Scania

Scania
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Sweden
Land	Götaland
County	Skåne County
Area[3]
• Total	10,939 km2 (4,224 sq mi)
Population (30 June 2011 [4])
• Total	1,247,338
• Density	110/km2 (300/sq mi)
Ethnicity
• Language	Swedish
• Dialect	Scanian
Culture
• Flower	Oxeye daisy
• Animal	Red deer
• Bird	Red Kite
• Fish	Eel
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area codes	040–0418

Scania ( Skåne (help·info) in Swedish) is the southernmost^[5] of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces (landskap) of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision (län) Skåne County^[6] is almost, but not quite, coextensive with the province. The largest city is Malmö, which is also the third largest city in Sweden and the administrative centre of Skåne County.

To the north, Scania borders the provinces of Halland and Småland, to the northeast Blekinge, to the east and south the Baltic Sea and the Island of Bornholm, and to the west the Øresund. Since 2000 a road and railway bridge, the Øresund Bridge^[7] constitutes a fixed link to the Danish island of Zealand. Scania is part of the transnational Øresund Region.^[8]

The province formed part of the kingdom of Denmark up until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658.^[9] The transition to Sweden was later confirmed by the Treaty of Copenhagen 1660, the Peace of Lund 1679, the Peace of Travendal 1700, though greatly resented by the local population. The last serious Danish attempt to invade the province failed in 1710, after the Battle of Helsingborg.^[10] The period 1658–1720 saw widespread violence by the Danish and Swedish militaries against the local population. The region did not form part of Sweden proper until 1719, but had the status of conquered "foreign land" until that year. It was then divided in two counties and has since then been regarded as integrated by Sweden. Until the early 19th century, a policy of forced assimilation was employed by the Swedish government in what until then had been a linguistically Danish region. Controversy relating to whether the Scanian dialects should be classified as a regional language or as Danish or Swedish dialects remains to this day.^[11]

Around 130 kilometres (81 miles) long from north to south, Scania covers less than 3% of Sweden's total area, but the population of approximately 1,260,000^[3] represents 13% of Sweden's total population. About 16% of the total population of the province are foreign-born.^[12] With 111 inh/km² Scania is the second most densely populated province of Sweden, next only to Södermanland. The western part, along the coast of the Øresund is by far the most populated part of the province.

Name

Endonym and exonyms

The endonym used in Swedish and other North Germanic languages is Skåne (formerly spelled Skaane in Danish and Norwegian). The Latinized form Scania is widely used in English as an exonym.

However, there are also many examples of the endonym Skåne used in English texts,^[13] sometimes as Skane with the diacritic omitted.^[14][15] Scania is the only Swedish province for which exonyms are still widely used in many languages, e.g. French Scanie, German Schonen, Polish Skania, Spanish Escania, Italian Scania, etc. For the province's modern administrative counterpart, Skåne län, the endonym Skåne is mostly used even in English.^[16]

In the Alfredian translation of Orosius's and Wulfstan's travel accounts, the Old English form Sconeg appears.^[17][18] Frankish sources mention a place called Sconaowe; Æthelweard, an Anglo-Saxon historian, wrote about Scani;^[19] and in Beowulf's fictional account, the names Scedenige and Scedeland appear as names for what is a Danish land.^[17] Scodanus in old maps may add to the name of the place "from where the Danes came, from Scandinavia", also derived from it.

Etymology

The names Scania and Scandinavia are considered to have the same etymology^{[20][21][22][23]} and the southernmost tip of what is today Sweden was called Scania by the Romans. The name is possibly derived from the Germanic root *Skaðin-awjo, which appears in Old Norse as Skáney.^[24] According to some scholars, the Germanic stem can be reconstructed as *Skaðan- meaning "danger" or "damage" (English scathing, German Schaden, Swedish skada).^[25] Skanör in Scania, with its long Falsterbo reef, has the same stem (skan) combined with -ör, which means "sandbanks".

Also, in one of the most archaic European languages, Latvian, skani/skanēt means 'make sound' or 'to sound'. Possibly - the sounding island.^[26]

Administration

Like the other provinces of Sweden, the province of Scania serves no administrative or political purposes, but is an exclusively historical and cultural entity.

Between 1719 and 1996, the province was subdivided in two administrative counties (län), Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County, each under a governor (landshövding) appointed by the central government of Sweden. When the first local government acts took effect in 1863 each county also got an elected county council (landsting). The counties were further divided into municipalities. The local government reform of 1952 reduced the number of municipalities and a second subdivision reform, carried out between 1968 and 1974 established today's 33 municipalities^[27] (Swedish: kommuner) in Scania. The municipalities have municipal governments, similar to city commissions, and are further divided into parishes (församlingar). The parishes are primarily entities of the Church of Sweden, but they also serve as a divisioning measure for the Swedish population registration and other statistical uses.

