Provinces

There are 3 lands (landsdelar) in Sweden that altogether consist of 25 provinces (landskap): Norrland with 9 provinces, Svealand with 6 provinces and Götaland with 10 provinces.

Join me as I travel to all of these provinces, from the northermost one (Lappland) to the southermost one (Skåne). The biggest province is by far Lappland with ca 110 000 km² and the smallest one is Öland with ca 1 350 km².

It is important to understand that the Swedish provinces are not administrative regions, but only historical, geographical and cultural regions, having more a historical and cultural legacy. These 25 regions are not to be confounded with the counties, which are the administrative regions, and are 21 in number. The counties are not necessarily identical with the regions, but a region can include many counties. The biggest county is Norrbottens län (ca 98 000 km²) located in the region of Lappland and the smallest county is Blekinge län (ca 3 000 km²) located in the region of Blekinge.

The counties’ delimitations are marked with Bold
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Sverigekarta-Landskap_Text.svg

The Swedish nature is very varied. The landscapes can vary from forest, to mountains, hilly areas, a multitude of lakes and rivers, sea landscape and many beaches (yes, there are beaches in Sweden), farmlands and urban landscapes. I will try and give you here more information about the different Swedish landscapes.

Forests (skog, -ar): old-growth/virgin forests (gammelskogar/urskogar); coniferous forests (barrskogar) in the northern and central areas, a part of the European tajga, for example Tyresta forest in Södermanland; broadleaf forests (ädellövskogar) in the central and southern areas, for example Söderåsen in Skåne; birch forests in the high mountains, for example Pieljekaise in Lappland.
Mires (myr, -ar): 15-20% of the country, most common in the north but also in the east, for example Store Mosse in Småland; different types of mires are bogs (högmossar), marshes (kärr), fens (rikkärr), peats (torv).
Mountains (fjäll): fells (lågfjäll) that are under 1 200 m, mostly in the south of the Scandinavian Alps and in the far north, for example Vålådalen in Jämtland; high/bare mountains (högfjäll) that are over 1 200 m, mostly in Lappland, but also in Härjedalen and Jämtland, for example Sylarna in Jämtland.
Lakes (sjö, -ar): there are around 92 500 lakes in Sweden; different types of lakes are forest lakes (skogssjöar) like Sommen in Östergötland, mountain lakes (fjällsjöar) like Tärnasjön in Lappland, plain lakes (slättsjöar).
Rivers: big rivers (älv, -ar) that have their source in the mountains like Indalsälven; medium rivers (å, -ar) like Fyrisån in Uppsala and streams (bäck, -ar).
The sea (havet): Baltic Sea (Östersjön with Bottenviken/Gulf of Bothnia) in the east and south and Kattegat and Skagerrak straits, as parts of the North Sea (Atlantic Ocean) in the west. The coastlines vary also, from sandy coasts (sandkuster) down in the South (but even up in the North) like Gotska Sandön near Gotland, to cliff coasts (klintkuster) on Öland and Gotland and in Skåne, like for example Backafallen in Skåne and finally archipelagos (skärgårdskuster) on the east coast (Stockholm archipelago has ca 29 000 islands) and the west coast (ca 14 000 islands) like for example Kosteröarna in Bohuslän.
Farmlands (odlingslandskap): meadows (ängar) like Stensjö by in Småland and Hammarsänget on Gotland; pastures (betesmarker, hagar) like Tinnerö in Östergötland; heaths (ljunghedar) like Sandsjöbacka in Halland; coastal meadows (strandängar) like Kristianstads vattenrike in Skåne; limestone meadows (alvar) like Gynge and Mysinge alvar on Öland.
Ancient monuments (fornlämningar): there are around 400 000 ancient monuments in Sweden, dating back from the Stone Age up to the Viking Age. These are: megalithic graves/megalitgravar (mostly in Skåne, Västergötland and the west coast) like dolmens (dösar) from around 3 400 BC (for example Havängsdösen in Skåne), passage graves (gånggrifter) from around 3 300 BC (for example Ekornavallen in Västergötland), mounds (högar) and cairns (rösen) from the Bronze and Iron Age (for example Dagshög in Skåne and Uggarde rojr on Gotland) and grave fields (gravfält) from the Iron Age (for example Hemlanden on Birka in Uppland). Other ancient monuments are stone carvings/hällbilder from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age (for example Tanum in Bohuslän), stone ships/skeppssättningar from the Bronze Age and Iron Age (for example Ales stenar in Skåne), hill-forts/fornborgar from the Iron Age (for example Torsburgen on Gotland) and runestones/runstenar from the Iron Age (there are around 3 500 runestones in Sweden).
Parks and gardens (parker och trädgårdar): baroque gardens (barockträdgårdar) like the Botanical garden in Uppsala, English parks (engelska parker) like Hagaparken in Stockholm, city parks (stadsparker) like Karl Johans park in Norrköping and botanical gardens (botaniska trädgårdar) like that in Göteborg.
Urban landscapes/cities (stadsplaner/städer): medieval cities (medeltidsstäder) like Visby on Gotland, grid cities (rutnätsstäder) like Sundsvall, garden cities (trädgårdsstäder) like Landala in Göteborg and functional cities (funkisstäder) like Ribershus in Malmö.