The History of Ångermanland/MedelpadAbout 8 500 years ago the ice lost its grip on this part of Sweden. The sea level was, at this time, about 250 meters higher then today, due to the heavy pressure of the glaciers. The land still rises today at the rate of one centimetre a year. The climate got better and in 6 000 BC, the first humans came. Nämforsen has the largest number of rock carvings in northern Europe. The people who lived here carved scenes of men hunting elk or fishing. There are no signs of any agriculture until around 2500 BC and only then sporadic. About 2 000 years ago people started to use agriculture on a larger scale. Around 500 AD, a lot of the farms were deserted. In Nolaskogs, north of Skuleskogen, there is an archeological excavation going on. A farm that has ben used between the first century AD and the seventh century AD is being excavated. A copy of the farm has ben built and can be seen in Gene. In the Middle Ages a pilgrimage path went through Medelpad to the holy shrine in Trondheim were Olof the Holy was buried. The name Medelpad means the middle road. This part of Sweden was so poor that it were relieved from paying church tax. During this period the climate got worse and a lot of farms were deserted. The plague in 1347 killed also a lot of people. The Swedish kings founded a number of cites in this region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Härnösand (1580) and Sundsvall (1616) were founded during this period. During the 17th century there were witch processes in both Medelpad and Ångermanland. Hundreds of women were accused of using witchcraft and sentenced to death. In 1721 Härnösand were burned down by the Russian navy. During the 18th century, new techniques gave better possibilities to cultivate bigger areas than before. Around 1850 the agricultural reform of parcelling the land after the British model started (enclosure). The houses in the villages were spread out. The sawmill era started with the steamboats and steampower. It were soon to be replaced by pulp-production along the coast as the continent's demand for paper increased. This laid the ground for a strong working-class movement here. The first strike was in 1879 in Sundsvall. The strike failed but the union lived on.. The union grew strong in Medelpad/Ångermanland. It was not always successful but decisive. In 1931 five workers were killed during a demonstration against strike-breakers. This became the start of a more peaceful era on the Swedish labour market. A memorial for the fallen workers is to be found in Lunde, Ångermanland. The pulp and sawmill industry has continued to be the main industry. The construction of giant dams has also made this provinces an important exporter of electricity to the rest of Sweden. There is also a tool-producing industry in Örnsköldsvik owned by ABB. 
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