Blekinge County geography stubs
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Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional
Swedish provinces 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 ...
(), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders
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 ...
, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest province by area (only Öland is smaller), and the smallest province located on the mainland. The name "Blekinge" comes from the dialectal adjective , which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm".


Administration

The historical provinces of Sweden serve no administrative function. However, Blekinge is the only province, besides
Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
, which covers exactly the same area as the administrative county, which is Blekinge County. Blekinge was granted its current arms in 1660 at the time of the funeral of King
Charles X Gustav of Sweden Charles X Gustav, also Carl Gustav ( sv, Karl X Gustav; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. Afte ...
(1622–1660) based on a seal from the 15th century. Symbolically the three crowns from the Coat of arms of Sweden had been placed on the trunk of the tree to mark the change in status of the former Danish province, that now belonged to Sweden. The arms is represented with a ducal coronet. Blazon: "Azure, an Oak Tree eradicated Or ensigned with three Crowns palewise of the same."


Geography

Relative to the rest of Sweden Blekinge has warm summers and mild winters. Blekinge has a scenic archipelago and is sometimes called "Sweden's garden" ( sv, Sveriges trädgård). The nature of Blekinge is characterized by its
oak forest An oak forest is a plant community with a tree canopy dominated by oaks (''Quercus spp.''). In terms of canopy closure, oak forests contain the most closed canopy, compared to oak savannas and oak woodlands. Examples * Southern dry-mesic oak f ...
s with occasional
hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...
and common hornbeam. The relief is an uneven joint valley terrain with straight and narrow valley bottoms that widen towards the coast.
Bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
in Blekinge is mostly granite and gneiss of the Blekinge-Bornholm rock province.


History

Evidence of human habitation in western Blekinge dates circa 9700 BC in the Vesan area. At this time, Vesan was a small island surrounded by open grassland. A later settlement in the nearby Ljungaviken is dated to 6500 BC and contains the remains of at least 50 wooden houses and a buried dog. Blekinge became part of the kingdom of Denmark at some point in the early 11th century – most likely 1026. Its status before then is unknown. It then remained a Danish province for over 600 years, and together with the provinces of
Skåne 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 Skåne C ...
and Halland, it made up Skåneland. The eastern part of the Danish kingdom where Scanian Law (''Skånske Lov'') prevailed. As a border province, Blekinge was often raided and looted by Swedish troops during Danish–Swedish wars. In 1658, it was ceded to Sweden according to the Treaty of Roskilde and has remained Swedish ever since. During the Danish era, the port town of Sölvesborg was the seat of the administration in the western part of the province and
Kristianopel Kristianopel () is a village in Karlskrona Municipality in the southeastern Swedish region of Blekinge. In 2015 it had a population of 88. History of the town Flint finds have been made at the site, which indicates that there have been Stone Age ...
in the eastern part. Notable fortifications during this period included sites at
Elleholm Elleholm is a former Danish town in Blekinge, Sweden. The town existed between 1450 and 1600, when it was abandoned. The town was based around a former castle, called Sjöborg (meaning "Lake Castle") which today is a Hill fort. The name "Elleh ...
, Sölvesborg, Lyckeby and
Avaskär Avaskär is a village, with chapel and cemetery, in Kristianopel parish in eastern Blekinge in Sweden. The city is mentioned first in 1350 and existed until 1600, when the city together with Lyckå lost its city charter in favor of the newly fo ...
. Towns in Blekinge with
city privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...
were:
Ronneby Ronneby is a locality and the seat of Ronneby Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 12,029 inhabitants in 2010. Ronneby is regarded as the heart of "the Garden of Sweden", and in 2005 the park "Brunnsparken" in Ronneby was voted Sweden's m ...
(1387), Sölvesborg (1445),
Elleholm Elleholm is a former Danish town in Blekinge, Sweden. The town existed between 1450 and 1600, when it was abandoned. The town was based around a former castle, called Sjöborg (meaning "Lake Castle") which today is a Hill fort. The name "Elleh ...
and
Kristianopel Kristianopel () is a village in Karlskrona Municipality in the southeastern Swedish region of Blekinge. In 2015 it had a population of 88. History of the town Flint finds have been made at the site, which indicates that there have been Stone Age ...
. After the Swedish takeover two new towns, Karlshamn (chartered in 1664) and
Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...
(1680), were built, and the populations of Ronneby and Kristianopel were forcibly relocated to them. Karlskrona has for more than 300 years been the principal naval base in Sweden.


Subdivisions

Hundreds (in Götaland incl. Blekinge called ''härad'' in Swedish, in Svealand called ''hundare'') were the historical subdivisions of a Swedish province. Blekinge's hundreds were
Bräkne 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 ...
,
Eastern 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 ...
,
Lister Hundred Lister Hundred, or ''Listers härad'', was a hundred of Blekinge in Sweden. Parishes Parishes ordered by municipality: #Karlshamn Municipality #* Elleholm Parish #* Mörrum Parish #Olofström Municipality #* Jämshög Parish #* Kyrkhult Parish ...
, and
Medelstad 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 ...
.


Language

In Blekinge the dialect was historically closely related to Danish and eastern
Scanian The term Scanian (, or ) can refer to: * A person born or living in the province of Scania proper (Skåne) * The people and language of the historical provinces of Scania (Terrae Scaniae, Skånelandene (Danish), Skåneland (Swedish) * Scanian dia ...
, which is most likely an effect of the former administrative links to Scania. Today, the dialect is not as significant as before, with the exception of Listerlandet with its special language. The eastern dialect of
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
can also be found on the Danish island of
Bornholm Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...
.


Sports

Football in the province is administered by
Blekinge Fotbollförbund The Blekinge Fotbollförbund ''(Blekinge Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in Blekinge County. Background Blekinge Fotbol ...
.


See also

*
Blekinge Institute of Technology The Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH; sv, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola) is a public, state funded Swedish institute of technology in Blekinge with 5,900 students (part-time, full-time) and offers about 30 educational programmes in 11 departmen ...
* Blekinge archipelago


References


External links


Blekinge
€”Official tourist site {{Authority control Provinces of Sweden