Several Latinized versions of the name exist, including Varmelandia,[2] Vermelandia,[3] Wermelandia,[4] Værmalandia, Værmolandia, Virmolandia and Vermillandia.

This part of Värmland is rich in minerals, most notably iron ore which exists in large quantities.

It is distributed over three counties as follows:[1] The province was sparsely populated in the pre-historic age compared to Sweden's southern half.

These stories say that Olof Trätälja, the son of Ingjald, was not accepted as king and had to flee and settled in the then sparsely populated Värmland.

Archaeology shows that at this time there was indeed a large increase in population, and memorials of powerful men were constructed.

In Adam's account, the värmlänningar are described as a distinct "Swedish tribe" along with the Sviar, Geats and Skridfinnar (commonly taken to be Sami people).

Värmland was originally considered a part of Götaland, and had a strong connection to its southern neighbour Västergötland.

Eastern Värmland traditionally belongs to the Bergslagen area, Sweden's central mining district.

King Charles IX took great personal interest in expanding mining in the province and the industry developed significantly during his reign.

He was backed up by the radical guards captain Carl Henrik Anckarsvärd and used the part of the western army that was stationed in Värmland to occupy Karlstad on the night of 7 March 1809.

From there he officially proclaimed a revolution, a proclamation which held the view that wars and oppression had ruined the country and the government therefore had to be overthrown.

A battalion of the regiment, commanded by Major Lagerlöv, managed to fight back a Norwegian attack from the bridgehead at Langenäs.

A major part of the Swedish Armed Forces was concentrated to Värmland following the German invasion of Norway.

Notably is the fortification Skansen Hultet (Skans 153 Hultet) in Eda Municipality, constructed 1940-1941 (although improvements continued until 1945), and equipped with a network of machine gun emplacements, casemates and other concrete bunkers, surrounded by barbed wire, walls and several lines of tank traps.

[11] There are around 12,000 military objects, including 123 fortified sites, in Värmland dating from World War II.

The province has powerful literary and musical traditions and has spawned some of the most well-known and loved authors of Sweden.

Education, theatre and a somewhat glamorous lifestyle were buoyed by the landed gentry and the wealth being generated through a lively local iron trade, and also by the position of the landscape on the edge between civilization and wilderness, which inspired art, literature and folklore.

During the second half of the 19th century, the iron processing industry was largely put out of business by the revolution in the steel industry which made Central Europe and the United States vastly superior in this field, and the overall economic crisis throughout Europe of the 1870s and 1880s, and the subsequent emigration to North America, shook the landscape.

The consequence, however, was to make authors like Lagerlöf and Fröding more aware of the heritage of their province, and they both drew on what they felt to be an oral tradition of story-telling and local legends.

This emphasis on richly textured, often romantic or burlesque tales which nonetheless transcend the local has remained a focus of later writers, such as Göran Tunström (1937–2000) and Lars Andersson (b.

The musical traditions have inspired a number of prominent musicians, such as singers Zarah Leander, Monica Zetterlund and Rigmor Gustafsson.