Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

. The island has 26,000 inhabitants. It is separated from the mainland by the Kalmar Strait and connected to it by the Öland Bridge, which opened on 30 September 1972. The county seat Kalmar is on the mainland at the other end of the bridge and is an important commercial centre related to the Öland economy. The island's two municipalities are Borgholm and Mörbylånga named after their municipal seats. Much of the island is farmland, with fertile plains aided by the mild and sunny weather during summer. Öland does not have separate political representation at the national level, and is fully integrated into Sweden as part of

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland. The counties are mainly administrative units. Geo ...

Administration

The traditional provinces of Sweden no longer serve administrative or political purposes but still exist as historical and cultural entities. Öland is part of the administrative county of

(''Kalmar län'') and consists of the two municipalities of Borgholm Municipality and Mörbylånga Municipality. There was an Öland County in the short period between 1819 and 1826; otherwise, the island has been part of Kalmar County since 1634.

Heraldry

Öland was granted provincial arms in 1560, but it would not be until the 1940s that the province was assigned its proper ones. The arms granted to ''Öland'' had been mixed up with the arms granted to '' Åland'' and this was not discovered until the 20th century. While Öland changed its coat of arms, Åland, which was now a Finnish (autonomous) province, kept its established but originally unintended coat of arms. The deer is meant to symbolize the status of Öland as a royal game park and the arms are topped by a ducal crown. Blazon: "Azure a Deer Or attired, hoofed and gorged Gules."

History

Archaeological evidence indicates the island of Öland was settled about 8000 BC, with excavations dating from the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

era showing the presence of

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

s. In the early

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

, settlers from the mainland migrated across the

ice bridge An ice bridge is a frozen natural structure formed over seas, bays, rivers or lake surfaces. They facilitate migration of animals or people over a water body that was previously uncrossable by terrestrial animals, including humans. The most sign ...

that connected the island across the Kalmar Strait. Evidence of habitation of Öland occurred at least as early as 6000 BC, when there were Stone Age settlements at Alby and other locations on the island. Burial grounds from the Iron Age through the Viking Age are clearly visible at Gettlinge, Hulterstad and other places on the perimeter ridge including stone ships. There are nineteen Iron Age

ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...

s identified on the island, only one of which,

Eketorp Eketorp is an Iron Age fort, located on southeastern Öland, Sweden, and extensively reconstructed and enlarged in the Middle Ages. Throughout the ages the fortification has served a variety of somewhat differing uses: from defensive ringfort, to m ...

, has been completely excavated, yielding over 24,000 artifacts. Around 900 AD,

Wulfstan of Hedeby Wulfstan of Hedeby was a late ninth century traveller and trader. His travel accounts, as well as those of another trader, Ohthere of Hålogaland, were included in the ''Old English Orosius''. It is unclear if Wulfstan was English or indeed if h ...

called the island "Eowland", the land of the Eowans: However, this is not the first mention of the Eowans. There is an even earlier mention of the tribe in the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

poem '' Widsith'': Scholars such as Schütte and Kendrick have pointed out that there was probably an even earlier mention of the people of Öland in 98 AD, by Tacitus, who called them the " Aviones": In Swedish history, the island long served as a royal game park; Ottenby and

Halltorps Halltorp was one of the earliest manor on the island of Öland, Sweden, dating from the 11th century AD. In early documents it is known as Hauldtorp, and it is cited as one of the early Viking era settlements of Öland. From early times it ha ...

were in particular selected by the Swedish Crown in the Middle Ages as royal game reserves.

Geography

Öland is the second largest of the islands of Sweden and was historically divided into one chartered city and five hundreds.

Cities and villages

* Alby * Bläsinge * Borgholm (1816) *

Gårdby Gårdby is a locality situated in Mörbylånga Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of ...

* Gettlinge *

Eriksöre Eriksöre is a village located on the island of Öland, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World ...

Fagerum Fagerum is a small village on Öland. It belongs to the municipality of Borgholm Borgholm () is a city and the seat of Borgholm Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 4,401 inhabitants in 2020. It is located on the island of Öland in the Balt ...

* Färjestaden * Hulterstad *

Köpingsvik Köpingsvik is a locality situated in Borgholm Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 599 inhabitants in 2010. It is located about east of the city of Borgholm on the island Öland. Köpingsvik is known as a tourist center, offering large and ...

* Mörbylånga * Norra Möckleby *

Öjkroken Öjkroken is a village on the island Öland in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographi ...

* Ottenby * Seby * Segerstad * Södra Sandby * Stenåsa

Hundreds

Åkerbo Hundred A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in northern Germanic countries and related colonies, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions. The equivalent term in Swedish is (in Uppland also ...

Algutsrum Hundred Algutsrum Hundred, or ''Algutsrums härad'', was a hundred of Öland in Sweden, located on the west side of the island in modern-day Mörbylånga Municipality Mörbylånga Municipality (''Mörbylånga kommun'') is a municipality in Kalmar County, ...

Gräsgård Hundred A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in northern Germanic countries and related colonies, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions. The equivalent term in Swedish is (in Uppland a ...

* Möckleby Hundred *

Runsten Hundred A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in northern Germanic countries and related colonies, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions. The equivalent term in Swedish is (in Uppland also ...

