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Old town (Gamla stan)
It is believed that the name Gävle derives from the word gavel, meaning river banks in Old Swedish and referring to Gavleån (the Gävle River). The oldest settlement was called Gavle-ägarna, meaning "Gavel-owners". This name was shortened to Gavle, then Gefle, and finally Gävle.
Gävle is first mentioned as a town in official history books in 1413 but only received its official town charters in 1446.
For a long time, Gävle consisted solely of small, low, turf or shingle roofed wooden buildings. Boat-houses lined the banks of Gavleån, Lillån, and Islandsån. Until the 18th century the town was built, as was the practice then, around the three most important buildings: the church, the regional palace, and the town hall.
In the 1400s Gävle grew as a city and flourished due to trade allowed by its harbor and river. However, in the 1500s Sten Sture forbade Gävle from pursuing international trade. The city at this time was only allowed to trade with Stockholm and Åbo, which at the time was a part of Sweden. The restrictions were lifted in 1531 when 6 ships were allowed to trade iron, copper and pelts and in 1546 Gustaf Vasa allowed unlimited trade to and from Gävle with the exception of copper.
In 1569 a fire destroyed many of the archaeological records of Gävle from the Middle Ages.
Gävle at the end of the 17th century. The five most prominent buildings are (from left to right): The town hall, the palace, the bell tower, the gymnasium and the church.
Over the last 300 years, Gävle has been ablaze on three occasions. After the fire of 1776, the town was rebuilt with straight streets and rectangular city blocks. The number of stone and brick houses also started to increase. The biggest town fire occurred 1869, when out of a population of around 10,000 approximately 8,000
inhabitants lost their homes, and about 350 farms were destroyed. Almost the whole town north of Gavleån was burnt down. All the buildings south of Gavleån were saved. An area of the old town between the museum and the library has been preserved to this day as a historic reserve, Gamla Gefle.
After the catastrophe of the fire Gävle developed its characteristic grid plan with large esplanades and green areas. It is now a green town with wide avenues. Stopping the spread of future town fires was the main idea behind this development.
In July 1719 Hugo Hamilton, who built Fredriksskans fort, defended Gävle against Russian attacks. After attacking along the coast, the Russian forces, numbering 5000 and under the command of Peter von Lacy, attacked Gävle from the south along the road from Harnäs which they had recently occupied. Hamilton stopped them outside of the city near Järvsta. The Russians instead tried to attack the city from the sea but the 10 cannon battery at Fredriksskans were sufficient to turn away their forces 3 times. A final attempt was made to take the city by landing forces to the north at Engesberg. Hamilton quickly moved the defending forces northward to stop the attack. On 2 August von Lacy gave up and sailed homewards with his forces.
An extensive redevelopment of the central town area was started during the 1950s. Around 1970 Gävle became a large urban district when it was united with the nearby municipalities of Valbo, Hamrånge, Hedesunda, and Hille. New suburbs like Stigslund, Sätra, Andersberg, and Bomhus have grown up around the central city.
In the middle of the 1800s to the beginning of the 1900s, there was a bad harvest and a high unemployment rate in Sweden. At the same time, political and religious oppression occurred, and religious encounters outside the State Church were not allowed. This led many Swedes to emigrate to other countries such as the United States. During the early emigration era, Gävle was one of the cities from which people left on their journey to the US. People from parts of Gästrikland and other neighboring counties made their way to the harbor town of Gävle and then commenced their departure to America.
Soviet POWs in Gävle before departure to Soviet Union
50,000 Russians who were in Germany at the outbreak of the First World War traveled up through Sweden to Gävle where they gathered at the harbor before setting off via steamboat back to Russia.
The Harbor in Gävle was used for trade during the First World War and as a result some ships from Gävle were sunk during the German unrestricted submarine warfare campaign. One such example was the sailing vessel Jönköping, which was sunk on its way to Raumo from Gävle with a cargo of cognac and champagne for the Tsar. A Finnish cargo vessel was sunk off the coast in Gävle.
In June 1945, 800 Soviet prisoners of war transited from Oslo to Gävle, whence they were transported aboard the boat Aldebaran across the Baltic Sea to the Soviet Union.
In 1986 as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, Gävle was subjected to a severe deposition of radionuclides, exceeding 185 kBq per square meter. The impact was much greater than experienced by other regions of western Europe and as such, Gävle became one of the most affected areas outside of the Soviet Union. Between 1905 and 1997, the I14 Regiment was located in Gävle.
In 2022 the City Library Building, constructed in 1962, was demolished to make room for a modern cultural center known as Agnes Kulturhus. During his jubilee visit to the city in 2023, King Carl XVI Gustaf toured the construction site of the cultural center and gifted it a plaque commemorating the visit and Time Capsule. As of October 2023 the Cultural Center is still under construction.
Around 2 a.m. on 4 October 2025, six people were injured after being shot in the Söder [sv] neighbourhood of Gävle. A 13-year old boy was arrested in connection with the case. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer visited the crime scene.
