about 3,000 BCE. In some places, there are remains of settlements and cultivation from the Bronze Age to the 11th century. During that period, the climate was mild, allowing for the cultivation of barley and wheat, while moose and beaver were hunted further inland.

The first written mention of Umeå dates from the 14th century. Before this time, the northern parts of Sweden, including the counties of Västerbotten County and Norrbotten County, were mostly settled by nomadic Sami people, though there is no evidence of a permanent settlement at the exact location of the city. The name Umeå is believed to derive from the Old Norse word Úma, meaning 'roaring'. The name of the town would therefore mean "The Roaring River".

The coast was permanently settled by Germanic peoples who traveled north along the Bothnian Bay by boat, which explains the Germanic names of towns and villages along the coast. Southern Västerbotten (including Umeå and Skellefteå) has had permanent Germanic settlements since at least the 14th century, and possibly since the Viking Age, or even earlier.

Umeå initially developed as a parish, with a wooden church and a trading post located in what is now known as Backen (or Kyrkbacken). Its location near the coast and by a river was probably one of the reasons that people chose to settle there.

For the next few centuries, Umeå remained a collection of scattered parishes where merchandise originating from the Sami people was traded. It was the last inhabited area before the northern wilderness. However, no proper town was built at the location selected by the king, and Umeå lost its town privileges in the 1590s.

In 1622, Gustavus Adolphus re-established the town. By 1638, it had about 40 houses. It suffered from Russian attacks in 1714 and in 1720, when it was burnt to the ground during the Russian Pillage of 1719–21. At the close of the Finnish War in 1809, a Russian army under Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly captured Umeå and occupied it from June to August.

In 1874, the town plans were improved following a government mandate. Umeå had already begun making structural changes when, on 25 June 1888, a fire devastated the eastern parts of the town, leaving at least 2,300 of its 3,000 inhabitants homeless. During the restoration, almost 3,000 silver birch trees were planted along wide avenues to prevent future fires from spreading. For this reason Umeå is sometimes known as "Björkarnas Stad", the "City of Birches". The name of the Umeå ice-hockey team, Björklöven, translates to "The Birch Leaves".

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