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Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a
Swedish province The provinces of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges landskap) are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces; they have no administrative function (except for in some cases as sport districts), but remain historical legacies and a ...
(''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to
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 ...
, and east to
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
.


Administration

The traditional
provinces of Sweden The provinces of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges landskap) are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces; they have no administrative function (except for in some cases as sport districts), but remain historical legacies and ...
serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. In this case, however, the county is older than the province. When the new national border to the
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n
Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...
formed, the province of Västerbotten split in two, and formed the municipalities of
Kolari Kolari is a municipality of Finland at the Swedish border, which follows the Torne River, the longest free-flowing river in Europe. It is located in the region of Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of whic ...
,
Muonio Muonio (previously called ''Muonionniska'', se, Muoná) is a municipality of Finland. The town is located in far northern Finland above the Arctic Circle on the country's western border, within the area of the former Lappi (Lapland) province. ...
,
Pello Pello (formerly Turtola) is a municipality of Finland. It is located approximately north of the Arctic Circle in the western part of the province of Lapland, and is part of the Lapland region. The municipality is on the national border with Sw ...
,
Tornio Tornio (; sv, Torneå; sme, Duortnus ; smn, Tuárnus) is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is ...
, and
Ylitornio Ylitornio ( sv, Övertorneå; sme, Badje-Duortnus; smn, Pajetuárnus) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland along the Tornio River, opposite the Swedish town of Övertorneå about by road to its northwest. T ...
. However, Finnish Västerbotten is not recognized enough as its own historical province, so it's usually merged instead with Ostrobothnia, however leaving out Muonio to Laponia. The northernmost of the
counties of Sweden The counties of Sweden (Swedish: ''Sveriges län'') are the top-level geographic subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties; however, the number of counties has varied over time, due to territorial gains/losses and to d ...
were created in 1810 consisting of the northern parts of Lappland and Västerbotten. After that, northern Västerbotten has gradually evolved as a province of its own.


Heraldry

Not being one of the old historical provinces of Sweden Norrbotten had not been granted a coat of arms in the same way as the others. As recently as 1995, after decades of controversy, Norrbotten got its arms, thus recognized as a "real" province.


History

During 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 ...
, the area was sparsely populated by Sami people, who lived on hunting, fishing and
reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...
herding. From the Middle Ages and forward, the Swedish kings tried hard to colonise and Christianize the area. Settlers from the then eastern half of Sweden,
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
– the most important of which were known as
Birkarls The Birkarls (''birkarlar'' in Swedish, unhistorical ''pirkkamiehet'' or ''pirkkalaiset'' in Finnish; ''bircharlaboa'', ''bergcharl'' etc. in historical sources) were a small, unofficially organized group that controlled taxation and commerce in ...
~ controlled the trade and even the taxing on the area long into the 16th century.Vahtola, Jouko. ''Tornionlaakson historia I''. Birkarlit, 'pirkkalaiset'. Malungs boktryckeri AB. Malung, Sweden. 1991. From the mid-16th century, the area was more firmly tied to Sweden. An important sign of Swedish control was the large Nederluleå stone church from 1492. Still today, Finnish and Sami minorities live in Norrbotten and they have kept their culture and language. Historically, Västerbotten was the denomination for northern Sweden, together with the Lappland areas. The ''Eastern Botten'' or Ostrobothnia was in the Finnish side. 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 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 ...
, they started to identify themselves with the county rather than with the historical province. Norrbotten had gradually become synonymous with the area that was previously referred to as northern Västerbotten. It started to evolve as a separate province. During the 20th century it got all of the symbols (animals, flowers etc.) which are assigned to the other provinces of Sweden. But there was still some resistance to the idea of Norrbotten being a province. As recently as 1995, after decades of debate, Norrbotten was granted a
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
, thus at last being fully recognized as one of provinces of Sweden. The coat of arms symbolizes the four large rivers in Norrbotten that drain into the Gulf of Bothnia:
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 ...
, Kalix River,
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 ...
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 ...
. The summers can bring surprisingly warm temperatures for such northerly latitudes, and Norrbotten holds the all-time high temperature record for the entire Norrland at 37 °C (98 °F).


Population

As of 31 December 2016, the population is 195,024, distributed over 26,671 km2, which gives a density of 7.3 inhabitants/km2.


Culture

Norrbotten has around 8,000 ancient remains. Languages spoken in the province include
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
(including North Swedish regiolects),
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 ...
,
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 ...
, and
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 ...
. Some Meänkieli speakers have gradually been considering themselves part of the
Kven people Kvens (; fi, kveeni; no, kvenar, kvener; sv, kväner; se, kveanat) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic minority in Norway. They are descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Norther ...
, which supposedly arrived to the area much earlier than the Swedish settlers. The Church Village of Gammelstad outside Luleå has been named 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 ...
.


Sports

Football in the province (and Norrbotten County as a whole) is administered by
Norrbottens Fotbollförbund The Norrbottens Fotbollförbund ''(Norrbotten Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in Norrbotten County. Background Norrbott ...
. Ice hockey is also popular, with
Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...
, and basketball with the BC Luleå men's team and the Luleå BBK women's team.


References


External links


North Bothnia flag
A discussion on "what is North Bothnia" {{Coord, 67, 00, N, 20, 00, E, region:SE_type:adm1st_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Provinces of Sweden