Norrbotten Coonty

**Norrbotten Coonty** (*Norrbottens län*) is the northmaist coonty or *[[län]]* o Swaden. It borders Västerbotten Coonty tae the soothwast, the Guwf o Bothnie tae the southeast. It borders the coonties o Nordland an Troms in Norawa tae the northwast, an Lapland Province in Finland tae the northeast an aw.

The name "Norrbotten" is uised for a province o the same name an aw. Norrbotten province covers anerlie the eastren pairt o Norrbotten Coonty—the inland maistly belangs tae the Swadish Lapland (*Lappland*) province.

## Provinces

Norrbotten Coonty exists on provinces o Norrbotten an aboot ⅔ o Swadish Lapland.

## Geography
Norrbotten Coonty covers amaist ¼ o Swaden's surface, but is spairsely inhabitit. This is especially true for inland pairt o Lapland.

The climate is generally hairsk, which is no surprisin considerin its northren location. Housomeivver, the lang simmer days allou crops tae ripen athin 2–3 month, an various grains are commonly grown an mak up an important pairt o the industry. Besides grains, potatoes an turnips are grown an aw. The maist important plant is housomeivver gress, uised as hey for the fermstockin.

Major rivers in Norrbotten Coonty (north–sooth) include the Torne River, Lule River, Kalix River, an Pite River. Rivers shared wit Västerbotten Coonty include Skellefte River an Ume River. Ither rivers that flow directly tae the sea an that are at least 100&nbsp;km lang are the Sangis River, Råne River, Åby River, an Byske River.

## History
Durin the Middle Ages, Norrbotten wis considered tae be terra nullius ("nae man's land"). The aurie wis spairsely populatit bi Sami, Kvens an different tribes/fowk relatit tae the Finns. Frae the Middle Ages on, the Swadish keengs tried haurd tae colonize an Christianize the aurie. This teuk time, housomeivver; even the day, there are Finnish an Sami minorities livin in the aurie, who hae maintained their awn cultur an customs.

Follaein the Finnish War in 1809, Västerbotten Coonty wis split atween Swaden an Finland, wi the lairger part remainin athin the Swadish borders. In 1810, the coonty wis dividit again when *Norrbotten Coonty* wis creatit oot o the northren pairt, on the Swadish side. Maist fowk in Norrbotten Coonty still refer tae the entire coonty, includin the auries in Finnish Lapland, when they say 'Norrbotten', which is the name o a smawer province for practical an historical raisons an aw, which dae no imply that they wad no prefer tae uise the name Lapland.

The naitural resoorces (hydroelectricity, timmer, an meenerals, especially airn) o Norrbotten hae played a key role in the industrialisation o Swaden, aw through the 20t century the region saw strang mobility in an oot o the coonty, mony young fowk muivin sooth an fowk frae ither pairts o the kintra muivin in. In the 1970s an 1980s the drainage o (maistly young) wirkers wis vera pouerful, due tae heich unemployment, an fowk in the aurie began tae occasionally voice feelins o being misunnerstuid or economically abuisit bi the sooth an especially the caipital Stockholm.

### Heraldry
The coat o airms o Norrbotten Coonty combines the airms o the provinces Västerbotten an Lappland an wis grantit in 1949. Syne 1995 the province Norrbotten haes a coat o airms o its awn, but the coonty airms hae no been chyngit accordingly. When it is shown wi a ryal croun, it represents the Coonty Admeenistrative Buird. Blazon: "Quartered, the airms o Västerbotten an the airms o Lappland."

### Cultur
The cultur o Norrbotten Coonty is in mony weys different frae the rest o Sweden, syne so mony different culturs can be foond there; the Sami cultur, the Finnish culture (Tornedalians) an the Swadish settler-cultur (combined wi the climate, midnicht sun, an mid winter darkness). Mony o the auld local Swadish an Finnish dialects hae survivit in the aurie, an are spoken bi a great number o fowk. The fowk o Norrbotten Coonty hae a sayin: "A am no a Swede; I am a Norrbothnie". A laconic an, at first glance, uncommunicative wa o speakin, coupled wi unnerstatit irony, is sometimes uised as a means tae hauld aff the soothreners an aw, who are seen as mair slick an deceptive in their weys wi wirds an eager tae twist things their wey anaw. These contrasts are weel kent throughoot Swaden an aften appear in TV, films, leeteratur an fowklore connectit tae Norrbotten, for characterizin, satiric or dramatic purposes (e.g. some characters in the beuks o Eyvind Johnson or the polis detective Einar Rönn in the creeme novels o Maj Sjöwall an Per Wahlöö).

