Bohuslän

Infobox Landskap
fullname=Bohuslän
name=Bohuslän
land=Götaland
county=Västra Götaland County
area=4,400
flower=Wild honeysuckle
flower_swe=Vildkaprifol
flower_lat=Lonicera periclymenum
animal=Harbour seal
bird=-
fish=Mackerel

audio|sv-Bohuslän.ogg|Bohuslän is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden ("landskap" in Swedish), situated on the west coast of the country. It borders Dalsland and Västergötland as well as the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea and Østfold in Norway.

Administration

The provinces of Sweden serve no administrative function. Instead, that function is served by the counties of Sweden. For centuries, the administrative county for Bohuslän was the Gothenburg and Bohus County, and as its name implies it consisted of the entire Bohuslän province together with the city Gothenburg. In 1999, some Swedish counties were merged to reduce administration costs– and Gothenburg and Bohus County was merged into the much larger Västra Götaland County.

Heraldry

Bohuslän was granted its arms at the time of the funeral for Charles X Gustav of Sweden in 1660, it was identical to the arms of the Town of Kungälv. In 1962 the higher claim of the town was established and a variation for the arms of the county was introduced. The coat of arms is represented with a dukal coronet. Blazon: "Argent, a Castle embatteled Gules with one embatteled Tower of the same and two doors Or hinged Sable between a Sword point upwards and Lion rampant holding the Tower both Azure langued and armed Or."

Geography

The geography is distinguished by the rocky coast, bordered an archipelago: there are about 3,000 islands and 5,000 islets (skerries). These make up the northern part of the Gothenburg archipelago, Sweden's second largest after Stockholm archipelago. The larger of the islands, which each have formed their own municipalities, are Tjörn and Orust. Both have a distinguished history and culture.

In old days, the seascape was renowned for its many reefs and sunken rocks which caused many shipwrecks.

However, the rocky terrain cannot be said to be mountainous: the highest point is "Björnepiken" at 224 meters.

Sweden's only fjord the Gullmaren, is situated in the province near the city Lysekil. It is 25 kilometers long, between 1-3 wide, with a depth of 118.5 meters at its deepest, with a unique marine life.

Of its 4,500 km² large area, only 177 are water (lakes or streams). Although lakes are frequent, they are rather small in size. The largest lakes are the Bullaren lakes (northern and southern), with an area of about 40km².

Population

The number of inhabitants is 270,628, giving a population density of 60,5 inhabitants/square kilometer.

Islands of Bohuslän

Notable people from Bohuslän

People from Bohuslän are known as "bohuslänningar".
*Emilie Flygare-Carlén, Strömstad - author
*Karin Parrow, Vinga - artist
*Karl-Axel Gadd, Sotenäs - artist
*Karl Nordström, Tjörn - artist
*Gustaf B Thordén, Uddevalla - shipping
*Percy Barnevik, Uddevalla - businessman

References

* [http://runeberg.org/nfbc/0491.html article "Bohuslän"] from Nordisk familjebok (1905). In Swedish.

External links

* [http://www.vastsverige.com/templates/re/default.aspx?id=13047] - Official tourist site
* [http://swedia.ling.umu.se/Gotaland/Bohuslan/index.html Language]
* [http://www.ina-mahlstedt.de/bohuslaen.pdf The religious background of Bohuslän rock art (PDF)]