Blekinge

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Blekinge (help·info) is a province (landskap) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Skåne and the Baltic Sea. The province is part of the Scanian lands which belonged to Denmark until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658.

The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the sea term for "dead calm".

**Blekinge**
The provinces of Sweden with Blekinge highlighted
	Land	Götaland
	Main corresponding county	Blekinge County
	Area	2,900 km²
	Flower	Mullein
	Animal	Stag beetle

1 County
2 Geography
3 History
- 3.1 Heraldry
- 3.2 Sub-divisions
4 Culture
- 4.1 Tongue
5 External links

[edit] County

Provinces serve no administrative function in Sweden. Instead, that is done by the counties of Sweden. However, Blekinge has virtually the same boundaries as the corresponding Blekinge County.

[edit] Geography

Blekinge has a scenic archipelago and is sometimes called the "Garden of Sweden".

[edit] History

Historically Blekinge belonged to the Danish crown together with the provinces Skåne and Halland, making up the eastern part of the Danish kingdom. Blekinge has been a Swedish province since 1658, following the Treaty of Roskilde.

Towns in Blekinge with Swedish city privileges were: Karlshamn (chartered in 1664), Karlskrona (1680), Ronneby (1387), Sölvesborg (1445)

Of these towns, Karlskrona is for more than 300 years the principal naval base in Sweden, and in 1998 it became a site of the UNESCO World heritage program.

[edit] Heraldry

Former coat of arms

During the sixteenth century, the province used a coat of arms depicting a crowed hill rising from the sea, and the symbol is known from several official Danish documents. The colours are uncertain, but expert Anders Thiset suggested a green hill on a red shield. This symbol was only used during the Danish administration and replaced by the current coat of arms by the Swedish administration.

Blekinge was granted its current arms at the funural of Charles X Gustav of Sweden in 1660, based on a seal from the 15th century. Symobolically the three crowns from the Coat of arms of Sweden had been placed on the trunk of the tree to mark the change in status of the former Danish province, that now belonged to Sweden. The arms is represented with a dukal coronet. Blazon: "Azure, an Oak Tree eradicated Or ensigned with three Crowns palewise of the same."

[edit] Sub-divisions

Hundreds of Sweden were the historical sub-divisioning of a province. Blekinges hundreds were: Bräkne Hundred, Eastern Hundred, Lister Hundred, Medelstad Hundred.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Tongue

In Blekinge a variety of Scanian is spoken, which was formerly considered the eastern dialect of Danish but today is considered the southern dialect of Swedish. The variety is called Blekingska.