Slättbo Hundred A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in northern Germanic countries and related colonies, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions. The equivalent term in Swedish is (in Uppland a ...

Facts

* Highest Hill: Högsrum, * Largest lake: Hornsjön * Length: * Width (at widest point):

Climate

Öland has a semi-continental

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

with vast temperature differences between summer and winter. There are two main weather stations, one located at the northern edge and the other at the southern edge. In spite of the more northerly latitude, Öland's northern edge is far milder than its southern edge, since air warm over greater surrounding landmasses during days, whilst retaining heavy maritime features during night. It is also more representative for the island's general climate, with only the deep south being much cooler down a narrow peninsula.

Environment

The dominant environmental feature of the island is the Stora Alvaret, a

limestone pavement A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK and Ireland, where many of these landforms have developed dist ...

which is the habitat of numerous rare and

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

. The first known scientific study of the

biota Biota may refer to: * Biota (ecology), the plant and animal life of a region * Biota (plant), common name for a coniferous tree, ''Platycladus orientalis'' * Biota, Cinco Villas, a municipality in Aragon, Spain * Biota (band), a band from Color ...

of the Stora Alvaret occurred in the year 1741 with the visit of Linnaeus. The underlying bedrock layer is mainly

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

sandstone and alum chert, and Ordovician limestone that dates from an approximate range of 540 to 450 million years ago. The Cambrian trilobite ''Eccaparadoxides oelandicus'' is named after the island. Öland is served by a perimeter highway, Route 136. In 2011 the Gripen Gas company filed a request for test drilling on Öland for natural gas. The request was approved by Bergsstaten, the governmental agency responsible for handling geological issues regarding prospecting. The approval has been met with criticism on the municipal and county administrative levels, citing that the many cracks in the limestone bedrock could cause the groundwater to become contaminated by the gas prospecting.

Culture

The Borgholm Castle was built between 1669 and 1681 for Queen

Hedvig Eleonora Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp (23 October 1636 – 24 November 1715) was Queen of Sweden from 1654 until 1660 as the wife of King Charles X Gustav. She served as regent during the minority of her son, King Charles XI, from 1660 until 1672, ...

, and designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder. In its vicinity sits the

Solliden Palace Solliden Palace -- commonly known as just ''Solliden --'' is the summer residence of the Swedish Royal Family and the personal private property of King Carl XVI Gustaf. The palace is situated near the Borgholm Castle ruin on the island of Öland ...

, summer home to the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...

. The

habitat of southern Öland, known as Stora Alvaret, has been entered as a site of the UNESCO World Heritage program. Features of this are the many rare species found; prehistory sites such as Gettlinge and

; numerous old wooden windmills left standing, some of which date to the 17th century; and the special geological alvar landscape. For a decade, Öland has been organizing an annual harvest festival called ''Skördefesten'' that takes place every October. In terms of this event, the island's farmers gather with farmers from the rest of the country and sell their crops and let those that are interested take part in everyday life on their farms, among other activities. There are also many art exhibitions for display during Skördefesten especially during the art night Konstnatten. The romantic poet

Erik Johan Stagnelius Erik Johan Stagnelius (14 October 17933 April 1823) was a Swedish Romantic poet, playwright and romantic critic of political economy.https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1086360/FULLTEXT01.pdf 1810 to 1840 was a time of blossoming in ...

was born in the Öland parish of Gärdslösa in 1793 and lived there until 16 years of age. He wrote several poems about the island. More modern writers living on or writing about Öland include novelist Margit Friberg (1904–1997), poet Anna Rydstedt (1928–1994), novelist Birgitta Trotzig (1929-2011), poet Lennart Sjögren (1930-), children novelist

Eva Bexell Eva Bexell (born 1945) is a Swedish author of children's books. She debuted in 1976 with the book ''Prostens barnbarn''. Her books have been translated to Danish, English, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian and German, and as of November 2007, sold over ...

(1945-), poet Tom Hedlund (1945-), novelist

Johan Theorin Johan Theorin (born in 1963 Gothenburg) is a Swedish journalist and author. Throughout his life, Johan Theorin has been a regular visitor to the island of Öland in the Baltic sea. His mother’s family—sailors, fishermen and stone cutters—ha ...

(1963-), poet and novelist Magnus Utvik (1964-) and novelist Per Planhammar (1965-).

Skördefest

Skördefest is an annual

harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

festival on Öland, held every September, which attracts thousands of visitors. Pumpkins are placed upon the top of bales of hay, a signal to buyers that fall harvest goods are available for sale at the location. In Borgholm, a ''pumpagubbe'' (pumpkin man), a large scarecrow like figure, built entirely of gourds, is erected at town center. The pumpagubbe celebrates the bounty of the Fall Harvest.

Sports

Football in the province is administered by

Smålands Fotbollförbund The Smålands Fotbollförbund ''(Småland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical provinces of Småland and Öland. Background Sm ...

. Each year the King's Rally, a vintage motorcade, takes place in Öland.

References

External links

* *
Increasing Mobility at the Neolithic/Bronze Age Transition - sulphur isotope evidence from Öland, Sweden

World Heritage profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oland Islands of Kalmar County Provinces of Sweden Swedish islands in the Baltic Ramsar sites in Sweden