Norrland - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Norrland (Northland) is one of the three lands of Sweden

Lands of Sweden

The lands of Sweden are three traditional parts, essentially three collectives of provinces, in Sweden. These "lands" have no administrative function, and there is no official designation for this subdivision level...

(landsdelar), the northern part, consisting of nine provinces

Provinces of Sweden

The provinces of Sweden, landskap, are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no administrative function, but remain historical legacies and the means of cultural identification....

. The term Norrland is not used for any administrative purpose, but it is common in everyday language, e.g. weather forecasts.

Geography

Norrland comprises the historical provinces (landskap) Gästrikland

Gästrikland

' is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Uppland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Hälsingland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Gästrikland is the southernmost of the Norrland provinces....

, Medelpad

Medelpad

' is a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders to Hälsingland, Härjedalen, Jämtland, Ångermanland and the Gulf of Bothnia....

, Ångermanland

Ångermanland

' is a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders to Medelpad, Jämtland, Lapland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name "Ångermanland" comes from the Old Norse "anger", which means "deep fjord" and refers to the deep mouth of the river Ångermanälven...

, Hälsingland

Hälsingland

' is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. It borders to Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and to the Gulf of Bothnia...

, Jämtland

Jämtland

Jämtland or Jamtland is a historical province or landskap in the center of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders to Härjedalen and Medelpad in the south, Ångermanland in the east, Lapland in the north and Trøndelag and Norway in the west...

, Härjedalen

Härjedalen

' is a historical province or landskap in the centre of Sweden. It borders the country of Norway as well as the provinces of Dalarna, Hälsingland, Medelpad, and Jämtland...

, Västerbotten

Västerbotten

', English exonym: West Bothnia, is a province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders Ångermanland, Lapland, Norrbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is famous for the cheese with the same name as the province.- Administration :...

, Norrbotten

Norrbotten

Norrbotten is a Swedish province in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland.- Administration :...

and Lappland, roughly 59% of Sweden's total area. Historically, Jämtland and Härjedalen belonged to Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

until 1645, and are thus not part of the historical Norrland.

Except for the coastal areas, the area is sparsely populated. 12% of Sweden's population live in Norrland. Unlike the much more densely populated Svealand

Svealand

Svealand , Swealand or Sweden proper is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south central Sweden and is one of three lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tiveden, Tylöskog, Kolmården, separated Svealand from Götaland...

and Götaland

Götaland

Götaland , Gothia, Gothland, Gothenland, Gautland or Geatland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises provinces...

, which are better known for big cities (Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

, Malmö

Malmö

Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

etc.) with landmarks & tourist attractions, Norrland is known for its nature: wide forests, large rivers and untouched wilderness. Many people live in rural areas & small villages, and in cities along the coast. During the end of the millennium, there was a noticeable increase of the population in Norrland, mainly from people moving from the bigger cities.

During the industrial revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

, which reached Sweden in the mid-19th century, Norrland became the source for the important wood and pulp

Wood pulp

Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...

industry. All of the major Norrland rivers but four have been exploited for water power. The rivers in Norrland account for the bulk of hydroelectical power in Sweden – in many countries a limited energy source, but in Sweden hydroelectrical power accounts for approximately 40% of Sweden's total production of electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

.

Mines for producing precious metal

Precious metal

A precious metal is a rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value.Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high lustre, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals...

s have also been located in Norrland. In older history, the administration in Stockholm viewed Norrland pretty much as a colony

Colony

In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....

consisting of natural resource

Natural resource

Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....

s to be exploited. "In Norrland we have an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

within our borders, if only we realize we should be taking advantage of it" (I Norrland hava vi inom våra gränser ett Indien, blott vi förstå att bruka det) is a quote attributed to Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre , Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of first Gustavus Adolphus and then Queen Christina.Oxenstierna...

that fairly well describes the attitude. In the official history of Sweden not much is written about the northern parts of the country.

Kebnekaise

Kebnekaise

Kebnekaise is the highest mountain in Sweden and Sápmi. The Kebnekaise massif, which is part of the Scandinavian Mountains, has two peaks, of which the southern, glaciated one is highest at above sea level at the latest time of measurement. The north top is free of ice...

, Sweden's tallest mountain at 2,111 metres (6,926 feet), is located in Lappland in the north of Norrland.

History

In older history, Norrland is one of the four lands of Sweden

Lands of Sweden

. To the west it represented the northern half of Sweden bounded to the south by Svealand

Svealand

and to the east it represented the northern half of Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

– which was then a part of Sweden – bounded to the south by Österland

Österland

Österland or Österlanden , one of the four traditional lands of Sweden, was a medieval term used for the southern part of Finland. It gradually fell out of use by the 15th century...

