Västra Götaland County

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Västra Götaland County, or Västra Götalands län is a County or län on the western coast of Sweden. Its core is the historical province of Västergötland, but it also includes the historical provinces of Dalsland and Bohuslän. The name of the county implies that it forms the western part of Götaland, one of Sweden's three old lands. The county is also frequently referred to as Västsverige, or West Sweden.

The county is subdivided into 49 municipalities (kommuner), the second largest of Sweden's counties. Its total population of 1,500,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population. The metropolitan and governmental seat of Västra Götaland County is Göteborg, with 750,000 inhabitants.

The county was established as recently as 1998, when Älvsborg County, Göteborg and Bohus County and Skaraborg County were merged.

**Västra Götalands län**
Map highlighting the location of Västra Götaland County in Sweden
	County	SE-O, SE0A2
	Residence City	Göteborg
	Province	Västergötland Bohuslän Dalsland
	Created	1998
	Area - -	23,945 km², 5.8% of Sweden; ranked 5th
	Population Reference: ranked list	1,488,709 inh., 62.2 inh/km²
	GRP	See this ranked list

1 Provinces
2 Neighbours
3 Administration
4 Politics
5 Municipalities
6 Heraldry
7 External links

[edit] Provinces

Sweden's counties are generally of greater importance than its provinces. The counties are the main administrative units for politics, population counts.

It should be noted that, due to its size and young age, the Västra Götaland County has no common inheritage. Of cultural and historical significant are the provinces that Västra Götaland County consists of: Västergötland, Bohuslän and Dalsland.

In addition, the previous counties that were abolished in 1999 had been in use since the 17th century, and also have some cultural and historical significance.

[edit] Neighbours

Västra Götaland County borders to the counties of Värmland, Örebro, Östergötland, Jönköping and Halland. It is also bounded by the Norwegian county of Østfold, lakes Vättern and Vänern, as well as the sea of Skagerrak.

[edit] Administration

Västra Götaland was created in 1998 by a merger of the three former counties of Gothenburg and Bohus County, Älvsborg County and Skaraborg County. The seat of residence for the Governors or Landshövding is Gothenburg. The Governor is the head of the County Administrative Board or Länsstyrelse.

[edit] Politics

The Västra Götaland Regional Council or Västra Götalandsregionen is an evolved County Council that for a trial period has assumed certain tasks from the County Administrative Board. Similar trial councils are applied for Skåne County and Gotland County.

[edit] Municipalities

[edit] Heraldry

The arms for the County of Västra Götaland was granted in 1999 when the county was formed. It a combination of the provincial arms of Västergötland, Bohuslän and Dalsland with the arms for the city of Gothenburg. When the arms is shown with a royal crown it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of (royal) government authority. Blazon: "Quartered, I. the arms of Göteborg, II. the arms of Bohuslän, III. the arms of Dalsland turned in courtoisie, IV. the arms of Västergötland."