In 1997 the two counties were merged, and Skåne County has almost the same boundaries as the province. For the pre-1997 counties see map to the right, which also outlines the still valid municipal limits.

Two years later the county council areas were amalgamated forming Region Skåne, responsible mainly for public healthcare, public transport and regional planning and culture.

Heraldry

During the Danish era, the province had no coat of arms. In Sweden, however, every province had been represented by heraldic arms since 1560.^[28] When Charles X Gustav of Sweden suddenly died in 1660 a coat of arms had to be created for the newly acquired province, as each province was to be represented by its arms at his royal funeral. After an initiative from Baron Gustaf Bonde, the Lord High Treasurer of Sweden, the coat of arms of the City of Malmö was used as a base for the new provincial arms. The Malmö coat of arms had been granted in 1437, during the Kalmar Union, by Eric of Pomerania and contains a Pomeranian griffin's head. To distinguish it from the city's coat of arms the tinctures were changed and the official blazon for the provincial arms is, in English: Or, a Griffin's head erased Gules, crowned Azure and armed Azure, when it should be armed.

The province was divided in two administrative counties 1719–1996. Coats of arms were created for these entities, also using the griffin motif. The new Skåne County, operative from 1 January 1997, got a coat of arms that is the same as the province's, but with reversed tinctures. When the county arms is shown with a Swedish royal crown, it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of central government authority. In 1999 the two county councils (landsting) were amalgamated forming Region Skåne. It is the only of its kind using a heraldic coat of arms. It is also the same as the province's and the county's, but with a golden griffin's head on a blue shield.^[29] The 33 municipalities within the county also have coats of arms.

The Scania Griffin has become a well-known symbol for the province and it is used also by commercial enterprises. It is, for instance, included in the logotypes of the automotive manufacturer Scania AB and the airline Malmö Aviation.

Coat of arms:

City of Malmö (1437)

City of Malmö (revised 1974)

Scania (1660, revised 1939)

Kristianstad County (revised 1939)

Malmöhus County (revised 1939)

Skåne County (1997)

History

Scania was first mentioned in written texts in the 9th century. It came under Danish king Harald Bluetooth in the middle of the 10th century. It was, together with Blekinge and Halland, situated on the Scandinavian peninsula, but forming the eastern part of the kingdom of Denmark. This geographical position made it the focal point of the frequent Dano-Swedish wars for many hundred years. By the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, all Danish lands east of Øresund were ceded to the Swedish Crown. First placed under a Governor-General the province was eventually integrated into the kingdom of Sweden. The last Danish attempt to regain its lost provinces failed after the Battle of Helsingborg (1710) (plans for a new Danish attack in 1808, during the Finnish War, were never set in action). In 1719 the province was subdivided in two counties and administered in the same way as the rest of the country. Scania has since then been fully integrated in the Swedish state.

Regional politics

There are no independence movements organized for electoral contests in Scania,^[30] although some of the small parties with seats in various municipalities have from time to time placed secession in combination with anti-immigration measures on their party platforms. A coalition of 16 smaller parties (Skånes Väl) held 6 seats of 149 in the regional council during the period 1998-2002, but in Region Skåne's 2002 election, they lost all their seats. In 2006, one of the 16 parties in the coalition, the small anti-immigration party Skånepartiet, made an unsuccessful bid for seats in the general election of Sweden, receiving 11 votes nationally. In the regional elections of 2006, The Scanian Independence Party ("Skånes självständighetsparti"), a coalition between Skånepartiet and another party called Centrum-Demokraterna, received 4623 votes.^[31]

As a part of the process of decentralization in Sweden, and as a part of the regionalist efforts in Scania, separatism thus plays a negligible role. According to some scholars, separatist driven activities may however run parallel with the top-down driven region-building efforts put in place to promote regional development, as well as the efforts by regional actors to promote and protect Scanian culture, and therefore, separatism may contribute to the mobilization of mutually supporting forces, especially in border areas like Scania where cross-border cooperation is important.^[32]

Decentralization

During Sweden's financial crisis in the early and mid-1990s, Scania, Västra Götaland and Norrbotten were among the hardest hit in the country, with high unemployment rates as a result.^[33] In response to the crisis, the County Governors were given a task by the government in September 1996 to co-ordinate various measures in the counties to increase economic growth and employment by bringing in regional actors.^[33] The first proposal for regional autonomy and a regional parliament had been introduced by the Social Democratic Party's local districts in Scania and Västra Götaland already in 1993. When Sweden joined the European Union two years later, the concept "Regions of Europe" came in focus and a more regionalism-friendly approach was adopted in national politics.^[34] These factors contributed to the subsequent transformation of Skåne County into one of the first "trial regions" in Sweden in 1999, established as the country's first "regional experiment".^[34]

