Hudiksvall Municipality

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This page deals with both Hudiksvall Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Hudiksvall

**Hudiksvall Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Municipality and seat in Sweden Map outlining municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Hudiksvall
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Gävleborg County
	Province	Hälsingland
	Area Rank	2,497 km² 35th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	36,970 61st of 290
	Density	15/km²

Hudiksvall is a Municipality in Gävleborg County, in east central Sweden. Its seat is in Hudiksvall, with some 15,000 inhabitants, and among locals sometimes referred to as Hudik.

It is neatly situated by a bay of the Gulf of Bothnia and has a harbour.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Industry
4 Municipal towns
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Geography

Distance to large towns: Stockholm 305 km, Gävle 130 km, Sundsvall 84 km.

Transportations are easy by the European route E4 highway, the East Coast Railway (Ostkustbanan), and Hudiksvalls Airport.

[edit] History

Hudiksvall around 1700, in Suecia antiqua et hodierna.

The town was founded by King John III of Sweden, who had the inhabitants moved from the town Hudik to the shores of the bay, and granted it its charter in 1582.

It has been damaged by fires some 10 times, the most severe when it was burnt by the Russians 1721 when only the church remained. The current street structure was applied in 1792 after the reconstruction of another fire.

At the time, fishing and merchandise of furs, skins iron, copper and wood products were the main sources of income, and the city flourished. But the city lost its privileges for foreign trading in 1636, and its development was somewhat stalled for the next two centuries.(Source:[1])

[edit] Industry

The largest employer is the municipality and the county council, where around 38% of the work force have its work place.

The largest private employer is the paper product company Holmen where about 10% of the work force work.

In the old history, the industry was dominated by fishing. In the 19th century the forest industry came to dominate, further enhanced by the improved transportations which the rail roads provided in the second half of that century. Although in decline during the 20th century, half of the municipal industry is still based around forest industry.

Employees per sectors:

Pulp, paper, and paper goods: 29%
Machine technical industry: 20%
Electronics 19%
Metal products: 8%
Wood products 7%.

The electronics industry is dominated by Ericsson Network Technologies making optical and copper wires for telecommunication systems. (Sources: [2],Holmen.com)

[edit] Municipal towns

Hudiksvall

Figures as of 2000, from Statistics Sweden

Hudiksvall 15 325 (2002)
Iggesund, 3444
Delsbo, 2284
Enånger, 724
Friggesund, 599

Smaller towns:
Arnöviken, Bjuråker, Brännås ,Edsta, Finnflo, Fredriksfors, Gammelsträng, Hedvigsfors, Hållsta, Hålsjö, Idenor, Johannesberg, Lindefallet with Östra Bölan, Malnbaden, Fiskeby.