Bohuslän

, (Latin: Bahusia, (historically) Norwegian Båhuslen) is a province (landskap) in west Sweden. It borders to Dalsland and Västergötland, as well as the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea, and Østfold in Norway.

Bohuslän belonged to Norway until the treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The central city has long been Uddevalla, in the middle of the province, with some 35,000 inhabitants. The largest urban area in the province, however, is Gothenburg, which northern suburbs on Hisingen Island are partly located within Bohuslän's boundaries.

Bohuslän is otherwise known for fishing, sea baths and rocks, and its around 20,000 known ancient remains.

County

Provinces serve no administrative function in Sweden today. 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 the Västergötland province).

In 1999, several Swedish counties were merged to reduce administration costs– and Gothenburg and Bohus County was merged into the much larger Västra Götaland County.

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 sea scape was renowned for its many reefs and sunken rocks which caused many shipwrecks.

The rocky terrain can however not be said to be mountainous: one encounters no heights. Its 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 highest depth of 118.5 meters, 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 are 270,628, giving a population density of 60,5 inhabitants/square kilometer.

Cities

Bohuslän's chartered cities were:

Kungälv (approximately 1100)
Lysekil (1903)
Marstrand (approximately 1200)
Strömstad (1672)
Uddevalla (1498)

History

During the Migration Period and the Viking Age, the area was part of Viken, and was divided into two sections: Ranrike in the north and Elfsyssel in the south. King Harald Fairhair made it part of the unified Norway in about 872.

As long as Norway was a kingdom of its own the county prospered. When Norway was united with Denmark the county began its decline in wealth as the area was under frequent attack from Swedish forces as part of the larger border skrimishes. The Norwegian fortress, Bohus, was built to protect this territory.

Bohuslän became a Swedish possession in 1658 following the Treaty of Roskilde. The fortress of Carlsten was built in Marstrand during the 17th century. It was for a period also a free port (porto franco), with a free religious practice and as such home to the only synagogue in Sweden at the time.

The fishing of herring increased in the 18th century, and the province flourished during a major herring period around 1747-1809. Many small fishing communities grew up around the coast. Basically all coastal towns were affected.

There actually were wood covered parts in the terrain before the large scale fishing of herring had begun. The wood was once the largest export product and main source of income in Bohuslän. But with increasing fishing, the woods were needed as construction material for houses and boats, and the rocky terrain of today was gradually shaped during the 19th century.

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."

Culture

In Bohuslän a variety of the Götaland dialect of Swedish is spoken. The province was a part of Norway until the 17th century and traces of Norwegian remain in the dialect. "Bohuslän", literally means the "Fief of Bohus", referring to Bohus Fortress and Län.

The rock carvings at Tanum made 2,500 to 3,000 years ago have been entered as a site in the UNESCO World heritage program. Rock carvings can be found scattered throughout Bohuslän. The carvings portray the life of an agricultural society with images of ships, circular objects, soles, animals, shallow bowls, and fertility figures (E.g. phalluses).

Hundreds

Hundreds of Sweden were sub-divisions of the Swedish provinces until early 20th century. Bohuslän's hundreds were:

References

article Bohuslän from Nordisk familjebok (1905). In Swedish.

External links

^* - Official tourist site
Language
The religious background of Bohuslän rock art (PDF)

Provinces of Sweden | Bohuslän

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