The relatively strong regional identity in Scania is often referred to in order to explain the general support in the province for the decentralization and regionalization efforts introduced by the Swedish government.^[35] On the basis of large scale interview investigations about Region Skåne in the region, scholars have found that the prevailing trend among the inhabitants of Scania is to "[look] upon their region with more positive eyes and a firm reliance that it would deliver the goods in terms of increased democracy and constructive results out of economic planning".^[36] The regionalist grassroots organizations in Scania generally oppose separatism and nationalism, while embracing multi-culturalism, cross-border activities and Swedish EU membership.^[37][38]

Communications

There are around 50 train stations whithin the province. Electrified dual track railroad exists between the border to Denmark at the Øresund Bridge to Lund, where it splits up in two directions. The dual tracks going towards Gothenburg ends at Helsingborg, while the other branch continues beyond the provincial border to neighbouring Småland, close to Killeberg. This latter dual track continues to mid-Sweden. There are also a few single track railroads.

The road network is a bit better. The E6 motorway works as the main artery through the western part of the province all the way from Trelleborg to the provincial border towards neighbouring province Halland. It continues along the Swedish west coast to Gothenburg and most of the way to the Norwegian border. There are also several other motorways, especially around Malmö. Since 2000, the economic focus of the region has changed, with the opening of a road link to Denmark.^[39] Most roads are usually of good standard.

There are three smaller airports in Sturup, Ängelholm and Kristianstad but the nearby Copenhagen Airport, by far largest in the Nordic countries, also serve the province.

Geography and environmental factors

The geography of Scania was shaped by the last ice age, the Weichsel glaciation, a time when it was totally covered with ice. The relief of Scania's south-western landscape was formed by thick Quaternary deposits from sediment accumulation during the glaciations.^[40] Hallandsåsen and Söderåsen are major landmarks but, contrary to popular belief, they are not ridges left behind by the retreating ice but horsts formed by inversion tectonic activity along the Tornquist Tectonic zone in the late Cretaceous. The Scanian horsts run in a North-West to South-West direction, marking the southwest border of Fennoscandia.^[40]

Unlike some of the other regions of Sweden, the Scanian landscape is not mountainous. With the exception of the lake-rich and densely forested northern parts (Göinge), the rolling hills in the north-west (the Bjäre and Kulla peninsulas) and the beech-wood clad areas extending from the slopes of the horsts, a sizeable portion of Scania's terrain consists of plains. Its low profile and open landscape distinguish Scania from most other geographical regions of Sweden which consist mainly of waterway-rich, cool, mixed coniferous forests, boreal taiga and alpine tundra.^[41] The province has several lakes but they are a whole lot fewer compared with the province just north of Scania, Småland. Stretching from the north-western to the south-eastern parts of Scania is a belt of deciduous forests following the Linderödsåsen ridge and previously marking the border between Malmöhus County and Kristianstad County. The much denser fir forests—so typical of the greater part of Sweden—are only found in the north-eastern Göinge parts of Scania along the border with the forest dominated province of Småland. At some places, like e.g. north of Malmö, the terrain is almost entirelly flat, but more common is a slightly sloping profile.

Where the sea meets higher parts of the sloping landscape, dramatic cliffs emerge very suddenly. Such cliffs are white if the soil has a high content of chalk (like "the White cliffs of Dover"), but in Scania (and parts of Denmark) the soil is more sandy, and the cliffs are yellow instead. Good examples of such coastlines exists at the southern side of Ven in Øresund, and also between the towns Helsingborg and Landskrona. Such yellow coastline cliffs also exist in nearby south-eastern Denmark, Stevns Klint and Møns Klint, and at the German island of Rügen by Kap Arkona. But in other Swedish provinces steep coastlines usually reveal primary rock instead.

The two major plains, Söderslätt in the south-west and Österlen in the south-east, consist of highly fertile agricultural land—the yield per unit area is higher than in any other region in Sweden. The Scanian plains are an important resource for the rest of Sweden since between 25-95% of the total production of various types of cereals come from the region. Almost all Swedish sugar beet comes from Scania, the plant needs a long vegetation period. The same applies also to corn, pea and rape (grown for it's vegetarian oil), although these plants are less imperative in compare with sugar beets.^[42] The soil is among the most fertile in the world.

The Kullaberg Nature Preserve in northwest Scania is home to several rare species including Spring vetchling, Lathyrus sphaericus.^[43]

Vegetation and vegetation zones

The vast majority of Scania belongs to the European hardwood vegetation zone, a considerable part of which is now agricultural rather than the original forest. This zone covers Europe west of Poland and north of the Alps, and includes the British Isles, northern and central France, Belgium and Holland up to Denmark. A smaller north-eastern part of Scania is part of the pinewood vegetation zone, in which fir grows naturally. Within the larger part, pine may grow together with birch on sandy soil. The most common tree is beech. Other common trees are willow, oak, ash, alder and elm (which until the 1970s formed a few forests but now is heavily infected by the elm disease). Also rather southern trees like walnut tree, chestnut and hornbeam can be found. In parks also horse chestnut, lime and maple are commonly planted. Fruit trees consist of several varieties of apple, pear, cherry, plum and strawberry. Examples of wild berries are blackberry, raspberry, cloudberry (in the north-east), blueberry, wild strawberry and loganberry.

