The Skellefte River is a river in northern Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

; one of the major Norrland

Norrland

Norrland is one of the three lands of Sweden , the northern part, consisting of nine provinces. The term Norrland is not used for any administrative purpose, but it is common in everyday language, e.g...

 rivers..

Geographically, it starts in the Norrbotten County

Norrbotten County

Norrbotten County is the northernmost county or län of Sweden. It borders Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast. It also borders the counties of Nordland and Troms in Norway to the northwest, and Lapland Province in Finland to the northeast.The name...

, also known as the Swedish Lappland province where it drains the lakes Hornavan

Hornavan

Hornavan [′hu:rna:van] is a lake in northern Sweden. It is located in Arjeplog Municipality in the province of Swedish Lapland, administratively known as Norrbotten County.- Geography :...

, Uddjaur and Storavan

Storavan

Storavan is a lake in Norrbotten County, Lappland, Sweden, adjacent to Lake Uddjaure, 421 metres above sea level....

 near Arjeplog

Arjeplog

Arjeplog is a locality and the seat of Arjeplog Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,947 inhabitants in 2005.It is a popular winter test site for the European car industry....

; then goes south-east into Västerbotten County

Västerbotten County

Västerbotten County is a county or län in the north of Sweden. It borders the counties of Västernorrland, Jämtland, and Norrbotten, as well as the Norwegian county of Nordland and the Gulf of Bothnia.- Provinces :...

, passing through the town Skellefteå

Skellefteå

-Industry:*Boliden AB, a big mining and smelting company*Alimak*Natural User Interface Technologies AB - NUITEQ, a promising emerging technology start-up company-Sports:*Skellefteå AIK, an ice hockey team in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien....

 (which has given it its name), and finally discharging in the Gulf of Bothnia

Gulf of Bothnia

The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the Åland Islands, between the Sea of Åland and the Archipelago Sea.-Name:...

, in the 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 :...

 province.

It is one of the major northern Swedish rivers, with a length of 410 kilometers. Like many large northern rivers, it has been cultivated for water power.

There are several tributaries

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 to the river, with the largest ones named: Malån, Petikån, Finnforsån, Bjurån and Klintforsån.

Salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

s and trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

s are being put out to compensate for the water power plants, and the river and its tributary are all popular destinations for fishers. Especially popular is the town Skellefteå, known as "Fishing in City".

See also

Some of the other large Norrland rivers:

• Kalix River
  Kalix River
  The Kalix River is one of the four major rivers of Norrland, northern Sweden, that are untouched by water power...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Lule River
  Lule River
  Lule River 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 in Norrbotten County , but is the largest by average discharge.It has a watershed of 25,240.5 km² of...
  
  
• Pite River
  Pite River
  The Pite River 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 mostly untouched by water power plants, the river has a single dam at Sikfors approximately 15 km upstream from the sea.It starts in the large...
  
  
• Ume River
  Ume River
  The Ume River is one of the main rivers in northern Sweden. It is around long, and flows in a south-eastern direction from its source, the lake Överuman by the Norwegian border within the Scandinavian mountain range. For large parts, the European route E12, also known as Blå Vägen , follows its...
  
  
• Ångerman River
  Ångerman River
  The Ångerman River is one of Sweden's longest rivers with a total length of 460 kilometers. It also has the largest amount of water running through it....