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The home pages for the Usenet newsgroup soc.culture.nordic

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7.2.2 Geography, climate, vegetation

Sweden occupies the Eastern part of the Scandinavian peninsula. It's a long (1572 kilometers) and rather narrow country, and the largest of the Nordic countries. It shares a long border with Norway to the west and a shorter border with Finland in the east; Denmark lies to the south across the Danish straits, over one of which (Öresund) a huge bridge is being built. The Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Öland are integral parts of Sweden.

Norrland is on the map the dominating region of Sweden. Norrland - that is the northernmost two thirds of the country, where almost no people live. Except at the mines and along the coast. Northwestern Sweden is crossed by an ancient mountain chain; the remainder of the north is a southeast-sloping plateau that rises to between 200 and 500 meters.

South of Norrland, forming the regions of Svealand in central Sweden and Götaland farther south, is a varied landscape of plains and rift valleys. To the north of the highlands is the Central Swedish Depression, a down-faulted, lake-strewn lowland extending across the peninsula from near Göteborg to east of Stockholm and Uppsala. To the south is Skåne, a low-lying, predominantly agricultural area.

(Notes:

1. The region Götaland should strictly speeking not be used for more than the provinces Dalsland, Västergötland, Småland and Östergötland, but most often also Bohuslän, Halland, Skåne and Blekinge are understood as provinces of Götaland, as they are incorporated in the Swedish realm after being captured in the 17th century.
2. Gotland as a baltic island occupies an intermediate position, closer connected to Svealand although counted to Götaland.
3. Åland is an autonomous island-province under Finnish sovereignty which was ceeded to Russia in 1809, and is, albeit culturally as Swedish as Gotland, not a part of Sweden.
4. Year 1815 the Götaland province of Värmland was for a time belonging to the court of appeal of Svealand, i.e. the Svea Hovrätt, and since then Värmland is often counted to Svealand - at least in weather reports - but that is of course totally unhistorical.)

Population density

It's sometimes reminded that only 10% of the inhabitants populate the northern half of the country, but one could also say that 15% live in the 60%-part comprising the Northern and Western wood and fjeld region, or that 20% of the people live on 70% of the realm's area. Most of the land in the North is designated for reindeer herding.

Climate regions

Forest covers two thirds of the land area. It consists of a summer-green forest of beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees in the south, a mixed forest of deciduous and coniferous trees in central Sweden, and a predominantly coniferous forest of mainly pines and spruce in the north. Mountain birch and dwarf birch grow in colder upland areas, and tundra covers the highest elevations. Treeless moors (peat moss and marshland) cover more than 14% of all Sweden and as much as 40% in western areas of the south and parts of Norrland. Bears, wolves and lynxes are now found only in isolated woodlands, elk and deer are the common large animals found elsewhere.

Härad, landskap and län

The landskap are (approximately from north to south): 

Norrland:
      Lappland, 
      Norrbotten, 
      Västerbotten,
      Jämtland, 
      Härjedalen,
      Ångermanland, 
      Medelpad,
      Hälsingland,
      Gästrikland,

Svealand:
      Dalarna,
      Värmland,
      Västmanland,
      Uppland,
      Södermanland,
      Närke,

Götaland:
      Dalsland,
      Bohuslän, 
      Västergötland,
      Östergötland,
      Gotland,
      Öland,
      Småland,
      Halland,
      Blekinge &
      Skåne.

The härader play no role in the Swedish society any more - except for folk costumes. But well into the 20th century rural judges were called häradsdomare [literally  härad's judges], which reminds about the function of the härad as the area from which the people assembled for the local Thing.

For civil service the country is divided in 24 län [literally "fiefs"] (currently being reduced in number). The governor for the län and his board are appointed by the central government. Since 1634 this administration handles governmental matters equal in all of the realm.

The landsting are regionally elected assemblies, mostly for the same areas as for the län, with responsibility mainly for health care, which is why the landsting decide about local taxes. Usually län is translated to "county" and landsting to "county council" in English. The very word "landsting" means the Thing of a landskap, but that is not entirely valid any more. :-)

The country is divided in 286 independent kommuner - mostly one town and the country around. In the newsgroup and in this faq the English word "municipality" will most of the time be used for kommuner regardless of their size or degree of urbanity. The kommun decides about local taxes too.

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