Provinces of Sweden

The 25 provinces of Sweden (Swedish: Sveriges landskap) are historical, geographical and cultural regions.

They have no administrative function (except in some sports contexts), but retain their own cultural identities, dialects and folklore.

Nevertheless, the provinces of Sweden are no archaic concept; they are still referenced in everyday speech and seen as culturally distinct.

[2] [clarification needed]English and other languages occasionally use Latin names for the Swedish provinces.

[6][7] The origins of the provincial divisions lay in the petty kingdoms that gradually became more and more subjected to the central monarchy during the consolidation of Sweden.

The most permanent acquisitions stemmed from the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, in which the former Danish Scanian lands (Skåne, Blekinge, Halland and Gotland), along with the Norwegian Bohuslän, Jämtland and Härjedalen, became Swedish and gradually integrated.

When Sweden ceded Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809, Västerbotten was divided up so that Norrbotten first emerged as a county.

”Norrland” was all the unexplored northern parts, the boundaries and Swedish control over which were weakly defined into the early modern age.

Due to the Northern Crusades against Finns, Tavastians and Karelians and colonisation of some coastal areas of the country, Finland fell under the Catholic Church and Swedish rule.

Österland ("Eastern land"; the name had early gone out of use) in southern and central Finland formed an integral part of Sweden.

Gustav Vasa’s title only had three entries – "King of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends" – so banners were created for each Swedish province for a better display.

[9] Götaland (Gothia, Gothenland) comrpises ten provinces in the southern part of Sweden.