The coast haes the historical ceeties o Luleå an Piteå. Luleå's Gammelstad ("Auld toun"), which is 10&nbsp;km north o the present dountoun, haes been declared a UNESCO Warld Heritage Steid.

**Leids:** Apairt fra Swadish 
Sami, Meänkieli, an Finnish mey be uised in dealin wi govrenment agencies, courts, municipalities, preschuils an nursin hames in pairts o Norrbotten Coonty. Sami  haes an offeecial minority leid status in Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk, an Kiruna municipalities. Finnish haes the same status in Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala, an Övertorneå municipalities.

## Admeenistration
The main aim o the Coonty Admeenistrative Buird is tae fulfil the goals set in naitional politics bi the Parliament an the govrenment, tae coordinate the interests o the coonty, tae promote the development o the coonty, tae establish regional goals an safeguard the due process o law in the handlin o each case. The Coonty Admeenistrative Buird is a Govrenment Agency heidit bi a govrenor. See Leet o Norrbotten Govrenors.

The Coonty Cooncil o Norrbotten or *Norrbottens Läns Landsting*.

### Politics
Results o the Swadish general election, 2010 in Norrbotten:

*Swadish Social Democratic Wirkers' Pairty  51.86%
*Moderate Pairty  16.38%
*Left Pairty  9.29%
*Green Pairty  5.26%
*Centre Pairty  4.65%
*Leeberal Fowkpairty  4.32%
*Swaden Democrats  3.85%
*Christian Democrats (Swaden)  3.29%
*Ither pairties  1.10%

## Municipalities

Frae north tae sooth wi approximate population figurs as o 2002.

*In [[Norrbotten]] Province:*
*Pajala (7,000)
*Övertorneå (5,500)
*Överkalix (4,000)
*Boden (28,000)
*Kalix (17,500)
*Haparanda (10,000)
*Älvsbyn (8,500)
*Luleå (75,500)
*Piteå (40,500)

*In [[Lapland, Swaden|Lapland]] Province:*
*Kiruna (23,500 inhabitants)
*Gällivare (19,500)
*Jokkmokk (5,500)
*Arjeplog (3,200)
*Arvidsjaur (7,000)

The Sami leids can be uised in contacts wi local authorities in Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk, and Kiruna. Similarly, Finnish an Meänkieli can be uised in Gällivare, Haparanda, Kiruna, Pajala, an Övertorneå.

## Transportation
The main mode o person travel inside Norrbotten is bi caur. The roads uisually hae spairse traffic, except the coastal road E4, which haes mair dense traffic.
The distances are lang, e.g. 345&nbsp;km atween Luleå an Kiruna, needin at least 3½ oors bi caur.
The roads hae been gien relatively heich speed limits compared tae soothren Swaden, uisually 100–110&nbsp;km/h, reducin travel times in this the lairgest Swadish coonty.

Norrbotten haes a railway netwirk wi spairse passenger traffic but dense an hivy fraucht traffic. There are twa main railwas. Stambanan genom övre Norrland connects Norrbotten wi central an soothren Swaden. Malmbanan connects Luleå wi the iron mines in Gällivare an Kiruna an the ice-free port o Narvik. Malmbanan haes the heichest amoont o fraucht traffic in Scandinavie, especially the pairt atween Kiruna an Narvik.

Air travel is the main mode o travel atween Norrbotten an soothren Swaden. The main airport is Luleå Airport, 6t lairgest in Swaden. Ither airports are 
Arvidsjaur Airport, Gällivare Airport, Kiruna Airport an Pajala Airport.

## References an notes

* article ''Norrbottens län'' frae Nordisk familjebok (1912).

## Freemit airtins
*Norrbotten Coonty Admeenistrative Buird
*Norrbotten Coonty Cooncil 
*Norrbotten Regional Association o Local Authorities