Blekinge ( Swedish pronunciation: [ˈblêːkɪŋɛ] ) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces ( landskap ), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland , in southern Sweden. It borders Småland , Scania and the Baltic Sea . It is the country's second-smallest province by area (only Öland is smaller), and the smallest province located on the mainland .
58-402: The name "Blekinge" comes from the dialectal adjective bleke , which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm". The historical provinces of Sweden serve no administrative function. However, Blekinge is the only province, besides Gotland , which covers exactly the same area as the administrative county , which is Blekinge County . Blekinge was granted its current arms in 1660 at
116-458: A Pomeranian griffin 's head. To distinguish it from the city's coat of arms the tinctures were changed and the official blazon for the provincial arms is, in English: Or , a griffin's head erased gules , crowned azure and armed azure, when it should be armed. The province was divided in two administrative counties 1719–1996. Coats of arms were created for these entities, also using
174-428: A Swedish province . Blekinge's hundreds were Bräkne Hundred , Eastern Hundred , Lister Hundred , and Medelstad Hundred . In Blekinge the dialect was historically closely related to Danish and eastern Scanian , which is most likely an effect of the former administrative links to Scania . Today, the dialect is not as significant as before, with the exception of Listerlandet with its special language. Football in
232-513: A sea level rise led to the complete drowning of Scania. Subsequently, marine sediments buried old surfaces preserving the rocky shores and hilly terrain of the day. In the Paleogene period southern Sweden was at a lower position relative to sea level but was likely still above it as it was covered by sediments. Rivers flowing over the South Småland peneplain flowed also across Scania which
290-582: A coat of arms had to be created for the newly acquired province, as each province was to be represented by its arms at his royal funeral. After an initiative from Baron Gustaf Bonde , the Lord High Treasurer of Sweden , the coat of arms of the City of Malmö was used as a base for the new provincial arms. The Malmö coat of arms had been granted in 1437, during the Kalmar Union , by Eric of Pomerania and contains
348-420: A different shape. All other lakes tend to be round, oval or of more complex shape and also lack any specific cardinal direction. Ringsjön , in the middle of the province, is the largest of such lakes. In the winter, some smaller lakes east of Lund often attract young Eurasian sea eagles ( Haliaeetus albicilla ). Where the sea meets higher parts of the sloping landscape, cliffs emerge. Such cliffs are white if
406-701: A governor ( landshövding ) appointed by the central government of Sweden . When the first local government acts took effect in 1863, each county also got an elected county council ( landsting ). The counties were further divided into municipalities. The local government reform of 1952 reduced the number of municipalities, and a second subdivision reform, carried out between 1968 and 1974, established today's 33 municipalities ( Swedish : kommuner ) in Scania. The municipalities have municipal governments, similar to city commissions , and are further divided into parishes ( församlingar ). The parishes are primarily entities of
464-530: A regional parliament had been introduced by the Social Democratic Party 's local districts in Scania and Västra Götaland already in 1993. When Sweden joined the European Union two years later, the concept " Regions of Europe " came in focus and a more regionalist-friendly approach was adopted in national politics. These factors contributed to the subsequent transformation of Skåne County into one of
522-611: Is Skåne (formerly spelled Skaane in Danish and Norwegian ). The Latinized form Scania is an exonym in English. Sometimes the endonym Skåne is used in English text, such as in tourist information, even sometimes as Skane with the diacritic omitted. Scania (as also Dalarna ) is one of the few Swedish provinces for which exonyms are widely used in many languages, such as French Scanie , Dutch and German Schonen , Polish Skania , Spanish Escania , Italian Scania , etc. For
580-631: Is a Danish land. The names Scania and Scandinavia are considered to have the same etymology. The southernmost tip of what today is Sweden was called Scania by the Romans and thought to be an island. The actual etymology of the word remains dubious and has long been a matter of debate among scholars. The name is possibly derived from the Germanic root *Skaðin-awjã , which appears in Old Norse as Skáney [ˈskɑːnˌœy] . According to some scholars,
638-474: Is among the most fertile in the world. The Kullaberg Nature Preserve in northwest Scania is home to several rare species including spring vetchling, Lathyrus sphaericus . [T]he present landscape is a mosaic of landforms shaped during widely different ages. The gross relief of Scania reflects more the preglacial development than the erosion and deposits caused by the Quaternary glaciers . In Swedish
