Jokkmokk Municipality
Jokkmokk Municipality is a
Swedish municipality in northern
Sweden where the town
Jokkmokk is seat with 3,200 inhabitants. The name is
Sami language for the words "river" and "creek", because the town is situated in a river creek.
The municipality has an area of 17,735km² (slightly larger than
Hawaii) and is Sweden's second largest. It is situated in the
Scandinavian mountain range in the
Swedish Lapland and is sparsely populated. A large part of the area has been the habitat of
reindeer herding
Sami people for thousands of years and has for that reason been protected as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, under the name
Laponian area. The largely untouched nature is popular with outdoorsy people.
The name Jokkmokk is present in the
Jokkmokk Lapland Court District, a historical jurisdiction. When the municipality was given its current borders in 1971, its municipal
arms were made to depict the hydro plants, the key of
Luleå (to which Jokkmokk belonged until 1673), and the typical
Sami people hammers.
|
Jokkmokks famous Winter Market |
Jokkmokk is known for its
Sami market held the first weekend every February. This market has been held for 400 consecutive years and celebrated that fact in 2005. Jokkmokk is also home to two of the most well-known national parks in Sweden -
Sarek and Padjelanta. Apart from these national parks it also has widespread areas of largely untouched wilderness.
Population figures from 2000
* Jokkmokk 3,201
*
Vuollerim 841
*
Porjus 325
*
List of areas between 10,000 km² and 100,000 km²*
Jokkmokk - Official site
