is a
Swedish Municipality in southeast
Sweden where the
City '''Motala''' is the seat with a 30,000 inhabitants.
Geographically, Motala is situated where lake
Vättern drains into the river system of
Motala Ström , which became its claim for fame during the
Industrialization in the 19th century.
When the
Göta Canal was built in the early
19th Century , Motala became an important city for the trade on the canal. ''
Motala Verkstad '' was the ship and steam engine industry, famous in large parts of the world. In the
Science Fiction novel ''
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea '' by
Jules Verne , the submarine
''Nautilus'' 's (engine?) was built at ''Motala verkstad''. The builder of the Göta Canal,
Baltzar Von Platen has his grave by the canal, in Motala.
The town received a "minor" privilege when it became a ''
Köping '' in
1823 , with full city rights granted as of
April 1 ,
1881 .
Another important event in the history of Motala is
1925 , when the Swedish national
Longwave Radio Broadcasting Station was built here. The city marks the middle of a straight line between Sweden's two biggest cities,
Stockholm and
Gothenburg . Radio programs were transferred from studios in Stockholm to Motala by telephone wire. The call was "Stockholm-Motala". The transmitter operated on 191 kHz until 1962, then the transmission where moved to
Orlunda .
Since 1991 there are no longwave transmissions at all of the Swedish Broadcasting Company, but from the transmitter Motala, which is a museum, sometimes transmissions with low power occur, which may only receivable in the area of Motala.
As a consequece of the radio station the company
Luxor was started. Luxor soon became one of the largest
Radio , and later
Television manufacturers in
Sweden . In the 1980s they started producing their own line of computers, like the
ABC80 . In 1985 Luxor was acquired by
Nokia , and eventually production moved elsewhere.
Figures as of 2000, from
Statistics Sweden .
#Motala 30,136
#
Borensberg 2,667
#
Tjällmo 562
#
Fornåsa 446
#
Nykyrka 434
#
Fågelsta 334
#
Österstad 329
#
Klockrike 275
#
Godegård 200
- ''Outside towns'' 6,792
- 42,175
The population decreased with about 2% in almost all of the towns between the earlier census 1995 and the one in 2000.
The largest employer is the municipality itself, employing cirka 3,400 people. There after follows the
County Council with 1,775.
Of the private employers,
Electrolux och
Dometic have a total of 1,400;
Autoliv 425;
Hycop 325;
Saab -
Bofors Dynamics cirka 300;
Motala Vatten , which is in the business of enhancing the municipal tap water by adding
Cyanide , have around 200 employees. and
Motala Verkstad some 180.
(source
{Link without Title} )
Motala has four
Sister Cities whereof three are in
Nordic Countries with origin in the 1950s.
#
Eigersund , Norway
#
Hyvinkää , Finland
#
Korsør , Denmark
#
Daugavpils , Latvia
(source:
{Link without Title} )