National parks

Three of the 29 National parks of Sweden^[44] are situated in Scania.

• Dalby Söderskog^[45]
• Stenshuvud^[46]
• Söderåsen^[47]

Extremes

• Southernmost point: Smygehuk, Trelleborg Municipality, (55° 20' N) (also the southernmost point of Sweden)^[48]
• Northernmost point: Gränsholmen, Osby Municipality
• Westernmost point: Kulla udd, Höganäs Municipality
• Easternmost point: Nyhult, Bromölla Municipality

• Highest point: Highest peak of Söderåsen, 212 metres
• Lowest spot: Kristianstad, -2.7 metres (also the lowest spot in all of Sweden)

• Largest lake: Ivösjön, 55 km²
• Largest island: Ven, 7,5 km²

Population

Scania is divided in to 33 municipalities with population and land surface as the table below shows. There is a large population differency between the western Scania, that is located by, or close to Øresund sea compared to the middle and eastern parts of the province.

Municipality	Population (April 2013)	Land area (km2)	Population density (/km2)
Båstad and the eastern municipalities	in white on the map
Bromölla	12 314	162.5	74.4
Båstad *	14 224	209.8	67.8
Hässleholm	50 171	1268.5	39.6
Hörby	14 882	419.4	35.5
Höör	15 591	290.9	53.6
Klippan	16 741	374.3	44.7
Kristianstad	80 854	1246.3	64.9
Osby	12 704	576.2	22.0
Perstorp	7 089	158.8	44.6
Simrishamn	18 950	391.4	48.4
Sjöbo	18 359	492.2	37.3
Skurup	14 997	193.6	77.5
Tomelilla	12 913	395.9	32.6
Ystad	28 562	350.1	81.6
Örkelljunga	9 640	319.6	30.1
Östra Göinge	13 609	432.0	31.5
Øresund, nearby and other western municipalities	In Yellow
Bjuv	14 813	115.3	128.5
Burlöv	17 079	18.9	903.7
Eslöv	31 761	419.1	75.8
Helsingborg	132 254	344.0	384.4
Höganäs	24 986	150.8	165.7
Kävlinge	29 513	152.6	193.4
Landskrona	42 751	148.3	288.3
Lomma	22 415	55.6	403.1
Lund	112 925	427.2	264.3
Malmö	309 912	156.9	1975.2
Staffanstorp	22 572	106.8	211.3
Svalöv	13 217	387.3	34.1
Svedala	20 039	218.1	91.9
Trelleborg	42 744	339.9	125.8
Vellinge	33 725	142.6	236.5
Åstorp	14 849	92.2	161.0
Ängelholm	39 836	420.1	95.1

^{[49][50] *} A small part of Båstad municipality is located within the neighbouring province of Halland, this includes the village "Östra Karup" and some area around it, around 500 people lives in Båstad municipality, but outside the historical boundaries of the Scanian province.

• Western part of Scania (yellow on the map and close to the Øresund sea) covers 3201.3 km²of land, and had (in April 2013) 925.982 inhabitants, almost 290 inhab./km²
• The other municipalities cover 7281.3 km²of land, and had at the same time only 341.009 inhabitants or 47 inhab./km²
• The same figures for the entire province are 10482.6 km², 1.266.991 inhabitants and 121 inhab/km ²

These figures can be compared with around to 21 inhabitants per km² for entire Sweden.^[51]

Population around Øresund

On the other hand, is the Danish Copenhagen region at north-east Sealand, on the other side of Øresund sea, is even more populated. The north-east part of Zealand (or the Danish Region Hovedstaden without the Baltic island of Bornholm) has a population density of 878 inhab./km², most of Greater Copenhagen included.

And by adding western Scania to the Metropolitan area of Copenhagen, then 2.8 million people lives around the Øresund sea. At a land surface of approx. 6100 km² (approx 460 inhab./km²). This is many ways a better meassurement of describing the area around Øresund than what the far wider Øresund Region constitutes.

Cities

In 1658, the following ten places in Scania were chartered and held town rights: Lund (since approximately 990), Helsingborg (1085), Falsterbo (approximately 1200), Ystad (approximately 1200), Skanör (approximately 1200), Malmö (approximately 1250), Simrishamn (approximately 1300), Landskrona (1413), and Kristianstad (1622). Others had existed earlier, but lost their privileges. Ängelholm got new privileges in 1767, and in 1754, Falsterbo and Skanör were merged. The concept of municipalities was introduced in Sweden in 1863, making each of the towns a city municipality of its own. In the 19th and 20th centuries, four more municipalities were granted city status, Trelleborg (1867), Eslöv (1911), Hässleholm (1914) and Höganäs (1936). The system with city status was abolished in 1971.

