Malmö - History

History

Malmö is thought to have been founded in 1275, as a fortified quay or ferry berth of the Archbishop of Lund, some 20 km to the north-east. It was for centuries Denmark's second biggest city. Its original name was Malmhaug (with alternate spellings), meaning "Gravel pile" or "Ore Hill".

In the 15th century, Malmö became one of Denmark's largest and most frequented cities, reaching a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. It became the most important city around the Øresund, with the German Hanseatic League frequenting it as a marketplace, notable for its flourishing herring fishing. During that time, the city arms were granted in 1437 by King Eric of Pomerania. It was based on Eric's own arms from Pomerania: an argent with a griffin gules. It gave the griffin's head to Malmö, eventually this extended to the entire province of Scania.

In 1434, a new citadel was constructed at the beach south of the town. This fortress, known today as Malmöhus, did not get its current appearance until the mid-16th century. Several other fortifications were constructed, making Malmö Sweden's most fortified city, but only Malmöhus remains.

Lutheran teachings became popular during the 16th century, and Malmö was one of the first cities in Scandinavia to fully convert (1527–29).

In the 17th century, Malmö and the Scanian region (Skåneland) came into Swedish possession. This happened following the Treaty of Roskilde, signed in 1658. Fighting was not yet over, however; in June 1677, 14,000 Danish troops laid siege to Malmö for a month, but were unable to conquer the Swedish troops holding it.

By the dawn of the 18th century, Malmö had about 2,300 inhabitants. However, due to the wars of Charles XII of Sweden and bubonic plague epidemics, the population dropped to 1,500 by 1727. The population did not grow much until the modern harbour was constructed by the late 18th century. The city started to expand, and in 1800 had 38,054 inhabitants.

In 1840, the Kockums shipyard was founded and it eventually became one of the largest shipyards in the world. Between 1856 and 1864 the Southern Main Line was built and enabled Malmö to become a center of manufacture, with big textile and mechanical industries. In 1870, Malmö overtook Norrköping to become Sweden's third most populous city and by 1900 Malmö had strengthened this position with 60,000 inhabitants. Malmö continued to grow through the first half of the 20th century. The population had swiftly increased to 100,000 by 1915 and to 200,000 by 1952. By 1971, Malmö reached 265,000 inhabitants, but this was the peak which would stand for more than 30 years.

By the mid 1970s, Sweden experienced a recession that struck especially hard on the industrial sector; shipyards and manufacturing industries were hard hit, which led to high unemployment in many cities of Scania. Kockums shipyard had become a symbol of Malmö as its greatest employer and when the shipbuilding ceased in 1986 the reassurance for the future of Malmö plummeted among politicians and the public. In addition, many middle-class families moved into one-family houses in surrounding municipalities such as Vellinge Municipality, Lomma Municipality and Staffanstorp Municipality which profiled themselves as the suburbs of the upper middle class. By 1985, Malmö had lost 35,000 inhabitants and was down to 229,000.

The Swedish financial crises of the early 1990s exacerbated Malmö's decline as an industrial city; between 1990–95, Malmö lost about 27,000 jobs and its economy was seriously strained. However, from 1994 and under the leadership of the new mayor Ilmar Reepalu, the city of Malmö started to re-conceptualize itself as a center of culture and knowledge. Malmö reached bottom in 1995 and the same year marked the commencement of the massive Øresund Bridge project. A new university college (Swedish: högskola), Malmö University College, was opened in 1998 on Kockums' former dockside and further redevelopment of the now disused south-western harbor followed; a city architecture exposition (Bo01) was held in the area in 2001 and its buildings and villas forms the core of a new city district, aimed at the urban middle-class and with attractive waterfront vistas.

Since 1974 the Kockums Crane had been a landmark in Malmö and a symbol of the city's manufacturing industry, but in 2002 it was disassembled and moved to South Korea. In 2005 Malmö got a new landmark with completion of Turning Torso, the tallest skyscraper in Scandinavia. Although the transformation from a city with its economic base in manufacturing has returned growth to Malmö, it has largely benefited the already somewhat well-off. Malmö has the highest proportion of individuals of non-Scandinavian extraction of any Swedish city. And while the inner city are being gentrified and the upper-middle class have inhabited the Western Harbor, little have changed for the inhabitants of in the districts of the Million Programme; Malmö remains a city of sharp social divide and high unemployment.

On the 27th of April, 2011 the population of Malmö reached the 300,000 mark.