MALMO, a seaport of Sweden, chief town of the district (Ian) of Malmohus, on a small bay of the Sound, 384 m. S.S.W. of Stockholm by rail. Pop. (I800), 38,054; Malmo (Malmhauge, Malmey, Malmoye, Malmoughe ), some times called Ancona Scanorum or Ellenbogen, first appears in history about the middle of the 13th century. During the Han seatic period it was the most important commercial town on the Sound, but in the i6th and 17th centuries greatly lost ground owing to the decay of its herring fisheries and the rise of its rival, Copenhagen. It began to revive in the late 18th century.
It is connected with Copenhagen, 171- m. W. by N., by steam ferry, the Sound being kept open in winter by an ice-breaker. It is also the first important station in Sweden on the Berlin– Stockholm route, which crosses the sea between Sassnitz in Riigen and Trelleborg 20 m. S.E. of Malmo. The town formerly had strong fortifications, of which only the citadel (Malmohus) remains; in it the earl of Bothwell was imprisoned by Frederick II. of Denmark for some time after his departure from Scotland in 1567. The town-hall (1546, largely restored in 1864) con
tains a handsome chamber, the Knutssal, formerly used by the council of the gild of Canute. The church of St. Peter (Peter kyrka) dates in part from 1319. Malmo is second to Stockholm as an industrial centre. There are breweries and large works for the manufacture of machinery, among which are the Kockum mechanical works, with yards for the construction of vessels of war, and others; of cotton and woollen goods, rubber factories, sugar factories, gloves, chocolate, sweetmeats and tobacco. Malmo is a free port. It has a large export trade in grain, timber, cattle, flour, butter, cheese, matches, wood-pulp, etc. The imports are coal, manufactures, cotton, chemicals, iron, herring, manures, grain, etc. The harbourage includes an outer harbour of 22 ft. depth, and two inner basins admitting vessels of 21 ft. draught, with dry dock and patent slip. Malmo returns four members to the second chamber of the Riksdag (parliament).