Over 90% of Scania's population live in urban areas.^[52] In 2000, the Øresund Bridge—the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe—linked Malmö and Copenhagen, making Scania's population part of a 3.6 million total population in the Øresund Region. In 2005, the region had 9,200 commuters crossing the bridge daily, the vast majority of them from Malmö to Copenhagen.^[53]

The following localities had more than 10,000 inhabitants ^[54] (Year 2010.)

1. Malmö, 280,415
2. Helsingborg, 97,122
3. Lund, 82,800
4. Kristianstad, 35,711
5. Landskrona, 30,499
6. Trelleborg, 28,290
7. Ängelholm, 23,240
8. Hässleholm, 18,500
9. Ystad, 18,350
10. Eslöv, 17,748
11. Staffanstorp, 14,808
12. Höganäs, 14,107
13. Kävlinge & Furulund, 13,200

Population development

It has been estimated that around 1570, Scania had about 110,000 inhabitants.^[55] But before the plague in the middle of the 14th century the population of all Danish territory east of Øresund (Scania, Island of Bornholm, Blekinge and Halland) may have exceeded 250,000.

The figures here are from two different sources.^[56][57]

Year	Population	Year	Population	Year	Population
1620	126,000	1820	312,000	1930	757,000
1699	142,000	1830	350,000	1940	778,000
1718	152,000	1840	388,000	1950	843,000
1735	180,000	1850	443,000	1960	882,000
1750	197,000	1860	494,000	1970	983,000
1760	202,000	1870	538,000	1980	1,023,000
1772	216,000	1880	580,000	1990	1,068,000
1780	231,000	1890	591,000	2000	1,129,000
1795	250,000	1900	628,000	2010	1,228,000
1800	259,000	1910	685,000
1810	275,000	1920	728,000

Hundreds

Scania was formerly divided into 23 hundreds.

Climate

Scania has the mildest climate in Sweden, but there are some local differences.

Table shows average temperatures in degrees Celsius at ten Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) weather stations in Scania and three stations further north for comparison issues. Average temperature in this case means the average of the temperature taken throughout both day and night unlike the more usual daily maximum or minimum average. This is done for specific measured periods of thirty years. The last period began at 1 January 1961 and ended at 31 December 1990. The current such period started at 1 January 1991 and will end by 31 December 2020. At that time it will be possible to with a high degree of mathematical certainty to measure possible climate changes, by comparing two separate periods of 30 years with each other.

st.no	station	approx latitude	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
5320	Smygehuk	55	-0.1	-0.3	1.4	4.6	9.4	14.0	15.6	15.7	12.9	9.4	5.2	1.7	7.5
5223	Falsterbo	55	0.3	0.0	1.7	5.1	10.1	14.7	16.4	16.4	13.7	10.0	5.7	2.3	8.0
5337	Malmö 2	55.5	0.1	0.0	2.2	6.4	11.6	15.8	17.1	16.8	13.6	9.8	5.3	1.9	8.4
5433	Simrishamn	55.5	-0.1	-0.3	1.7	4.9	9.5	14.6	16.3	16.1	13.1	9.2	4.9	1.6	7.6
5251	Örja	55.5	0.0	0.0	2.2	6.1	11.5	15.3	16.5	16.7	13.5	9.4	5.2	2.2	8.2
6203	Helsingborg	56	0.6	-0.1	2.0	6.0	11.2	15.3	16.7	16.6	13.6	9.9	5.2	1.8	8.3
5343	Lund	55.5	-0.6	-0.5	2.0	6.0	11.5	15.4	16.8	16.5	13.1	9.1	4.5	1.1	7.9
5353	Hörby	55.5	-1.6	-1.5	1.0	5.4	10.4	14.4	15.5	15.3	11.9	8.0	3.6	0.1	6.9
5455	Kristianstad	55.5	-1.0	-1.0	1.4	5.2	10.3	14.7	16.1	15.7	12.3	8.5	4.0	0.6	7.2
6322	Osby	56	-2.2	-2.1	0.6	5.0	10.5	14.4	15.5	14.9	11.3	7.4	2.8	-0.7	6.5
	For comparacy, some northern locations within Sweden (Arlanda is the international airport of Stockholm)
9749	Stockholm Arlanda	60	-4.4	-4.6	-1.0	4.0	10.2	14.9	16.3	15.2	10.8	6.4	1.2	-2.9	5.5
12731	Sundsvall	62.5	-9.0	-7.9	-3.1	2.0	7.8	13.4	15.3	14.0	9.4	4.5	-2.0	-6.7	3.1
16268	Luleå	66	-11.5	-10.7	-6.0	0.1	6.4	13.0	15.5	13.6	8.3	3.0	-4.0	-9.0	1.6

^[58] All three of the northern locations are at low altitude and fairly close to the Baltic Sea.

