Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the
Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative
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 ...
(''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of
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 Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
.
Västergötland is home to
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
, the second largest city in Sweden, which is situated along a short stretch of the
Kattegat strait. The province is bordered by
Bohuslän,
Dalsland,
Värmland,
Närke,
Östergötland,
Småland and
Halland, as well as the two largest Swedish lakes
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmlan ...
and
Vättern
Vättern ( , ) is the second largest lake by surface area in Sweden, after Vänern, and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden, to the southeast of Vänern, pointing at the tip ...
.
Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden is Duchess of Västergötland.
Administration
The
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 function. Instead, that function is served by
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 ...
. From the 17th century up until 31 December 1997, Västergötland was divided into
Skaraborg County,
Älvsborg County and a minor part of
Gothenburg and Bohus County
Gothenburg and Bohus County ( sv, Göteborgs och Bohus län) was a county of Sweden until 1997, when it was merged with Skaraborg County and Älvsborg County to form Västra Götaland County.
The county was named after the city of Gothenburg and ...
. From 1 January 1998 nearly all of the province is in the newly created
Västra Götaland County, with the exception of
Habo Municipality
Habo Municipality ( sv, Habo kommun) is a municipality in Jönköping County, southern Sweden, where the locality of Habo is seat.
The present municipality was formed in 1974 when a part of the dissolved rural municipality of ''Fågelsås'' was ...
and
Mullsjö Municipality
Mullsjö Municipality ( sv, Mullsjö kommun) is a municipality in Jönköping County, southern Sweden. Its seat is in the locality of Mullsjö.
The municipality was formed in 1952 by the amalgamation of four former entities. In 1998 it was transf ...
, which were transferred to
Jönköping County
Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in ...
, and smaller parts of the province which are in
Halland County and
Örebro County
Örebro County ( sv, Örebro län) is a county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanland and Östergötland. It is frequently culturally divided into the hill ...
.
Heraldry
Västergötland was granted its arms at the time of the funeral of King
Gustav Vasa in 1560. The province is also a duchy and the arms can be represented with the ducal coronet. Blazon: "Per bend sinister Sable and Or, a Lion rampant counterchanged langued and armed Gules between two Mullets Argent in the Sable field."
Geography
The southern and eastern part of the province is dominated by hills, belonging to the
southern Swedish highlands. In
geological terms southern Västergötland is made up of northward tilted surfaces of the
Sub-Cambrian peneplain
The sub-Cambrian peneplain is an ancient, extremely flat, erosion surface ( peneplain) that has been exhumed and exposed by erosion from under Cambrian strata over large swathes of Fennoscandia. Eastward, where this peneplain dips below Cambria ...
making up the flank of the
Southern Swedish Dome.
The northern and western portions of the province belong to the
Central Swedish lowland, which in this part is referred to as the Västgöta-plains or . Characteristic for these lowlands in Västergötland is that they contain hills made up
Silurian-aged
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
. These are;
Kinnekulle
Kinnekulle is a flat-topped mountain in the county of Västergötland, Sweden, on the eastern shore of lake Vänern. Its highest point is above sea level. The mountain is long and wide at the top.
Geology
Despite its enormous size, Kinnekul ...
,
Halleberg,
Hunneberg and
Billingen
Billingen is the largest of the thirteen mesas in the Swedish county of Västra Götaland, with a maximum altitude of . The mesa extends in a north-southerly direct with a length of and a width of .
Billingen is divided into two parts by an ea ...
.
Along the
Kattegat lies the archipelago usually known as the
Gothenburg archipelago. The southern part of it, belonging to
Gothenburg Municipality, is part of Västergötland.
The northwestern border is demarcated by Sweden's largest lake
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmlan ...
, and the north-eastern border is demarcated by Sweden's second largest lake
Vättern
Vättern ( , ) is the second largest lake by surface area in Sweden, after Vänern, and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden, to the southeast of Vänern, pointing at the tip ...
. Within the province the shoreline of Lake Vänern is long, and along Vättern it is . The largest river is
Göta älv which drains
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmlan ...
to the east shore and the
Kattegat strait; along the river several important cities and towns have been situated for centuries.
The average rainfall is near the coast and in the plains. The average temperature is in January and in July.
