Place:Norrbotten, Sweden

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Norrbotten County is the northernmost county or län of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It borders Västerbotten County to the southwest and the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast, as well as the counties of Nordland and Troms og Finnmark in Norway to the northwest, and Lapland Province in Finland to the northeast.

The name "Norrbotten" is also used for a province of the same name. Norrbotten province covers only the eastern part of Norrbotten County – the inland mostly belongs to the Swedish Lapland province (Lappland).

The capital of Norrbotten is Luleå, whereas other significant towns include Boden, Kiruna and Piteå. The majority of the population lives in the namesake province, whereas the Lapland part of the county is sparsely populated. In terms of land area, Norrbotten is larger than both Austria and Portugal as well as the island of Ireland.

The northern part of Norrbotten lies within the Arctic Circle.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

During the Middle Ages, Norrbotten was considered to be terra nullius ("no man's land"). The area was populated by Sami, Kvens and different people related to the Finns. From the Middle Ages on, the Swedish kings tried hard to colonise and Christianise the area. This took time, however; even today, there are Finnish and Sami minorities living in the area, who have maintained their own culture and customs.

In the first half of the 17th century several ore deposits were discovered in what is now known as Norrbotten County. The silver of Nasafjäll was discovered during the autumn of 1634^[1] and subsequently mined from 1635 to 1659 and from the 1770s to 1810.

Following the Finnish War in 1809, Västerbotten County was split between Sweden and Finland, with the larger part remaining within the Swedish borders. In 1810, the county was divided again when Norrbotten County was created out of the northern part, on the Swedish side. Most people in Norrbotten County still refer to the entire county, including the areas in Swedish Lapland, when they say 'Norrbotten'.

The natural resources (hydroelectricity, timber, and minerals, especially iron) of Norrbotten have played a key role in the industrialization of Sweden. The 20th century saw strong mobility in and out of the county, with many young people moving south and people from other parts of the country moving in. In the 1970s and 1980s, the drainage of (mostly young) workers due to high unemployment was considerable, and people in the area began to voice feelings of being misunderstood or economically abused by the south and especially the capital Stockholm.

Heraldry

The coat of arms of Norrbotten County combines the arms of the provinces Västerbotten and Lappland and was granted in 1949. Since 1995 the province Norrbotten has a coat of arms of its own, but the county arms have not been changed accordingly. When it is shown with a royal crown, it represents the County Administrative Board. Blazon: "Quartered, the arms of Västerbotten and the arms of Lappland."

Culture

The culture of Norrbotten County is in many ways different from the rest of Sweden, since so many different cultures can be found there; Sami culture, Finnish culture (Tornedalians) and the Swedish settler-culture (combined with the Arctic climate, midnight sun, and mid-winter darkness). Many of the old local Swedish and Finnish dialects have survived in the area, and are spoken by a great number of people. The people of Norrbotten County have a saying: "I am not a Swede; I am a Norrbothnian". A laconic and, at first glance, uncommunicative way of speaking, coupled with understated irony, is also sometimes used as a means to exclude southerners, who are seen as more slick and deceptive in their ways with words and eager to twist things their way. These contrasts are well known throughout Sweden and often appear in TV, films, literature and folklore connected to Norrbotten, for characterizing, satiric or dramatic purposes (e.g. some characters in the books of Eyvind Johnson or the police detective Einar Rönn in the crime novels of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö).

The coast has the historical cities of Luleå and Piteå. Luleå's Gammelstad ("Old town"), which is 10 km north of the present downtown, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Apart from the Swedish language, Sami, Meänkieli, and Finnish may be used in dealing with government agencies, courts, municipalities, preschools and nursing homes in parts of Norrbotten County. The Sami language has official minority language status in Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk, and Kiruna municipalities. Meänkieli and Finnish have the same status in Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala, and Övertorneå municipalities.

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