Compared with locations further north, the Scanian climate differs primary by being far more less cold during the winter and in having longer springs and autumns. While the July temperatures doesn't differ much (see table above).

The highest temperature ever recorded in the province is 36.0 °C (97 °F) (Ängelholm, 30 July 1947) and the lowest ever recorded is −34 °C (−29 °F) (Stehag, 26 January 1942) Temperatures below −15 °C (5 °F) are extremely rare even at night, while summer temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) occurs once in a while every summer. Precipitation is spread fairly evenly, both across the province and during the year.

Slightly more precipitation falls during July and August than during the other months.

Winter

A typical winter, with average temperatures around the freezing point during January and February, means that a period of mild weather (often blowy or/and rainy) is followed by a colder period (when precipitation falls as snow) - and then the mild weather returns etc., rather than a stable temperature close to zero degrees. During the colder periods, the temperature often is below freezing point also during daytime, while as during the milder periods, temperatures below freezing point are unusual even at night. During the mild periods temperatures slightly below freezing point only occur if the night is both calm and free of clouds. If the same circumstances occur during a cold period, the nights can get very cold though. All together this adds up to a 24 hrs/day "winter average" of around 0 degrees In the north-eastern corner (and at the top of the ridges) the winter is in general notably colder though, and a snow cover may last for weeks.

Spring

March is locally known as the first month of the spring. Ther colder periods are fewer and sunny days may even feel pleasant. During April and early May temperature rises rather fast. Though spring (especially in the sence "first heat") arrives later compared to northernmost of Germany and Poland. This is perticulary notable in the south-eastern corner. This is explained with the open coastline and low temperatures in the Baltic sea. Øresund is both narrow and shallow and gets warmer faster. The most common Scanian three, the Beech, leafes usually during the last days in April or first days of May. But is usually delayed 10–14 days in the south-east, due to "the Baltic Sea chill factor".

Summer

Unlike the other seasons, summer isn't warmer in Scania compared to many other Swedish provinces. Like during the winter the weather usually changes in periods that either are sunny and fairly hot (up to 30 degrees, even higher away from the coastlines), and periods of unstable cloudy and cooler weather. The time between sunset and sunrise during June and earliest July is less than 7 hours, and both the dawn and the dusk are rather long as well. But it still remains a few hours of real night. Further north in Sweden there is no real night, as dusk turns into dawn. (And in the northernmost of Sweden, the sun doesn't even set at all for around two months)

Autumn

The autumn in Scania is a slow process, compared with more northern parts of Sweden (but a faster one, when comparing with any part of the British Isles). During the first half of September, temperatures usually are not so much affected, but the sunset is obviously earlier compared with in June. Temperatures drops in steps. Every new period with sunny weather becomes a bit cooler than the last one. By the end of October the defoliation process becomes evident. But not until late November all trees have lost their leaves. The period when storms and even hurricanes becomes most likely to occur durates between November and February. Most of them are coming from the Atlantic Ocean and doesn't involve snow or temperatures below freezing point. Late Scanian autumn is in general benefited from the surrounding waters (the opposite effect early spring).

Culture

Scania's long-running and sometimes intense trade relations with other communities along the coast of the European continent through history have made the culture of Scania distinct from other geographical regions of Sweden. Its open landscape, often described as a colourful patchwork quilt of wheat and rapeseed fields, and the relatively mild climate at the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, have inspired many Swedish artists and authors to compare it to European regions like Provence in southern France and Zeeland in the Netherlands.^[59] Among the many authors who have described the "foreign" continental elements of the Scanian landscape, diet and customs are August Strindberg and Carl Linnaeus. In 1893 August Strindberg wrote about Scania: "In beautiful, large wave lines, the fields undulate down toward the lake; a small deciduous forest limits the coastline, which is given the inviting look of the Riviera, where people shall walk in the sun, protected from the north wind. [...] The Swede leaves the plains with a certain sense of comfort, because its beauty is foreign to him." In another chapter he states: "The Swedes have a history that is not the history of the South Scandinavians. It must be just as foreign as Vasa’s history is to the Scanian."^[60]

In Ystad, singer-songwriter Michael Saxell's popular Scanian anthem Om himlen och Österlen (Of Heaven and Österlen), the flat, rolling hill landscape is described as appearing to be a little closer to heaven and the big, unending sky.

