Södertälje Municipality

Södertälje Municipality [søːdə˘ʈɛljе] is a Municipality in Stockholm County, in central Sweden. Its seat is in the town Södertälje with 59,000 inhabitants.

It borders to the lake Mälaren in the north and the Baltic Sea in the south, and to the municipalities of Nykvarn and Salem. Of the total population, close to 20,000 are Assyrian immigrants arriving in this area since the late 1960s.

History

Prior to 600, AD, the lake Mälaren was connected to the sea, but due to land elevation, the lake was slowly cut off and boats had to be ported over land to and from the lake.

The name Telje is mentioned in the 11th century. To resolve a name conflict with another town in the province, Söder (meaning south) was added to create Södertälje and Norr was added to the other to create Norrtälje.

In the 18th century Södertälje had a charter, but due to the Great Northern War and a series of plague epidemics, the population of the city dipped to barely above 200.

The municipality was established in 1971, following the Swedish municipality reform. The western municipality of Nykvarn was also a part, but became a municipality of its own in 1999.

Södertälje

Business

Truck manufacturer Scania has its main location in Södertälje. It is also one of the main sites for pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Sports

The city has Södertälje SK, an ice hockey team in the top national league – Elitserien. Assyriska is also a successful football club started by the city's Assyrian community, which currently(season 2006) plays in Superettan, the second highest national league, where it dropped last season (2005) from highest league Allsvenskan. And the city's local basketball club Södertälje BBK is one of the best in the country (Swedish Champions 2004/2005)

Canal

The town is beautifully situated on a bay of Lake Mälaren, which is here connected with the Baltic Sea by the Sodertelge Canal, 14 miles in length, with a minimum depth of 10 ft. This is, on the route followed by the Gota Canal steamboats between Stockholm and Gothenburg. It was opened in 1819, though a canal was begun here in the first half of the 15th century at the instigation of the patriot Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson.

Notable natives

• Björn Borg, the world famous tennis player
• Jan Guillou, author and journalist
• Bengt Westerberg, former leader of the Liberal People's Party
• Richard, Louis and Per Herrey., the group that won the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 with the song "Diggi-loo diggi-ley"

See also

• International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships (1989)
• Vabis

External links

• Södertälje - Official site
• The Assyrian Society of Södertälje
• Template:Sv icon article Södertälje from Nordisk Familjebok (1919)