Norrbotten
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See also: Norrbotten County
Norrbotten is a Swedish province (landskap) in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lappland, and east to Finland.
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[edit] History
During the Middle Ages Norrbotten was basically a no man's land. The area was sparsely populated by Sami people, who lived on hunting, fishing and reindeer herding. From the middle ages and forward, the Swedish kings tried hard to colonise and Christianize the area. Settlers from Finland, most important of which were known as Birkarls, controlled the trade and even taxing on the area long into the 16th century.<ref>Vahtola, Jouko. Tornionlaakson historia I. Birkarlit, 'pirkkalaiset'. Malungs boktryckeri AB. Malung, Sweden. 1991.</ref> From the mid 1500s, the area was more firmly tied to Sweden. Still today, Finnish and Sami minorities live in Norrbotten and they have kept their culture and language.
The province was originally a part of Västerbotten. After the creation of Norrbotten County in 1810, the province gradually was referred to as an independent province.
Historically, Västerbotten was the denomination for northern Sweden, together with the Lapland areas.
Cultural identification in Sweden is closely related to the historical provinces, and the people in Norrbotten live in this sense in Northern Västerbotten, or Norra Västerbotten. In order not to be confused with people from Southern Västerbotten, i.e. the coastal region of Västerbotten County, they started to identify themselves with the county rather than with the historical province. Norrbotten gradually become used as synonymous with the area that was previously referred to as Northern Västerbotten (as well as a colloquial term for the entire Norrbotten County, including the municipalities in Swedish Lapland).
Since the 1980s Norrbotten Province has adopted or has been assigned provincial symbols. There is a coat of arms for Norrbotten County, but Norrbotten designated as a traditional province does not hold any distinction of this kind. Still, most people in Norrbotten County mean the entire county, including the areas in Swedish Lapland (Lappland), when the say "Norrbotten". It is a common misconception in southern or central Sweden to believe that is because they wouldn't prefer the name Lappland.
The coat of arms was granted in 1995, after decades of disputes. It symbolizes the four large rivers in Norrbotten that drain into the Gulf of Bothnia: Torne River, Kalix River, Lule River and Pite River and the Bodträskån.
[edit] Population
The population is 194,376 as of 2004, distributed over 26,810 km², which gives a density of 7,3/km².
[edit] Culture
Norrbotten has around 8,000 ancient remains. Languages spoken in the province include Swedish, Meänkieli, Finnish, and Sami. Some Meänkieli speakers have gradually been considering themselves part of the Kven people, which supposedly arrived to the area much earlier than the Swedish settlers.
The Church Village of Gammelstad outside Luleå has been named a UNESCO World heritage site.
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
- North Bothnia flag A discussion on "what is North Bothnia"
Ångermanland • Bohuslän • Blekinge • Dalarna • Dalsland • Gästrikland • Gotland • Halland • Hälsingland • Härjedalen • Jämtland • Lapland • Medelpad • Norrbotten • Närke • Öland • Östergötland • Scania • Småland • Södermanland • Uppland • Värmland • Västmanland • Västerbotten • Västergötland
da:Norrbotten de:Norrbotten eo:Norrbotten fr:Norrbotten it:Norrbotten la:Norbotnia nl:Norrbotten ja:ノールボッテン県 no:Norrbotten fi:Norrbottenin maakunta sv:Norrbotten vo:Nolüda-Botniän (länatopäd)
