Norrbotten County ( sv, Norrbottens län; se, Norrbottena leatna, fi, Norrbottenin lääni) is the northernmost

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with

Västerbotten County Västerbotten County ( sv, Västerbottens län) is a county or ''län'' in the north of Sweden. It shares the borders with the counties of Västernorrland, Jämtland, and Norrbotten, as well as the Norwegian county of Nordland and the Gulf of Bo ...

to the southwest, the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast, the counties of Nordland and

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...

in Norway to the northwest, and

Lapland Province The Province of Lapland ( fi, Lapin lääni, sv, Lapplands län) was a Provinces of Finland, province of Finland from 1938 to 2009. It was established in 1938, when it was separated from the Province of Oulu. After the Second World War, the Pe ...

in Finland to the northeast. The name "Norrbotten" is also used for a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of the same name.

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swe ...

province covers only the eastern part of Norrbotten County – the inland mostly belongs to the

Swedish Lapland Lapland, also known by its Swedish name Lappland (, fi, Lappi, la, Lapponia), is a province in northernmost Sweden. It borders Jämtland, Ångermanland, Västerbotten, Norrbotten, Norway and Finland. Nearly a quarter of Sweden's land area ...

province (''Lappland''). The capital of Norrbotten is Luleå, whereas other significant towns include Boden, Kiruna and Piteå. The majority of the population lives in the namesake province, whereas the Lapland part of the county is sparsely populated. The northern part of Norrbotten lies within the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

Provinces

Norrbotten County consists of the entire province of

and about two thirds of

Geography

Norrbotten County covers almost one quarter of Sweden's land area, but is sparsely inhabited. This is especially true for inland parts of Lapland. The climate is generally cold, because of its northern location. However, the long summer days allow crops to ripen within two to three months, and agriculture is traditionally important, particularly near the coast and along the lower reaches of the

Torne River The Torne, also known as the Tornio ( fi, Tornionjoki, sv, Torne älv, , se, Duortneseatnu, fit, Tornionväylä), is a river in northern Sweden and Finland. For approximately half of its length, it defines the border between these two countr ...

. Grains, particularly

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es and

turnip The turnip or white turnip ('' Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound of ''turn'' as in turned/rounded on a lathe and ...

s are grown to some extent, but the most important crop is

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

for

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

. There are around 250 000 reindeer, in the winter herd, a number regulated by the Swedish state, which are herded by the Indigenous Sámi, organised in 15 Sámi Mountain villages, 9 Forest Sámi villages and 8 concession Sámi villages. Hunting and fishing is of major importance for the local inhabitants. Major

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s in Norrbotten County (north–south) include the Torne, the

Lule River Lule River ( smj, Julevädno, sv, Lule älv, ''Luleälven'') is a major river in Sweden, rising in northern Sweden and flowing southeast for before reaching the Gulf of Bothnia at Luleå. It is the second longest river by watershed area or length ...

, Kalix River, and

Pite River The Pite River (''Bidumedno'' in Pite Sami. ''Piteälven'', ''Pite älv'' or ''Piteå älv'' in Swedish.) is a river in northern Sweden, flowing through the Norrbotten County. It is one of the four major rivers in Norrland that have been left mo ...

. Rivers shared with the

include the

Skellefte River The Skellefte River ( sv, Skellefteälven or ; sje, Seldutiedno; sju, Syöldateiednuo) is a river in northern Sweden; one of the major Norrland rivers. Geographically, it starts in the Norrbotten County, also known as the Swedish Lappland pro ...

and

Ume River The Ume River (Swedish: ''Ume älv'' or ''Umeälven'') is one of the main rivers in northern Sweden. It is around long, and flows in a south-eastern direction from its source, the lake ''Överuman'' by the Norwegian border within the Scandinavian ...

. Other rivers that flow directly to the sea and that are at least 100 km long are the Sangis River,

Råne River Råne River (Swedish: ''Råneälven'') is a river in Sweden. References

Drainage basins of the Baltic Sea Rivers of Norrbotten County {{Sweden-river-stub ...

, Åby River, and Byske River. The county includes many islands in the

Bay of Bothnia The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wit ...

, which make up the

Norrbotten archipelago The Norrbotten archipelago ( sv, Norrbotten skärgård) is a group of Swedish islands in the north part of the Bay of Bothnia. A few of the islands have small permanent populations, but most are used only for recreation in the summer months. They a ...

. It is divided into the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

s of Piteå (550 islands), Luleå (1,312 islands),

Kalix Kalix ( sv, Kalix; Kalix dialect: ''Kôlis'', , phonemically ; fi, Kainuu; fit, Kainus) is a locality and the seat of the Kalix Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The name Kalix is believed to originate from the Sami word ''Gáláse ...

(792 islands) and Haparanda (652 islands). The largest island is

Rånön Rånön is an island in the northwest of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia, in the Kalix archipelago. Location Rånön is the largest island in the Kalix archipelago. It is uninhabited, but is popular with visitors in the summer. Rånö v ...

in the Kalix archipelago.