Scania's historical connection to Denmark, the vast fertile plains, the deciduous forests and the relatively mild climate make the province culturally and physically distinct from the emblematic Swedish cultural landscape of forests and small hamlets.^[61]

Architecture

Traditional Scanian architecture is shaped by the limited availability of wood; it incorporates different applications of the building technique called half-timbering. In the cities, the infill of the façades consisted of bricks,^[62] whereas the country-side half-timbered houses had infill made of clay and straw.^[63] Unlike many other Scanian towns, the town of Ystad has managed to preserve a rather large core of its half-timbered architecture in the city center—over 300 half-timbered houses still exist today.^[64] Many of the houses in Ystad were built in the renaissance style that was common in the entire Øresund Region, and which has also been preserved in Elsinore (Helsingør). Among Ystad's half-timbered houses is the oldest such building in Scandinavia, Pilgrändshuset from 1480.^[65]

In Göinge, located in the northern part of Scania, the architecture was not shaped by a scarcity of wood, and the pre-17th-century farms consisted of graying, recumbent timber buildings around a small grass and cobblestone courtyard. Only a small number of the original Göinge farms remain today. During two campaigns, the first in 1612 by Gustav II Adolf and the second by Charles XI in the 1680s, entire districts were levelled by fire.^[66] In Örkened Parish, in what is now eastern Osby Municipality, the buildings were destroyed to punish the different villages for their protection of members of the Snapphane movement in the late 17th century.^[67] An original, 17th century Göinge farm, Sporrakulla Farm, has been preserved in a forest called Kullaskogen, a nature reserve close to Glimåkra in Östra Göinge. According to the local legend, the farmer saved the farm in the first raid of 1612 by setting a forest fire in front of it, making the Swedish troops believe that the farm had already been plundered and set ablaze.^[68]

A number of Scanian towns flourished during the Viking Age. The city of Lund is believed to have been founded by the Viking-king Sweyn Forkbeard.^[69] Scanian craftsmen and traders were prospering during this era and Denmark's first and largest mint was established in Lund. The first Scanian coins have been dated to 870 AD.^[70] The archaeological excavations performed in the city indicate that the oldest known stave church in Scania was built by Sweyn Forkbeard in Lund in 990.^[71] In 1103, Lund was made the archbishopric for all of Scandinavia.^[72]

Many of the old churches in today's Scanian landscape stem from the medieval age, although many church renovations, extensions and destruction of older buildings took place in the 16th and 19th century. From those that have kept features of the authentic style, it is still possible to see how the medieval, Romanesque or Renaissance churches of Danish Scania looked like. Many Scanian churches have distinctive Crow-stepped gables and sturdy church porches, usually made of stone.

The first version of Lund Cathedral was built in 1050, in sandstone from Höör, on the initiative of Canute the Holy.^[72] The oldest parts of today's cathedral are from 1085, but the actual cathedral was constructed during the first part of the 12th century with the help of stone cutters and sculptors from the Rhine valley and Italy, and was ready for use in 1123. It was consecrated in 1145 and for the next 400 years, Lund became the ecclesiastical power center for Scandinavia and one of the most important cities in Denmark.^[71] The cathedral was altered in the 16th century by architect Adam van Düren and later by Carl Georg Brunius and Helgo Zetterwall.

Lund skyline, with the Cathedral towers.

Scania also has churches built in the gothic style, such as Saint Petri Church in Malmö, dating from the early 14th century. Similar buildings can be found in all Hansa cities around the Baltic Sea (such as Helsingborg and Rostock). The parishes in the countryside did not have the means for such extravagant buildings. Possibly the most notable countryside church is the ancient and untouched stone church in Dalby. It is the oldest stone church in Sweden, built around the same time as Lund cathedral. After the Lund Cathedral was built, many of the involved workers travelled around the province and used their acquired skills to make baptism fonts, paintings and decorations, and naturally architectural constructions.

Scania has 240 castles and country estates—more than any other province in Sweden.^[73] Many of them received their current shape during the 16th century, when new or remodelled castles started to appear in greater numbers, often erected by the reuse of stones and material from the original 11th–15th-century castles and abbeys found at the estates. Between 1840 and 1900, the landed nobility in Scania built and rebuilt many of the castles again, often by modernizing previous buildings at the same location in a style that became typical for Scania. The style is a mixture of different architectural influences of the era, but frequently refers back to the style of the 16th-century castles of the Reformation era, a time when the large estates of the Catholic Church were made Crown property and the abbeys bartered or sold to members of the aristocracy by the Danish king.^[74] For many of the 19th century remodels, Danish architects were called in. According to some scholars, the driving force behind the use of historical Scanian architecture, as interpreted by 19th century Danish architects using Dutch Renaissance style, was a wish to refer back to an earlier era when the aristocracy had special privileges and political power in relation to the Danish king.^[75]

Language, literature and art

Scanian dialects have various local native idioms and speech patterns, and realizes diphthongs and South Scandinavian Uvular trill, as opposed to the supradental /r/-sound characteristic of spoken Standard Swedish. They are very similar to the dialect of Danish spoken in Bornholm, Denmark. The prosody of the Scanian dialects has more in common with German, Danish and Dutch (and sometimes also with English, although to a lesser extent) than with the prosody of central Swedish dialects.^[76]

Famous Scanian authors include Victoria Benedictsson, (1850–1888) from Domme, Trelleborg, who wrote about the inequality of women in the 19th century society, but who also authored regional stories about Scania, such as From Skåne of 1884; Ola Hansson^[77] (1860–1925) from Hönsinge, Trelleborg; Vilhelm Ekelund (1880–1949) from Stehag, Eslöv; Fritiof Nilsson Piraten (1895–1972) from Vollsjö, Sjöbo; Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961) from Malmö; Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991) from Hagstad, Perstorp; Hans Alfredsson (born 1931) and Jacques Werup (born 1945), both from Malmö. Birgitta Trotzig (1929-2011) from Gothenburg has written several historic novels set in Scania, such as The Exposed of 1957, which describes life in 17th century Scania with a primitive country priest as its main character and the 1961 novel A Tale from the Coast, which recounts a legend about human suffering and is set in Scania in the 15th century. Gabriel Jönsson (1892–1984) from Ålabodarna, Landskrona.

A printing-house was established in the city of Malmö in 1528. It became instrumental in the propagation of new ideas and during the 16th century, Malmö became the center for the Danish reformation.^[78]

Scanian culture, as expressed through the medium of textile art, has received international attention during the last decade.^[79] The art form, often referred to as Scanian Marriage Weavings, flourished from 1750 for a period of 100 years, after which it slowly vanished. Consisting of small textile panels mainly created for wedding ceremonies, the art is strongly symbolic, often expressing ideas about fertility, longevity and a sense of hope and joy.^[80] The Scanian artists were female weavers working at home, who had learned to weave at a young age, often in order to have a marriage chest filled with beautiful tapestries as a dowry.^[81]

According to international collectors and art scholars, the Scanian patterns are of special interest for the striking similarities with Roman, Byzantine and Asian art. The designs are studied by art historians tracing how portable decorative goods served as transmitters of art concepts from culture to culture, influencing designs and patterns along the entire length of the ancient trade routes.^[81] The Scanian textiles show how goods traded along the Silk Road brought Coptic, Anatolian, and Chinese designs and symbols into the folk art of far away regions like Scania, where they were reinterpreted and integrated into the local culture. Some of the most ancient designs in Scanian textile art are pairs of birds facing a tree with a "Great Bird" above, often symbolized simply by its wings.^[81] Regionally derived iconography include mythological Scanian river horses in red (Swedish: bäckahästar), with horns on their foreheads and misty clouds from their nostrils.^[81] The horse motif has been traced to patterns on 4th- and 5th-century Egyptian fabrics, but in Scanian art it is transformed to illustrate the Norse river horse of Scanian folklore.^[82]

Dukes

The title of duke was reintroduced in Sweden in 1772 and since this time, Swedish princes have been created dukes of various provinces, although the titles are purely nominal.

The Dukes of Scania have been:

• Crown Prince Carl (from his birth in 1826 until he became King in 1859)
• Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (from his birth in 1882 until he became King in 1950)

From his marriage, in 1905, King Gustaf VI Adolf had his summer residence at Sofiero Palace in Helsingborg. He and his family spent their summers there, and the cabinet meetings held there during the summer months forced the ministers to arrive by night train from Stockholm. He died at Helsingborg Hospital in 1973.

Sports

Football in the province is administered by Skånes Fotbollförbund.

See also

• Skåne Regional Council
• 460 Scania, an asteroid discovered in 1900

Notes

References

External links

Official links

• Region Skåne - The County council
• Scania's Public Recreational Areas - Region Skåne's public forests and parks
• Skåne - Business Region Skåne's official website for culture, heritage and tourism
• Länsstyrelsen - County Administration Board
• Skåneleden - Public nature trails through Scania

Organizations

• Oresund Region - The regional body of the Oresund Region
• Regional Museum - Museum in Kristianstad
• Kommunförbundet Skåne - A cooperation between Scania's 33 municipalities
• Skånes hembygdsförbund (in Swedish) - Heritage conservation organization
• Terra Scaniae - History project established for Scanian schools, financed with subsidies from Skåne Regional Council.

v t e Provinces (landskap) of Sweden Ångermanland Blekinge Bohuslän Dalarna Dalsland Gästrikland Gotland Halland Hälsingland Härjedalen Jämtland Lappland Medelpad Närke Norrbotten Öland Östergötland Scania (Skåne) Småland Södermanland Uppland Värmland Västerbotten Västergötland Västmanland

Coordinates: 55°48′N 13°37′E / 55.800°N 13.617°E / 55.800; 13.617