Umeå Municipality

Umeå Municipality (Swedish: Umeå kommun, Northern Sami: Ubmi gielda) is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is Umeå, which is also the county seat of Västerbotten County.

Administration

The municipality is an administrative entity defined by geographical borders, consisting of Umeå and a large area around it. The present municipality consists of many former local government units joined together in a series of municipal reforms carried out between 1952 and 1974.

A 65-member municipal assembly (kommunfullmäktige) is elected by proportional representation for a four-year term. The assembly appoints the 9-member executive committee (kommunstyrelsen) and the 7 governing commissioners. The executive committee and the commissioners are headed by the chairman (kommunstyrelsens ordförande), since 1996 Social Democrat Lennart Holmlund (b. 1946). Since the 2010 municipal election the municipality is headed by a Social Democratic-Left Party coalition a single seat short of absolute majority. Of the eight parties represented in the Riksdag since 2010, all but the Sweden Democrats are found in the assembly, as well as the breakaway Socialist Justice Party headed by former Social Democrat Jan Hägglund (holding its only seat), renamed the Workers' Party in 2011.

Umeå

Umeå (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈʉːmɛo], local pronunciation: [ˈʉːmɛ]; South Westrobothnian [²ʉːm]; Ume Sami: Ubmeje, Southern Sami: Upmeje, Finnish: Uumaja, Northern Sami: Ubmi) is a town in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. The city is located on the Ume River.

Umeå is the biggest city in Norrland and the twelfth biggest in Sweden, with 79,594 inhabitants in 2010. The municipality had 119,613 inhabitants at the end of 2014. When the university was established in 1965, growth sped up, and the number of housing has doubled in the last 30 years. As of 2011, 700 to 800 new apartments are constructed each year.

Umeå is a university town and centre of education, technical and medical research in Sweden, with two universities and over 39,000 students. The city was elected as the European Capital of Culture of 2014.

History

The first written mention of Umeå is from the 14th century. The northern parts of Sweden, including the counties of Västerbotten and Norrbotten, were mostly settled by nomadic Sami people before this time but not necessarily forming any permanent settlement in the city's exact location since the Sami people were, for large parts of the year, herding their reindeer in the inland mountainous parts of modern Westrobothnia. The name is believed to be derived from the Old Norse word Úma which means roaring. The name of the town would therefore mean "The Roaring River.

Prunus mume

Prunus mume is an Asian tree species classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus subgenus Prunus. Its common names include Chinese plum and Japanese apricot. The flower is usually called plum blossom. This distinct tree species is related to both the plum and apricot trees. Although generally referred to as a plum in English, it is more closely related to the apricot. The fruit of the tree is used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean cooking in juices, as a flavouring for alcohol, as a pickle and in sauces. It is also used in traditional medicine.

The tree's flowering in late winter and early spring is highly regarded as a seasonal symbol.

Origin

Prunus mume originated in the south of mainland China around the Yangtze River and was later introduced to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. It can be found in sparse forests, stream sides, forested slopes along trails and mountains, sometimes at altitudes up to 1,700–3,100 metres (5,600–10,200 ft), and regions of cultivation.

Description

Ume (disambiguation)

Ume can refer to:

UME can refer to: