Lands of Sweden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norrland	Svealand	Götaland

The lands of Sweden are three unofficial parts, essentially three collectives of provinces, in Sweden. These "lands" have no administrative function. There is not even a designation, which is commonly agreed upon, for this subdivision level. Most commonly they are called "landsdelar", which just means "parts of the country".

Götaland is the southern, most densely populated part, consisting of ten provinces
Svealand is the central part, named after the historic Sweden proper, which is the smallest of the three parts with six provinces
Norrland (literally "Northern lands") is the northern part, which is the largest of the three parts, covering 60 percent of the total Swedish territory with nine provinces.

They are used in weather reports, and therefore their boundaries can be seen on television and on the weather maps in the press.

The lands and the provinces:

Götaland	Svealand	Norrland
Blekinge Bohuslän Dalsland Gotland Halland Skåne Småland Västergötland Öland Östergötland	Dalarna Närke Södermanland Uppland Värmland Västmanland	Gästrikland Hälsingland Härjedalen Jämtland Lappland Medelpad Norrbotten Västerbotten Ångermanland

[edit] Historical lands

Lands of Sweden 1100-1809

Sweden was historically divided into the four lands: Götaland, Svealand, Norrland and Österland.

Österland (literally Eastern lands) is the old name for Swedish Finland. It represents the southern and middle parts of Finland. It may in prehistoric times have been inhabited by various tribes with their own kings (such as the Kvens).
Norrland (literally Northern lands) is the name for annexed lands to the north on both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia.
In Sweden's prehistoric times Sweden was largely restricted to Svealand and southern Norrland, while Götaland is mentioned in legends as a rival kingdom, and traditions of Swedish-Geatish wars survive in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. Eventually the two countries were united under one crown by the Swedish kings somewhere between 550-1200 (the date is the matter of debate).

By the time of the Treaty of Stolbovo, 1617, the significance of these particular lands of Sweden was historical and geographical diffuse.^{[citation needed]} Thus the concept of Norrland could easily cover also the new territories in the North, colored green on the map.

During the imperial era, Courts of Appeal (hovrätter in Swedish) were introduced in the kingdom in order to relieve the original Svea Court of Appeal (Svea Hovrätt) in Stockholm, established in 1614. Göta Court of Appeal was the second such court in Sweden proper, established in Jönköping in 1634. It was proceeded by Åbo Court of Appeal (1623) in Finland and Dorpat Court of Appeal (1630) in Livonia (in precent day Estonia), during this era part of the dominions of Sweden. Today, there are six court regions in Sweden: the Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal, Malmö, the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden in Gothenburg, the Göta Court of Appeal in Jönköping, The Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm, the Court of Appeal for Southern Norrland in Sundsvall, and the Court of Appeal for Northern Norrland in Umeå.

After the Finnish War (1808-1809) the eastern half of Sweden was ceded to Russia, thus becoming the Imperial Russian Grand Duchy of Finland. Norrland was divided between these two states. The Swedish portion of Norrland still represents more than half of Sweden's territory; it remains, however, sparsely populated compared to the south and middle. The town of Stockholm, which became the Swedish capital mostly because it was centrally located in Sweden of its medieval boundaries (i.e. the brightest area on the map) now became situated at the eastern border.