Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in

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 ...

, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Historically, it was the name for all the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, including the eastern parts of lake

Mälaren Mälaren ( , , or ), historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden (after Vänern and Vättern). Its area is 1,140 km2 and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from e ...

, belonging to Svealand. The name was first mentioned in the year 1493 as "Rodzlagen". Before that the area was known as ''Roden''. Roden had a ''skeppslag'' (roughly translated: ship district), the coastal equivalent to the inland Hundreds. When the king would issue a call to leidang, the Viking Age equivalent of military conscript service, the ''skeppslag'' in Roden was responsible for raising ships for the leidang navy. The name comes from the ''rodslag'', which is an old coastal Uppland word for a rowing crew of warrior oarsmen. Etymologically, Roden, or Roslagen, is the source of the Finnish and

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

names for

: and .The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text Translated by O. P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor A person from Roslagen is called a

Rospigg Rospigg is a person from Roslagen. The name origins from the old Swedish word "rosbyggiar" - inhabitant in Roden. The word has thus nothing to do with the word "pigg" which is the Swedish word for "quill". Rospigg is also an alternative name for ...

which means "inhabitant of Ros". Swedes from the Roslagen area, that is "the people of Ros", gave their name to the Rus' people and thus to the states of Russia and Belarus (see

Rus' (name) Rus or RUS may refer to: People and places * Rus (surname), a Romanian-language surname * East Slavic historical territories and peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus' territories *** Kievan ...

).Harper, Douglas
"Russia"
''Online Etymology Dictionary''. The area also gives its name to the endangered domesticated

Roslag sheep The Roslag sheep ( sv, Roslagsfår) is a breed of endangered domesticated sheep that originated in and is almost exclusively found in Sweden. Origins Roslag sheep originate from the remnant populations of Swedish landrace breeds that used to b ...

, which originated from the area centuries ago.

Communications

The region is served by the

Roslagsbanan Roslagsbanan is a narrow gauge commuter railway system in Roslagen, Stockholm County, Sweden. Its combined route length is and there are 38 stations. It is built to the Swedish three foot () gauge. The Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) classifies ...

, a narrow-gauge railway network from Stockholm, going as far noth as

Kårsta Kårsta is a locality situated in Vallentuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 457 inhabitants in 2010. Kårsta is since 1980, when the line to Rimbo was cut, the northern terminus of Roslagsbanan Roslagsbanan is a narrow gauge commut ...

. The motorway E18 goes through Roslagen between Kapellskär and Stockholm.

Nature

The hiking trail

Roslagsleden Roslagsleden (Roslags Trail) is a 190 km long hiking trail in Stockholm County, Sweden. Roslagsleden is part of the European route E6 which goes from Kilpisjärvi in the north to Greece in the south. The trail is split up in 11 sections tha ...

crosses the region starting in Danderyd and ending in Grisslehamn.

References

External links

* http://www.roslagen.se/ Tourism page Coasts of the Baltic Sea Uppland History of the Rus' people {{Sweden-geo-stub