Västervik is a city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 21,140 inhabitants in 2010.
Västervik was first mentioned in 1275. The town was then located at the current location of Gamleby. In 1433 Eric of Pomerania decided to give it a charter and move it to its current strategically important location, close to the castle of Stegeholm. In the ensuing centuries Västervik suffered attacks from hostile armies. It was more...
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Västervik is a city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 21,140 inhabitants in 2010.
Västervik was first mentioned in 1275. The town was then located at the current location of Gamleby. In 1433 Eric of Pomerania decided to give it a charter and move it to its current strategically important location, close to the castle of Stegeholm. In the ensuing centuries Västervik suffered attacks from hostile armies. It was more or less completely destroyed five times between 1450 and 1677. Despite this, king Gustav Vasa established a ship industry here in the 16th century, from which ships sailed to Germany and the Baltic countries, and from the 17th century they sailed to Portugal too. In the 18th century a long period of peace allowed the ship industry to expand, increasing the ship routes down to the Mediterranean Sea.
Every year since 1966 there is a folk music festival in Västervik, at the ruins of the Stegeholm castle. The city still bases much of its industry...
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