Stockholm-002

Stockholm (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstɔkːˈhɔlm, ˈstɔkːˈɔlm, ˈstɔkːɔlm] ( listen to the second one)) is the capital of Sweden and the largest city of Fennoscandia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 871,952 in the municipality (2010), 1,372,565 in the urban area (2010), and 2,119,760 in the metropolitan area (2010). As of 2010, the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Sweden's population.

Founded in c. 1250, possibly as early as 1187, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden's cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the coast in the south-east of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Beta+. In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks. It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North.

Waxholms Ångfartygs AB, commonly referred to as Waxholmsbolaget, is a shipping company that is owned by Stockholm county council and is responsible for the seaborne public transport in Stockholm archipelago and Stockholm harbour. The company, which is mostly tax-funded, carried about 4.3 million travellers in 2003, covering a region from Arholma in north to Landsort in south.

The company owns 21 archipelago boats, and four boats for the inner-city Djurgårdsfärjan line. The operation of the ships is handled by several contractors, some of whom have their own ships.

Waxholmsbolaget was founded in 1869. It was created out of the Djurgårdens Ångbåts-Aktie-Bolag, which was established in 1849. The Stockholm county council has owned the company since 1967. In 1970, Waxholmsbolaget took over the Djurgården ferries.