* Highest mountain: Galtåsen 362 meters
* National parks:
Tiveden,
Djurö
Population
As of 31 December 2016, Västergötland had a population of 1,328,128 distributed over four counties:
History
Prehistory and middle ages
There are many ancient remains in Västergötland. Among the most notable of these remains are the
dolmens from the
Funnelbeaker culture, in the
Falköping area south of lake
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmlan ...
.
Finnestorp, near
Larv, was a weapons sacrificial site from the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
.
The population of Västergötland, the ''
Geats'' appear in the writings of the Greek
Ptolemaios (as ''Goutai''), and they appear as ''Gautigoths'' in
Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') an ...
' work in the 6th century. The province of Västergötland represents the heartland of
Götaland, once an independent
petty kingdom
A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into ...
with a long line of
Geatish kings
Geatish kings ( la, Rex Getarum/Gothorum; sv, Götakungar), ruling over the provinces of Götaland (Gautland/Geatland), appear in several sources for early Swedish history. Today, most of them are not considered historical.
This list follows t ...
. These are mainly described in foreign sources (Frankish) and through legends. It is possible that Västergötland had the same king as the rest of Sweden at the time of the monk
Ansgar's mission to Sweden in the 9th century, but both the date and nature of its inclusion into the Swedish kingdom is a matter of much debate. Some date it as early as the 6th century, based on the
Swedish-Geatish wars in ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...
'' epos; others date it as late as the 12th century.
Västergötland received much early influence from the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...
and is generally considered to be the
bridgehead of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
's advance into Sweden. Recent excavations at
Varnhem suggest that at least its central parts were Christian in the 9th century. Around 1000, King
Olof Skötkonung is held to have received
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
in
Husaby, near lake
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmlan ...
. However, the Christianization was met with heavy opposition in the rest of his kingdom, and so Olof had to restrict the Christian activities to Västergötland. The Christian faith spread, and by the time the provincial law ''
Västgötalagen'' was written in the 13th century, Västergötland had 517 churches. The seat of the area's
diocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...
seems to originally have been Husaby, but since 1150 the city of
Skara (just some 20 kilometers south) held that distinction.
From the election of King
Stenkil
Stenkil (Old Norse: ''Steinkell'') was a King of Sweden who ruled c. 1060 until 1066. He succeeded Emund the Old and became the first king from the House of Stenkil. He is praised as a devout Christian, but with an accommodating stance towards ...
in the 11th century, Swedish and Geatish dynasties vied for the control of Sweden during long civil wars. For instance, the Swedish king
Ragnvald Knaphövde was elected king by the Swedes, but when he entered Västergötland, he chose not to demand hostage from the powerful Geatish clans and was slain by the Geats near Falköping. Several times, Västergötland was independent from Sweden with kings such as
Inge I of Sweden and
Magnus the Strong. In later years the area was progressively tied more closely to the Swedish kingdom.
Being in peace with the rest of Sweden did not mean being in peace. Located along the borders of Denmark (with the so-called
Scanian lands) and Norway (with
Bohuslän), the area was often involved in armed disputes and invaded by hostile armies.
Some places and dates of early battles were the
Battle of Älgarås (1205), the
Battle of Lena (1208), the
Battle of Hova
The Battle of Hova (''Slaget vid Hova'') was fought in Hova, Sweden on 14 June 1275 between peasants commanded by King Valdemar of Sweden
Valdemar (English: Waldemar; sv, Valdemar Birgersson; 1239 – 26 December 1302) was King of Sweden ...
(1275), the
Battle of Gälakvist (1279) and the
Battle of Falköping (1389). Thereafter, Sweden was involved in the Sweden-Danish wars; some notable years 1452, 1511, 1520, 1566, 1612, 1676.
In 1658, the current borders of Sweden were established when Sweden annexed both the Scanian lands and Bohuslän. Västergötland became less exposed as it was further from the country borders. Seaside battles at the end of
Scanian War in the 1670s was the last combat on Västergötland soil.
Sources:
*
Nordisk Familjebok (link below).
16th century and after
In 1634, the province was modernized with the establishment of two counties:
Skaraborg County (with Skara as capital) and
Älvsborg County (Capital first in Gothenburg but after 1679 in
Vänersborg).
Culture
Language
In Västergötland, the
Götamål dialect of
Swedish is spoken. The dialect has several varieties like the ones spoken in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
and
Sjuhärad, but the main dialectal variety is the Western Götaland dialect, ''Västgötska''.
