Öland

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Öland

For the German island, see Oland.

is an island in the Baltic Sea, located off the coast of Småland. At 1,342 km² it is the second largest Swedish island, after Gotland.

Administratively it nowadays is counted as a part of Kalmar County, (Kalmar län). Historically however, Öland (or Latin Oelandia) formed one of the Provinces of Sweden (landskap).

County

For current affairs see: Kalmar County

There was an Öland County between 1819 and 1824, otherwise the island has belonged to Kalmar County since 1634. The island is connected to the mainland through the Öland bridge, which opened in 1972.

History

The people of the island appear to be mentioned as early as 98 AD, by Tacitus, who called them the "Aviones". The same tribal name appears in Widsith as "Eowan", and Wulfstan later called the island "Eowland", the land of the Eowan.

In Swedish history, the island long served as a royal game park.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Öland Oelandia was historically divided into one chartered city and five hundreds.

City

Borgholm (1816)

Hundreds

Facts

Highest mountain: Högsrum 55 meters
Largest lake: Möckelmossen
Length: 137 km
Width (at widest point): 16 km

Culture

Main article: Culture of Öland

The Borgholm Castle was built in 1669-1681 for Queen Hedvig Eleonora, and designed by Nicodemus Tessin, senior. In its vicinity sits the Solliden Palace, summer home to the royal family.

The Agricultural Landscape of southern Öland has been entered as a site of the UNESCO World heritage program. Features of this are the many windmills left standing and the special geological landscape called Alvar.

Öland has since a decade back organized an annual harvest festival Skördefesten every October in which the island farmers come together with farmers from the rest of the country and sell their crops and let those that are interested take part of the every day life on their farms only to mention a few among many activities. There are also many art exhibitions for display during Skördefesten especially during the art night Konstnatten.

Heraldry

Main article: Heraldry of Öland

Öland was granted provincal arms in 1560, but it would not be until the 1940s that the province was assigned its proper ones. The arms granted to Öland had been mixed up with the arms granted to Åland and this was not discovered until the 20th century. While Öland changed its, Åland, which was now a Finnish (autonomous) province, kept its established but originally unintended coat of arms. The deer is ment to symbolise the status of Öland as a royal game park and the arms are topped by a dukal crown. Blazon: "Azure a Deer Or attired, hoofed and gorged Gules."

External links

Öland - Tourist site
World Heritage profile

Provinces of Sweden | Öland | Swedish islands in the Baltic | World Heritage Sites in Sweden

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