Götaland

Götaland, or "Geatland", is a historical land of Sweden, and was a separate kingdom before Sweden was unified. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand. The inhabitants were called Geats, or Götar. Deep woods constitute the borders to Svealand in the North like to Danish Skåneland in the South.

Provinces

Götaland is made up of the following ten provinces:

• Blekinge
• Bohuslän
• Dalsland
• Gotland
• Halland
• Skåne
• Småland
• Västergötland
• Öland
• Östergötland

History

Västergötland and Östergötland, once rival kingdoms themselves, constitutes Götaland proper. The small countries to the south of Finnveden[?], Kind[?], Möre[?], Njudung[?], Tjust[?], Tveta[?], Värend, Ydre[?] where merged into the province of Småland. Off the coast of Småland was the island of Öland, which became its own province. Dal to the north west became the province of Dalsland. Småland, Öland and Dalsland were early on seen as lands belonging to Götaland.

In the Treaty of Roskilde (1658), the Danish kingdom ceded Skåneland and Bohuslän to Sweden. Skåneland, which had constituted the eastern part of Denmark, became the Swedish provinces of Skåne, Halland and Blekinge. The new provinces are also seen as belonging to Götaland.

The island of Gotland shifted hands between Sweden and Denmark several times. Although the island may be percieved to have closer links to Svealand, it's actually counted to Götaland.

In the early 19th century the province of Värmland did for a time belong to the Court of Appeal for Svealand. Even though Värmland historically was a part of Götaland, it is now by custom counted to Svealand.

See also: Norrland, Lands of Sweden, Provinces of Sweden