The dialect was first dealt with as early as 1772, by S. Hofs in his ''Dialectus vestrogothica'', which was a vocabulary with a grammar introduction.
Sights
Läckö Castle
Läckö Castle (Swedish language, Swedish: '':sv:Läckö slott, Läckö Slott'' ) is a medieval castle in Sweden, located on Kållandsö island on Lake Vänern, 25 kilometers north of Lidköping in Västergötland, Sweden.
History
Brynolf Algo ...
is situated on the island ''Kållandsö'' in the
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmlan ...
lake. It is generally regarded as one of Sweden's finest
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
castles. The island was actually the location of a fortress as early as 1298, but the current building was begun in 1615, supervised first by
Jacob De la Gardie and then finished by his son
Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie.
Karlsborg Fortress, the largest fortress in Europe, is situated in the town of Karlsborg.
It is a testament to the "Central Defence Principle" of the 19th century, a reaction to the loss of Finland as a buffer state in 1809.
Bjurum manor, one of the largest
Swedish manors in the country, is located in Västergötland.
Skara Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the original parts of Sweden, i.e. if
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skån ...
is not included.
Hundreds
Hundreds of Sweden were sub-divisions of the Swedish provinces until the early 20th century. Several of Västergötland's hundreds were already described in the first written law for the province (''
Västgötalagen'') in the 13th century. Västergötland's hundreds were:
*
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops.
As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to bala ...
*
Askim
*
Barne Barne is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Frederick Barne (1801–1886), English landowner and politician
* Frederick St John Newdigate Barne (1842–1898), British army officer and politician
*George Barne (bishop) (1879–1954 ...
*
Bjärke
*
Bollebygd
*
Eastern Hisingen
*
Flundre
*
Frökind
*
Gudhem
*
Gäsene
*
Kåkind
*
Kålland
*
Kind
*
Kinne
*
Kinner Quarter
*
Kulling
*
Laske
*
Mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Finn ...
*
Mo
*
Redväg
*
Skånings
*
Vadsbo
*
Valle
*
Vartofta
Vartofta is a locality situated in Falköping Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 540 inhabitants in 2010.
''Vartofta Hundred'', or ''Vartofta härad'', was a hundred divided between Småland and Västergötland in Sweden
...
*
Veden
*
Vilske
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 als ...
*
Viste
*
Väne
*
Vätle
*
Ås
*
Åse
Cities
The
cities of Sweden were formerly chartered entities with certain privileges. Today they are municipalities.
*
Alingsås
Alingsås () is a locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 24,482 inhabitants in 2010.
Geography
Geographically the city is situated by the outlet of the small rivulet Säveån into lake Mjö ...
(1619)
*
Borås
Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010.
Geography
Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them th ...
(1622)
*
Falköping (approximately 1200)
*
Gothenburg/Göteborg (1621)
*
Hjo
Hjo () is a locality and the seat of Hjo Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 6,094 inhabitants in 2010. The town is located on the west coast of Vättern.
Etymology
The place is named after Hjoån 'Hjo river'. The meaning of ...
(approximately 1400)
*
Lidköping (1446)
*
Mariestad
Mariestad () is a locality and the seat of Mariestad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,611 inhabitants in 2019. Until 1997 it was the capital of the former Skaraborg County and an episcopal see in the Church of Sweden bet ...
(1583)
*
Mölndal (1922)
*
Skara (approximately 988)
*
Skövde (approximately 1400)
*
Tidaholm (1910)
*
Trollhättan (1916)
*
Ulricehamn (approximately 1400)
*
Vänersborg (1644)
The largest city, Gothenburg, is located by the western shore with a significant harbour commerce.
Sports
Football in the province is administered by
Västergötlands Fotbollförbund
The Västergötlands Fotbollförbund ''(Västergötland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Västergötland.
Backg ...
.
See also
*
Göta Canal
The Göta Canal ( sv, Göta kanal) is a Swedish canal constructed in the early 19th century.
The canal is long, of which were dug or blasted, with a width varying between and a maximum depth of about .Uno Svedin, Britt Hägerhäll Anians ...
*
Götaland theory
References
Other sources
*
Nordisk familjebok, Owl edition, volume 33, p. 373
373–374 (Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 33. Väderlek – Äänekoski).
External links
Västergötland– Tourist site
from
Nordisk familjebok (in Swedish).
Map of VästergötlandFinnestorp website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vastergotland
Provinces of Sweden
Geats