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#1732847646664696-787: Is generally not mountainous , though a few examples of uncovered cliffs can be found at Hovs Hallar , at Kullaberg , and on the island Hallands Väderö . With the exception of the lake-rich and densely forested northern parts ( Göinge ), the rolling hills in the north-west (the Bjäre and Kulla peninsulas) and the beech-wood-clad areas extending from the slopes of the horsts, a sizeable portion of Scania's terrain consists of plains . Its low profile and open landscape distinguish Scania from most other geographical regions of Sweden which consist mainly of waterway-rich, cool, mixed coniferous forests , boreal taiga and alpine tundra . The province has several lakes but there are relatively few compared to Småland ,
754-490: Is higher than in any other region in Sweden. The Scanian plains are an important resource for Sweden since 25–95% of the total production of various types of cereals come from the region. Almost all Swedish sugar beet comes from Scania; the plant needs a long vegetation period . The same applies also to maize , peas and rape (grown for its oil), although these plants are less imperative in comparison with sugar beets. The soil
812-713: Is part of the pinewood vegetation zone, in which spruce grows naturally. Within the larger part, pine may grow together with birch on sandy soil. The most common tree is beech . Other common trees are willow , oak , ash , alder and elm (which until the 1970s formed a few forests but now is heavily infected by the elm disease ). Also rather southern trees like walnut tree , chestnut and hornbeam can be found. In parks horse chestnut , lime and maple are commonly planted as well. Common fruit trees planted in commercial orchards and private gardens include several varieties of apple , pear , cherry and plum ; strawberries are commercially cultivated in many locations across
870-508: Is the main artery through the western part of Scania all the way from Trelleborg to the provincial border towards neighbouring Halland . It continues along the Swedish west coast to Gothenburg and most of the way to the Norwegian border. There are also several other motorways, especially around Malmö . Since 2000, the economic focus of the region has changed, with the opening of a road link across
928-402: Is the only one of its kind using a heraldic coat of arms. It is also the same as the province's and the county's, but with a golden griffin's head on a blue shield. The 33 municipalities within the county also have coats of arms. The Scania Griffin has become a well-known symbol for the province and is also used by commercial enterprises. It is, for instance, included in the logotypes of
986-466: Is the southernmost of the historical provinces ( landskap ) of Sweden . Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland , the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne County , created in 1997. Like the other historical provinces of Sweden, Scania still features in colloquial speech and in cultural references, and can therefore not be regarded as an archaic concept. Within Scania there are 33 municipalities that are autonomous within
1044-645: The Church of Sweden , but they also serve as a divisioning measure for the Swedish population registration and other statistical uses. In 1999, the county council areas were amalgamated, forming Skåne Regional Council ( Region Skåne ), responsible mainly for public healthcare, public transport and regional planning and culture. During the Danish era, the province had no coat of arms . In Sweden, however, every province had been represented by heraldic arms since 1560. When Charles X Gustav of Sweden suddenly died in 1660
1102-636: The Danish Copenhagen region at north-east Zealand , on the other side of Øresund Sea, is even more densely populated. The north-east part of Zealand (or the Danish Region Hovedstaden without the Baltic island of Bornholm ) has a population density of 878 inhabitants/km , most of Greater Copenhagen included. By adding the population of western Scania to the same of Metropolitan area of Copenhagen , then close to 3 million people live around
1160-814: The Great Belt . Regardless of counting a smaller area with higher population density or a larger one, the Øresund Strait is located in the largest metropolitan area in Scandinavia with Finland . In 1658 , the following ten places in Scania were chartered and held town rights : Lund (since approximately 990), Helsingborg (1085), Falsterbo (approximately 1200), Ystad (approximately 1200), Skanör (approximately 1200), Malmö (approximately 1250), Simrishamn (approximately 1300), Landskrona (1413), and Kristianstad (1622). Others had existed earlier, but lost their privileges. Ängelholm got new privileges in 1767, and in 1754, Falsterbo and Skanör were merged. The concept of municipalities
1218-576: The Jurassic and Cretaceous epochs led to the formation of hundreds of small volcanoes in central Scania . Remnants of the volcanoes are still visible today. Parallel with volcanism a hilly peneplain formed in northeastern Scania due to weathering and erosion of basement rocks . The kaolinite formed by this weathering can be observed at Ivö Klack . In the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous
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#17328476466641276-655: The Quaternary glaciations . The vast majority of Scania belongs to the European hardwood vegetation zone, a considerable part of which is now agricultural rather than the original forest. This zone covers Europe west of Poland and north of the Alps , and includes the British Isles , northern and central France and the countries and regions to the south and southeast of the North Sea up to Denmark. A smaller north-eastern part of Scania
1334-623: The Skåne Regional Council . Scania's largest city , Malmö , is the third-largest city in Sweden, as well as the fifth-largest in Scandinavia . To the north, Scania borders the former provinces of Halland and Småland , to the northeast Blekinge , to the east and south the Baltic Sea , and to the west Öresund . Since 2000, a road and railway bridge, the Öresund Bridge , bridges the Sound and connects Scania with Denmark. Scania forms part of
1392-574: The Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, when all Danish lands east of Öresund were ceded to Sweden. Denmark regained control of the province (1676–1679) during the Scanian War and again briefly in 1711 during the Great Northern War . In July 1720, a peace treaty between Sweden and Denmark again confirmed the status of Scania as part of Sweden. The endonym used in Swedish and other North Germanic languages
1450-512: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Bleke " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for
1508-463: The 1710 Battle of Helsingborg . In 1719, the province was subdivided in two counties and administered in the same way as the rest of Sweden . In July 1720, a peace treaty between Sweden and Denmark again confirmed the status of Scania as part of Sweden. On 28 November 2017, it was ruled that the Scanian flag would become the official regional flag of Scania. During Sweden's financial crisis in
1566-415: The Germanic stem can be reconstructed as * Skaðan- meaning "danger" or "damage" (English scathing , German Schaden , Swedish skada ). Skanör in Scania, with its long Falsterbo reef, has the same stem ( skan ) combined with - ör , which means "sandbanks". Between 1719 and 1996, the province was subdivided in two administrative counties ( län ), Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County , each under
1624-532: The Scandinavian Peninsula and formed the eastern part of the kingdom of Denmark. This geographical position made it the focal point of the frequent Dano-Swedish wars for hundreds of years. By the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, all Danish lands east of Öresund were ceded to Sweden. First placed under a Governor-General , the province was eventually integrated into the kingdom of Sweden. The last Danish attempt to regain its lost provinces failed after
1682-594: The Scanian Pågatåg trains serve Markaryd in Småland. There are basically three ticket systems: Skånetrafiken tickets can be purchased for all regional traffic including to Denmark, while the Danish Rejsekort system can only be used at stations served by Øresundståg and equipped with special card readers. Additionally, Swedish national SJ-tickets are available for longer trips to the north. The E6 motorway
1740-503: The Swedish takeover two new towns, Karlshamn (chartered in 1664) and Karlskrona (1680), were built, and the populations of Ronneby and Kristianopel were forcibly relocated to them. Karlskrona has for more than 300 years been the principal naval base in Sweden. Hundreds (in Götaland incl. Blekinge called härad in Swedish, in Svealand called hundare ) were the historical subdivisions of
1798-399: The automotive manufacturer Scania AB and the airline Malmö Aviation . [REDACTED] Kingdom of Denmark 811?-1658 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Sweden 1658-present Scania was first mentioned in written texts in the 9th century. It came under Danish king Harald Bluetooth in the middle of the 10th century. It was then a region that included Blekinge and Halland , situated on
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1856-535: The average of the temperature taken throughout both day and night unlike the more usual daily maximum or minimum average. This is done for specific measured periods of thirty years. The last period began at 1 January 1961 and ended at 31 December 1990. The current such period started at 1 January 1991 and will end by 31 December 2020. At that time it will be possible to with a high degree of mathematical certainty to measure possible climate changes, by comparing two separate periods of 30 years with each other. All three of
1914-575: The coast. Bedrock in Blekinge is mostly granite and gneiss of the Blekinge-Bornholm rock province. Evidence of human habitation in western Blekinge dates circa 9700 BC in the Vesan area. At this time, Vesan was a small island surrounded by open grassland. A later settlement in the nearby Ljungaviken is dated to 6500 BC and contains the remains of at least 50 wooden houses and a buried dog. Blekinge
1972-535: The early and mid-1990s, Scania, Västra Götaland and Norrbotten were among the hardest hit in the country, with high unemployment rates as a result. In response to the crisis, the County Governors were given a task by the government in September 1996 to co-ordinate various measures in the counties to increase economic growth and employment by bringing in regional actors. The first proposal for regional autonomy and
