The first written mention of Ume� is from the 14th century. The northern parts of Sweden, including the counties of V�sterbottenand Norrbotten, were settled by Sami people before this time, though not necessarily in the city's exact location. Ume� in its first form was a parish with a wooden church and trade post located in the section of town now known as Backen (or Kyrkbacken). Its location near the coast and on a river was probably one of the reasons that people chose to settle there.
For the next couple of centuries Ume� was a place consisting of scattered parishes, where merchandise originating with the Sami people was traded, and was the last inhabited place before the northern wilderness took over. However, no real city was built at the location selected by the king, and it lost its town privileges in the 1590s.
In 1622, a city was again founded by King Gustav II Adolf. In 1638, it had about 40 houses. It suffered from Russian attacks in 1714 and in 1720 when it was burnt to the ground. At the close of the Finnish War in 1809 the Russian army under Barclay de Tolly took Ume� and held it from June to August.
On 25 June 1888, a fire devastated the eastern parts of Ume� and at least 2,300 of the 3,000 inhabitants became homeless. In the restoration following the fire, silver birch trees were planted along wide avenues to prevent future fires from spreading. For this reason Ume� is sometimes known as "Bj�rkarnas Stad", the "City of Birches" or "Little Stockholm" and the name of the Ume� ice-hockey team, Bj�rkl�ven, means "The Birch Leaves"
