Åsele Municipality

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This page deals with both Åsele Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Åsele

**Åsele Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Åsele in Sweden Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Åsele
	64° 10′ N 17° 20′ E
	County	Västerbotten County
	Province	Lapland
	Area Rank	4,276 km² 21st of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	3,375 286th of 290
	Population density	0.79/km²

Åsele Municipality is a Swedish municipality in Västerbotten County, in the far South of the province of Lapland in northern Sweden. The population is 3,375 but decreases annually, and the municipality is sparsely populated with less than 1 inhabitants per km². The municipal seat is in the town Åsele with 1,800 inhabitants at 313 meters height.

The municipality has recently received some recognition as the future site of Europe's larget buddhist temple. [1].

1 Geography
2 History
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Geographically, the Ångerman River flows from Vilhelmina through Åsele Municipality, and many electric powerstations are built around it.

The town Åsele is located in the middle of the municipality. It has a nice looking church, a small historical (open air) museum and a golf course.

[edit] History

The first Swedish settlement in Åsele (it was already inhabited by the native Sami people) was in Gafsele in south of Åsele. The settlers was Nils Andersson and his wife Brita. They came from Finland in 1674, trying to avoid the war with Russia.

Fredrika is a parish in the municipality. It was created in 1799 and named in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden. Other nearby parishes were named Dorotea and Vilhelmina, but Åsele refused to take any of these names, as they were very proud of themselves and the town.