. In Svealand and Götaland, the land boundaries were of major juridical and administrative importance, but this was not the case with Norrland. The name Norrland just gradually became a denomination of everything north of Svealand. Up to the Middle Ages, the northern part of Norrland (Norrbotten

Norrbotten

Norrbotten is a Swedish province in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland.- Administration :...

and Lappland) was basically a no man's land. The area was sparsely populated by Sami

Sami people

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

, Kvens and different tribes/people related to the Finns. In the southern part of Norrland, Swedish and Norwegian settlers lived side by side with the Sami population. From the Middle Ages on, the Swedish kings tried hard to colonize and Christianize the area. But it took time – even today, Finnish and Sami minorities live in the northern parts of Norrland and have maintained their culture and customs.

As a result of the changing relations to Finland, the northern borders of Norrland have shifted. While the word Finland originally meant only the southwestern part of what is now Finland (Finland Proper

Finland Proper (historical province)

Finland Proper, , is a historical province in south western Finland, centred on the historic city of Turku and the Turku Castle. It borders Satakunta, Tavastia and Uusimaa. It is also bounded by the Baltic sea facing Åland. There is also a modern region by the name Finland Proper...

), the border of Norrland was drawn at the rivers Kaakamojoki or, later, Simojoki

Simojoki

Simojoki is a river of Finland in the region of Lapland. It flows for into the Bothnian Bay at Simo.-See also:*List of rivers in Finland...

. This changed when the eastern half of Sweden (Finland) was lost to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, and the new border was drawn at Torne River

Torne River

The Torne River , is a river in northern Sweden and Finland. Approximately half of the river's length is a part of the border between these two countries. It rises at Lake Torne near the border with Norway and flows generally southeast for a distance of into the Gulf of Bothnia...

. The southern border was first everything north of the Gästrikland

Gästrikland

province (until the 14th or 15th century a part of Uppland

Uppland

Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...

), but from the mid 17th century further also Gästrikland is considered a part of Norrland. The name can be first traced from Karl's Chronicle, explaining how Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson

Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson

Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson was a Swedish rebel leader and later statesman. He was the leader of the Engelbrekt rebellion in 1434 against Eric of Pomerania, king of the Kalmar Union.-Biography:...

in 1433 sent a letter to Erik Puke requesting assistance to conquer entire Norrland (al norland vnte han honom wolla).

In Fiction

Norrland is often portraited slightly negative in Swedish fiction, often being a place of terror and dread. The thriller films The Hunters and The Hunters 2

The Hunters 2

The Hunters 2 is a 2011 Swedish thriller directed by Kjell Sundvall with Rolf Lassgård and Peter Stormare in the main roles...

show a very negative portrait of Norrland, filled with racial predjuice and violence. The people of Norrland refers the Stockholm as fjollträsk(Fag-Swamp).

In the 2006 horror film Frostbite the portrait is more balanced. Unlike most other Swedish film it takes place in a larger community at the very northern peak of Sweden, probably Kiruna

Kiruna

Kiruna is the northernmost city in Sweden, situated in Lapland province, with 18,154 inhabitants in 2005. It is the seat of Kiruna Municipality Kiruna (Northern Sami: Giron, Finnish: Kiiruna) is the northernmost city in Sweden, situated in Lapland province, with 18,154 inhabitants in 2005. It is...

. The people are shown to be pretty warm and welcoming towards outsiders. Rather than the people, the nature of Norrland is shown to be hostile. A constant darkness roams over the town and there is extreme cold. Vampires have been shown taking a liking to the land and hunts the towns people in the arctic night. The film is notorious for not having the actors speak with the distict Norrland accent, even the actors in the film which are native to Norrland.

The plot of the well-known thriller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an award-winning crime novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book in the trilogy known as the "Millennium series"....

" shifts back and forth between Stockholm and the fictional Norrland town of Hedestad. A constantly repeated theme in the book's background are the social, cultural and physical differences between these two locations: Norrland is more sedate, conservative and slow-moving in comparison with the cosmopolitan Stockholm; a Stockholmer having to live for an extended period in Norrland feels "exiled to the back of beyond"; Norrland is also colder and a Stockholmer coming there must urgently buy warmer clothes; Norrlanders often speak regional dialects which Stockholm people find nearly incomprehensible; Stockholm people look down their noses at "a working class boy from Norrland" even when he had lived many years in Stockholm.

The book's great success and translation into numerous languages made non-Swedish people more aware of Norrland and its special characteristics.