Piteå

Piteå grew at the mouth of the Pite River, where the inland waterways reach the Gulf of Bothnia. Its church and market served a broad hinterland, bringing coastal farmers and merchants into contact with the people of Lapland. As the land slowly rose, the harbour and town moved downstream more than once to remain accessible to ships.

The earliest church and market site lay at Gamla Kyrkbyn, upstream from the coast. In the fifteenth century the parish centre moved to Öjebyn, where a stone church was built. Gustavus Adolphus granted Piteå town privileges there in 1621. Its merchants competed fiercely with neighbouring Luleå, even asking the government in 1634 to abolish their rival town. After a fire devastated Öjebyn in 1666, Piteå was moved to Häggholmen near the coast, where the approach was deeper. The new town was burned by Russian forces during the Great Northern War in 1721 and had to be rebuilt.