town with wide avenues. Stopping the spread of future town fires was the main idea behind this development. 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. 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. Gävle was the birthplace of the botanist Erik Acharius (1757). Geography Gävle is situated by the Baltic Sea near the mouth of the river Dalälven. At 60 degrees north and 17 degrees east, Gävle has the same latitude as Helsinki and the same longitude as Vienna and Cape Town. Bordering municipalities are Söderhamn, Ockelbo, Sandviken, Heby, Tierp and Älvkarleby. Twenty kilometers west of Gävle lies Sandviken. Climate Gävle has a similar climate to the rest of central Sweden with winter highs just below freezing and summer highs a bit above . The average yearly precipitation is around . Under the Köppen climate classification Gävle is classified as humid continental (Dfb), in spite of the significant maritime influence. It is also one of the northernmost cities of significant size in the world with this climate type, since areas north of the 60th latitude for the most part are dominated by various subarctic climate types. Under the 1961-1990 normals, Gävle's fourth warmest month was just around the