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Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost
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 country located on ...
. It borders south to
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 provi ...
, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland.


Administration

The traditional provinces of Sweden 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 Russian Grand Duchy of Finland formed, the province of Västerbotten split in two, and formed the municipalities of Kolari, Muonio, Pello, Tornio, and Ylitornio. 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 were created in 1810 consisting of the northern parts of Lappland and
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 provi ...
. 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, the area was sparsely populated by
Sami people 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 net ...
, who lived on hunting, fishing and reindeer 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 – the most important of which were known as Birkarls ~ 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 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 provi ...
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 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 provi ...
, or ''Norra Västerbotten''. In order not to be confused with people from Southern Västerbotten, i.e. the coastal region of Västerbotten County, 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, 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 The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...
: Torne River, 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 mostl ...
. 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 Norrland dialects ( sv, norrländska mål, links=no) is one of the six major dialect groupings of the Swedish language. It comprises most dialects traditionally spoken in Norrland, except for those of Gästrikland and southern Hälsingland, which ...
regiolects),
Meänkieli (literally 'our language') is a group of distinct Finnish language, Finnish dialects or a Finnic languages, Finnic language spoken in the northernmost part of Sweden along the valley of the Torne River. Its status as an independent language is d ...
, Finnish, and Sami. Some Meänkieli speakers have gradually been considering themselves part of the Kven people, which supposedly arrived to the area much earlier than the Swedish settlers. The Church Village of
Gammelstad Gammelstad Church Town ( sv, Gammelstads kyrkstad) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated in Gammelstaden near the city of Luleå, Sweden, at the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia. It is the best preserved example of a type of town that was onc ...
outside
Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


Sports

Football in the province (and Norrbotten County as a whole) is administered by Norrbottens Fotbollförbund. Ice hockey is also popular, with Luleå HF, and basketball with the
BC Luleå BasketballClub Luleå is a professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball ( ...
men's team and the
Luleå BBK Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lul ...
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