Everything about Blekinge totally explained
is a one of the
provinces of Sweden (
landskap), situated in the south of the country. It borders
Småland,
Skåne and the
Baltic Sea.
The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective
bleke, which corresponds to the sea term for "dead calm".
Administration
The historical
provinces of Sweden serve no administrative function. Blekinge is, however, the only province, besides
Gotland, which covers exactly the same area as as the administrative
county, which is
Blekinge County.
Heraldry
During the sixteenth century, the province used a coat of arms depicting a crowned hill rising from the sea, and the symbol is known from several official Danish documents. The colours are uncertain, but expert Anders Thiset suggested a green hill on a red shield. This symbol was only used during the Danish administration and replaced by the current coat of arms by the Swedish administration.
Blekinge was granted its current arms at the funeral of
Charles X Gustav of Sweden in
1660, based on a seal from the
15th century. Symobolically 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 the same."
Geography
Blekinge has a scenic
archipelago and is sometimes called the "Garden of Sweden".
History
Historically Blekinge belonged to the
Danish crown together with the provinces
Skåne and
Halland, making up the eastern part of the Danish kingdom. Blekinge has been a Swedish province since
1658, following the
Treaty of Roskilde.
Towns in Blekinge with
Swedish city privileges were:
Karlshamn (chartered in
1664),
Karlskrona (
1680),
Ronneby (
1387),
Sölvesborg (
1445)
Of these towns,
Karlskrona is for more than 300 years the principal
naval base in Sweden, and in
1998 it became a site of the
UNESCO World heritage program.
Sub-divisions
Hundreds of Sweden were the historical sub-divisioning of a province. Blekinges hundreds were:
Bräkne Hundred,
Eastern Hundred,
Lister Hundred,
Medelstad Hundred.
Culture
Tongue
In Blekinge two main dialects appear. The divider of this has historically been the
Mörrumsån, near the historical sight of
Elleholm. West of this divider, the dialect was historically closely related to Danish and eastern
Scanian. East of this divider, the dialect has more in common with
Småland. Today, this divider isn't as significant as before, with the exception of
Listerlandet with its special language. The eastern dialect of
Danish can also be found on the Danish island of
Bornholm.
The variety is called
Blekingska but should rather be divided into Western
Blekingska (or
Västblekingska) and Eastern
Blekingska (or
Östblekingska).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Blekinge'.
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