Jönköping is an old trading centre situated at a natural crossroads for routes following the rivers Nissan and Lagan, and the road connecting the provinces of Östergötland and Västergötland, a result of the town's geographical position at the southern end of lake Vättern, which divides the two provinces. On 18 May 1284 Jönköping became the first City in Sweden to be granted its rights by king Magnus Ladulås, who ruled mostly from Vättern's largest island Visingsö. The first part of the city's name, "Jön", is derived from a creek, "Junebäcken", in Talavid, in what is now the western part of the city. The second part of the name "köping", is, as mentioned above, an old word for a trading centre or market place. The geographical position of the city also left it vulnerable to attack via the river routes that led south, mainly from Danes. At that time the provinces of what is today southern Sweden — Scania, Halland and Blekinge — belonged to Denmark. The city was plundered and burned several times until it was fortified during the 16th and 17th centuries. Jönköping was known for its matchstick industry between 1845–1970. The phosphorus match was invented in 1831, and these matches became very popular because one could strike it against any surface to ignite it. However, the problem was that they ignited too easily, caused a lot of accidents and was toxic. In 1844, Swedish professor Gustav Erik Pasch patented a new invention, ”Safety matches - Strike against the box only”. To prevent the matches from igniting so easily, Gustav Erik Pasch separated the chemicals in the match head and placed the phosphorus on a separate surface on the outside of the box for striking ignition. Johan Edvard and Carl Frans Lundström took Pasch's patent and improved it. Later, they manufactured their new Safety matches in their factory in Jönköping. Today it is an important Nordic logistical center, with many companies' central warehouses situated there.
Present
The urban area of Jönköping today includes the eastern industrial town of Huskvarna, with which it has grown together. Elmia, a major trade fair and exhibition centre, is situated in Jönköping. Elmia Wood is the world’s largest forestry fair, and those for subcontractors, trucks, caravans and railways are the biggest of their kind in Europe. Since 2001, Elmia has been the site of the world's largest LAN party, DreamHack, with two events every year, Dreamhack Summer and Dreamhack Winter.
Demography
Population
As of 2018, Jönköping has a total population of 139 222.
Gender
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Female
66 404
66 987
67 823
68 722
69 426
70 265
Male
65 736
66 323
67 474
68 759
69 796
70 816
Total
132 140
133 310
135 297
137 481
139 222
141 081
Population changes
Average age 2019
Notable people
John Bauer, illustrator, painter
Amy Diamond, singer
Agnetha Fältskog, singer/songwriter and member of ABBA
Carl Henrik Fredriksson, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Eurozine
Jönköping's climate was humid continental with long, cold winters and short, warm summers during the 1961–1990 period. However, the window between subarctic and oceanic is very small in this marine-influenced climate type, and in recent years the climate has more resembled very cold oceanic. However, figures are slightly skewed due to the weather station being located at the airport which is at an elevation of, whereas the city centre is at. This likely renders up to between half a degree to a full degree milder temperatures in the urban centre.
