Sodertalje

Sodertalje is a city and the seat of Sodertalje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. As of 2016, it has a population of 71,774 inhabitants. The industrial city, about 30 kilometers 19 mi southwest of Stockholm, is the home to truck maker Scania AB and one of the manufacturing arms of pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Its research and development facility was closed in 2012. Its former facility was sold to a consortium of PEAB and Acturum, the acquisition department of the Wallenberg Foundation. More than 40 percent of Sodertalje inhabitants have foreign backgrounds, and this proportion increases by 1.5 percent per year. Assyrians/Syriacs are the largest groups of immigrants in Sodertalje. Prior to 600 AD, the lake Mälaren was connected to the sea.

Due to land elevation, the lake was slowly cut off, and boats had to be dragged over land to and from the lake. This demanded labour, who settled in a village here. In the 18th century Södertälje had a charter. Due to the Great Northern War and a series of plague epidemics, the population of the city dipped to barely above 200.