2030-416: The first "trial regions" in Sweden in 1999, established as the country's first "regional experiment". The relatively strong regional identity in Scania is often referred to in order to explain the general support in the province for the decentralization efforts introduced by the Swedish government. On the basis of large scale interview investigations about Region Skåne in Scania, scholars have found that
2088-418: The first character; please check alternative capitalizations and consider adding a redirect here to the correct title. If the page has been deleted, check the deletion log , and see Why was the page I created deleted? Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleke " Scania Scania , also known by its native name of Skåne ( Swedish: [ˈskôːnɛ] ),
2146-400: The forest-dominated province of Småland . While the landscape typically has a slightly sloping profile, in some places, such as north of Malmö, the terrain is almost completely flat. The narrow lakes with a long north to south extent, which are very common further north, are lacking in Scania. The largest lake, Ivösjön in the north-east, has similarities with the lakes further north, but has
2204-489: The griffin motif. The new Skåne County, operative from 1 January 1997, got a coat of arms that is the same as the province's, but with reversed tinctures. When the county arms is shown with a Swedish royal crown, it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of central government authority. In 1999 the two county councils ( landsting ) were amalgamated forming Region Skåne . It
2262-408: The lowest ever recorded is −34 °C (−29 °F) ( Stehag , 26 January 1942) Temperatures below −15 °C (5 °F) are relatively rare even at night, while summer temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) occurs once in a while every summer. Precipitation is spread fairly evenly, both across the province and during the year. Slightly more precipitation falls during July and August than during
2320-523: The northern locations are at low altitude and fairly close to the Baltic Sea. Compared with locations further north, the Scanian climate differs primary by being far less cold during the winter and in having longer springs and autumns. While the July temperatures does not differ much (see table above). The highest temperature ever recorded in the province is 36.0 °C (97 °F) ( Ängelholm , 30 July 1947) and
2378-400: The other months. Scania is divided into 33 municipalities with population and land surface as the table below shows. There is a large population difference between the western Scania, that is located by, or close to Øresund sea compared to the middle and eastern parts of the province. A small part of Båstad municipality is located within the neighbouring province of Halland , this includes
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2436-448: The prevailing trend among the inhabitants of Scania is to "[look] upon their region with more positive eyes and a firm reliance that it would deliver the goods in terms of increased democracy and constructive results out of economic planning". Electrified dual track railroad exists from the border with Denmark at the Øresund Bridge to Malmö and onwards to Lund . The latter part is consists of four tracks since October 2023. In Lund,
2494-468: The province directly to the north. Stretching from the north-western to the south-eastern parts of Scania is a belt of deciduous forests following the Linderödsåsen ridge and previously marking the border between Malmöhus County and Kristianstad County. The much denser fir forests — typical of the greater part of Sweden — are only found in the north-eastern Göinge parts of Scania along the border with
2552-987: The province is administered by Blekinge Fotbollförbund . bleke#Swedish Look for Bleke on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Bleke in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use
2610-596: The province's modern administrative counterpart, Skåne län , the endonym Skåne is used in English. In the Alfredian translation of Orosius 's and Wulfstan 's travel accounts, the Old English form Sconeg appears. Frankish sources mention a place called Sconaowe ; Æthelweard , an Anglo-Saxon historian, wrote about Scani ; and in Beowulf 's fictional account, the names Scedenige and Scedeland appear as names for what
2668-579: The province. Examples of wild berries grown in domesticated form are blackberry , raspberry , cloudberry (in the north-east), blueberry , wild strawberry and loganberry . Three of the 29 National parks of Sweden are situated in Scania. Scania has the mildest climate in Sweden, but there are some local differences. The table shows average temperatures in degrees Celsius at ten Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) weather stations in Scania and three stations further north for comparison issues. Average temperature in this case means