Population

The population has increased during the last hundred years. The estimated 2002 population was 250,000. In the 1912 census, the population was 166,641, (4,000 more males than females), of which about 120.000 were in the Norrbotten province part. Twenty years earlier, in 1892, the population was only 110.000. Since the 1960s, however, most municipalities of the county have experienced a decrease in population, particularly those inland.

Riksdag elections

The table details all Riksdag election results of Norrbotten County since the unicameral era began in 1970. The blocs denote which party would support the Prime Minister or the lead opposition party towards the end of the elected parliament.

History

During the Middle Ages, Norrbotten was considered to be

terra nullius ''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land". It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it. : : ...

("no man's land"). The area was populated by

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

, Kvens and different people related to the

Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

. From the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

on, the Swedish kings tried to

colonise Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

and

Christianise Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

the area. However; even today, there are Finnish and Sami minorities living in the area, who have maintained their own culture and customs. In the first half of the 17th century several ore deposits were discovered in what is now known as Norrbotten County.Hansson 2015, p. 13. The silver of Nasafjäll was discovered during the autumn of 1634 and subsequently mined from 1635 to 1659 and from the 1770s to 1810.Hansson 2015, p. 20.Hansson 2015, p. 24.Hansson 2015, p. 26. Following the

Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a re ...

in 1809,

was split between Sweden and Finland, with the larger part remaining within the Swedish borders. In 1810, the county was divided again when ''Norrbotten County'' was created out of the northern part, on the Swedish side. Most people in Norrbotten County still refer to the entire county, including the areas in Swedish Lapland, when they say '

'. The

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...

s (

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

, and

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...

, especially

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

) of Norrbotten have played a key role in the industrialization of Sweden. The 20th century saw strong mobility in and out of the county, with many young people moving south and people from other parts of the country moving in. In the 1970s and 1980s, the drainage of (mostly young) workers due to high unemployment was considerable, and people in the area began to voice feelings of being misunderstood or economically abused by the south and especially the capital Stockholm.

Heraldry

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of Norrbotten County combines the arms of the provinces

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), known in English as West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in the north of Sweden, bordering Ångermanland, Lapland, North Bothnia, and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is known for the cheese named after the p ...

and Lappland and was granted in 1949. Since 1995 the province

has a coat of arms of its own, but the county arms have not been changed accordingly. When it is shown with a royal crown, it represents the County Administrative Board. Blazon: "Quartered, the arms of Västerbotten and the arms of Lappland."

Culture

Many different cultures can be found in Norrbotten County:

culture, Finnish culture (via

Tornedalians The Tornedalians are descendants of Finns who, at some point, settled to the areas of today's Northern Sweden near the Torne Valley district and west from there. History Tornedalians migrated from today's Southern Finland, mainly from Häme and ...

) and the Swedish settler-culture. Many of the old local Swedish and Finnish dialects have survived in the area. The people of Norrbotten County have a saying: "I am not a Swede; I am a Norrbothnian". A local way of speaking, coupled with understated irony, is also sometimes used as a means to exclude southerners. These contrasts are well known throughout Sweden and often appear in TV, films, literature and folklore connected to Norrbotten, for characterizing, satiric or dramatic purposes (e.g. some characters in the books of

Eyvind Johnson Eyvind Johnson (29 July 1900 – 25 August 1976) was a Swedish novelist and short story writer. Regarded as the most groundbreaking novelist in modern Swedish literature he became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1957 and shared the 1974 Nob ...

or the police detective Einar Rönn in the crime novels of

Maj Sjöwall Maj Sjöwall (; 25 September 1935 – 29 April 2020) was a Swedish author and translator. She is best known for her books about police detective Martin Beck. She wrote the books in collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö. Biograph ...

and

Per Wahlöö Per Fredrik Wahlöö (5 August 1926 – 22 June 1975) – in English translations often identified as Peter Wahloo – was a Swedish author. He is perhaps best known for the collaborative work with his partner Maj Sjöwall on a series of ten nove ...

). The coast has the historical cities of Luleå and Piteå. Luleå's Gammelstad ("Old town"), which is 10 km north of the present downtown, has been declared a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. Apart from the Swedish language,

Meänkieli (literally 'our language') is a group of distinct Finnish dialects or a Finnic language spoken in the northernmost part of Sweden along the valley of the Torne River. Its status as an independent language is disputed, but in Sweden it is recogn ...

, and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

may be used in dealing with

government agencies A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...

s and

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

s in parts of Norrbotten County. The Sami language has official minority language status in

Arjeplog Arjeplog (; Pite Sami: ) is a locality and the seat of Arjeplog Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,977 inhabitants in 2010. It is a popular winter test site for the Asian and European car industries and feature ...

Gällivare Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town wa ...

