Rønne

Sister cities

• Karlshamn
• Carrara
• San Marino
• Sölvesborg
• Ronneby
• Simrishamn
• Neustadt in Holstein
• Darłowo
• Wolgast
• Høyanger Municipality

History

Rønne probably originated around the year 1000 when a small fishing community grew up around the natural harbour. Around 1275, a small chapel dedicated to St Nicolas was built on the site where Rønne's church now stands. The community was soon granted the status of a market town with its own mayor and council and its own law court. However, by the beginning of the 14th century, the King of Denmark, the Archbishop of Lund and even various north German princes were all competing for control of the town. The Germans took a special interest in Bornholm because of its strategic position in the Baltic Sea between the German coast and Visby in Gotland, off the coast of southern Sweden, at times establishing their own interests in the town. After the church's expansion in 1360, the parish of Rønne was established. As its trade prospered, by the beginning of the 15th century Rønne was repeatedly plundered and burnt by men from Lübeck. In 1525, they took control of Bornholm as compensation for the large debts that Denmark was unable to repay. They even allowed their own merchants to establish businesses in Rønne. Though the Lübeckers contributed to the success of the fishing trade, they demanded ever-higher taxes from the local population. The citizens took revenge, chasing the Lübeckers off while allowing other German communities to remain. The result was that in 1576, control of Rønne returned to the Danish Crown. However, the Baltic Sea had by this time lost much of its strategic importance. The fishing industry declined and after the town was twice struck by the plague in 1619 and 1655, it took decades for it to recover. A further setback occurred in April 1658 when, in the midst of the Dano-Swedish war, Denmark ceded Bornholm to Sweden under the Treaty of Roskilde. The…

Geography

Rønne's climate is a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb) with balanced temperatures year round. The island's climate allows local variety of common fig trees, Bornholm's Diamond, to thrive in the locality, lying far out of its normal habitats.