Gulf of Bothnia

[2] Botn/botten is cognate with the English word bottom, and it might be part of a general north European distinction of lowlands, as opposed to highlands, such as the Netherlandic region, Samogitia (Lithuanian), and Sambia (Russia).

[clarification needed] Julius Pokorny gives the extended Proto-Indo-European root as *bhudh-m(e)n with a *bhudh-no- variant, from which the Latin fundus, as in fundament, is derived.

In Saami, the cardinal directions were named according to the different parts of the typical tent used by this nomadic people.

[5] Into the gulf flow a number of rivers from both sides; consequently, a salinity gradient exists from north to south.

While being repeatedly covered by glaciers during the last 2.5 million years glacial erosion has had a limited effect in changing the topography.

[11] The gulf was not known by ancient and medieval geographers and as late as in 1427 not indicated by the Danish cartographer Claudius Clavus, not even in the map of Hartmann Schedel, printed in 1493.

In terms of tonnage in international traffic, the largest ports on the Finnish side are Rauma, Kokkola and Tornio.

[13] The main ports of the Swedish side are in Luleå, Skellefteå, Umeå, Sundsvall, Gävle and Hargshamn.

A persistent problem has been pollution, because the sea is enclosed by a large drainage basin and is poorly connected to fresher waters from the Atlantic.

Mercury and PCB levels have been relatively high, although the Finnish Food Safety Authority considers the herring edible.