Jokkmokk Jokkmokk (; smj, Jåhkåmåhkke or ; se, Dálvvadis; fi, Jokimukka) is a locality and the seat of Jokkmokk Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden, with 2,786 inhabitants in 2010. The Lule Sami name of the place (compose ...

, and Kiruna municipalities. Meänkieli and Finnish have the same status in Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna,

Pajala Pajala () is a locality and the seat of Pajala Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden, with 1,958 inhabitants in 2010. It is located in Swedish Lapland. Pajala is in the Torne Valley and was dominated by people speaking a Finnish dialect u ...

, and

Övertorneå Övertorneå ( fit, Matarengi; fi, Matarenki) is a locality and the seat of Övertorneå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,917 inhabitants in 2010. It is located at the shore of the Torne River, opposite to their Finnish twin ...

municipalities.

Administration

The main aims of the

County Administrative Board A county administrative board ( sv, länsstyrelse) is a Swedish Government Agency in each of the counties of Sweden, led by a vice-regal governor ( sv, landshövding) appointed by the government for a term of six years. The lists of gubernatorial o ...

are to fulfil the goals set in national politics by the Riksdag and the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

, to promote the development of the county, and to establish regional goals. The County Administrative Board is a

Government Agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...

headed by a Governor (see List of Norrbotten Governors).

Politics

Results of the 2010 Swedish general election in Norrbotten: * Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party 51.86% *

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic lib ...

16.38% * Left Party 9.29% *

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

5.26% * Centre Party 4.65% * Liberal People's Party 4.32% * Sweden Democrats 3.85% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

3.29% *Other parties 1.10%

Municipalities

The

Sami language Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

can be used in contacts with local authorities in

, and Kiruna. Similarly,

and

can be used in

, Haparanda, Kiruna,

, and

Foreign background

SCB have collected statistics on backgrounds of residents since 2002. These tables consist of all who have two foreign-born parents or are born abroad themselves. A majority of them are of Finnish descent. The chart lists election years and the last year on record alone.

Transportation

The main mode of person travel inside Norrbotten is by car. The distances are long, e.g. 345 km between Luleå and Kiruna. The roads have been given relatively high speed limits compared to southern Sweden, usually 100–110 km/h. Norrbotten has a railway network focused on heavy freight traffic. There are two main railways. Stambanan genom övre Norrland connects Norrbotten with central and southern Sweden.

Malmbanan The Iron Ore Line ( sv, Malmbanan) is a long railway line between Riksgränsen and Boden in Norrbotten County, Sweden, owned by Trafikverket (the Swedish Transport Administration). The line also contains two branches, from Kiruna to Svappavaar ...

connects Luleå with the iron mines in Gällivare and Kiruna and the ice-free port of Narvik. Malmbanan has highest amount of freight traffic in Scandinavia, especially the part between Kiruna and Narvik. Air travel is the main mode of travel between Norrbotten and southern Sweden. The main airport is

Luleå Airport Luleå Airport is located about 7 km (4.3 mi) south-southeast of Luleå, Sweden, near the village of Kallax. The airport had a total of 1,177,443 passengers in 2015, and is thus Sweden's fifth largest airport. It is the largest airp ...

, sixth largest in Sweden. Other airports are

Arvidsjaur Airport Arvidsjaur Airport is situated from Arvidsjaur town in Sweden and had 52,681 passengers in 2018. The runway is longer than most in the northern interior of Sweden, and this allows international charter jet planes. This was a major reason winter ...

Gällivare Airport Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town wa ...

Kiruna Airport Kiruna Airport is the northernmost airport in Sweden. It lies around 10 km (6.2 mi) from the town centre of Kiruna. In 2018, the airport served 277,018 passengers. Future Kiruna Airport is the chosen destination for the Spaceport Swe ...

and

Pajala Airport Pajala Airport () is an airport in Pajala, Sweden. History The airport was opened for regular traffic in 1999. Before that, Pajala was said to be the most inaccessible municipality centre in Sweden, with around 5 hours travel time from central S ...

References and notes

article ''Norrbottens län''
from Nordisk familjebok (1912).

Books and articles

* *Öhman, May-Britt (2016)
TechnoVisions of a Sámi Cyborg: Reclaiming Sámi Body-, Land-, and Waterscapes After a Century of Colonial Exploitations in Sábme
in ''Illdisciplined Gender: Engaging Questions of Nature/Culture and Transgressive Encounters'' / dBull, Jacob; Fahlgren, Margaretha, Rotterdam: Springer, 63–98. *Elenius, Lars, Allard, Christina & Sandström, Camilla (eds.),
Indigenous rights in modern landscapes: Nordic conservation regimes in global context
', Routledge, New York, NY, 2017,

External links

Norrbotten County Administrative BoardNorrbotten County Council
*Norrbotten Regional Association of Local Authorities
Sámi Parliament Information Center
{{Coord, 67.135829, N, 18.500977, E , source:ndswiki_region:SE , format=dms , display=title Counties of Sweden

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Lapland (Sweden) States and territories established in 1810 1810 establishments in Sweden