2726-417: The same." Relative to the rest of Sweden Blekinge has warm summers and mild winters. Blekinge has a scenic archipelago and is sometimes called "Sweden's garden" ( Swedish : Sveriges trädgård ). The nature of Blekinge is characterized by its oak forests with occasional hazel and common hornbeam . The relief is an uneven joint valley terrain with straight and narrow valley bottoms that widen towards
2784-450: The soil has a high content of chalk. Good examples of such coastlines exist at the southern side of Ven , between the towns of Helsingborg and Landskrona , and in parts of the south and south-east coasts. In other Swedish provinces, steep coastlines usually reveal primary rock instead. The two major plains, Söderslätt in the south-west and Österlen in the south-east, consist of highly fertile agricultural land. The yield per unit area
2842-480: The time of the funeral of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden (1622–1660) based on a seal from the 15th century. Symbolically the three crowns from the Coat of arms of Sweden had been placed on the trunk of the tree to mark the change in status of the former Danish province, that now belonged to Sweden. The arms is represented with a ducal coronet. Blazon : "Azure, an Oak Tree eradicated Or ensigned with three Crowns palewise of
2900-529: The tracks split into two directions. The dual tracks going towards Gothenburg end at Helsingborg , while the other branch continues beyond the provincial border to neighbouring Småland , close to Killeberg . This latter dual track continues to mid-Sweden. There are also a few single track railroads connecting cities like Trelleborg , Ystad and Kristianstad. Just as five Scanian stations are served partly ( Hässleholm and Osby ) or entirely ( Ballingslöv , Hästveda and Killeberg ) by Småland local trains,
2958-399: The transnational Øresund Region . From north to south Scania is around 130 km; it covers less than 3% of Sweden's total area. The population is over 1,418,000. It represents 13% of the country's population. With 121/km (310/sq mi), Scania is the second most densely populated province in Sweden. Historically, Scania formed part of the kingdom of Denmark until the signing of
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#17328476466643016-474: The village Östra Karup and some area around it, around 500 people live in Båstad municipality, but beyond the historical boundaries of the Scanian province. These figures can be compared with around to 21 inhabitants per km for entire Sweden . Western Scania has a high population density, not only by Scandinavian standards but also by average European standards, at close to 300 inhabitants per square kilometre. But
3074-538: The word ås commonly refers to eskers , but major landmarks in Scania, such as Söderåsen , are horsts formed by tectonic inversion along the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone in the late Cretaceous . The Scanian horsts run in a north-west to south-east direction, marking the southwest border of Fennoscandia . Tectonic activity of the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone during the break-up of Pangaea in
3132-510: The Øresund Bridge to Denmark . The car ferry service between Helsingborg and Helsingør has 70 departures in each direction daily as of 2014 . There are three minor airports in Sturup , Ängelholm and Kristianstad . The nearby Copenhagen Airport , which is the largest international airport in the Nordic countries , also serves the province. Unlike some regions of Sweden, the Scanian landscape
3190-422: The Øresund sea, within a maximum distance from Øresund of 25 to 30 kilometres, at a land surface of approx. 6100 km (approx 460 inhabitants/km ). This is in many ways a better measurement of describing the area around Øresund than what the far wider Øresund Region constitutes, as the latter includes also eastern Scania (whose beaches are Baltic Sea ones and is far less populated) as well as all Denmark east of
3248-479: Was a part of Sweden until the early 13th century when it became part of Denmark (the Danish Census Book contains the first secure written evidence of Danish control). It then remained a Danish province until 1658, and together with the provinces of Skåne and Halland , it made up Skåneland , the eastern part of the Danish kingdom where Scanian Law ( Skånske Lov ) prevailed. As a border province, Blekinge
3306-451: Was at the time covered by thick sediments. As the relative sea level sank and much of Scania lost its sedimentary cover antecedent rivers begun to incise the Söderåsen horst forming valleys. During deglaciation these valleys likely evacuated large amounts of melt-water. The relief of Scania's south-western landscape was formed by the accumulation of thick Quaternary sediments during
3364-582: Was often raided and looted by Swedish troops during Danish–Swedish wars. In 1658, it was ceded to Sweden according to the Treaty of Roskilde and has remained Swedish ever since. During the Danish era, the port town of Sölvesborg was the seat of the administration in the western part of the province and Kristianopel in the eastern part. Notable fortifications during this period included sites at Elleholm , Sölvesborg , Lyckeby and Avaskär . Towns in Blekinge with city privileges were: Ronneby (1387), Sölvesborg (1445), Elleholm and Kristianopel . After
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