Norrbotten County

Norrbotten County, Norrbottens län, is the northernmost part of Norrland, Sweden.

Bordering to Norway and Finland it covers 100,000 square kilometres (nearly a quarter of Sweden's total area and larger than countries such as Hungary and Portugal), from the tall mountains in the west to the coast and archipelagoes in the east. It includes the province of Norrbotten and the northern part of the province of Lappland. Much of Norrbotten County is within the Arctic Circle, meaning that Midnight Sun and Arctic Night occur.

A freight train at Torne Träsk, Sweden's sixth largest lake

The county has a mere 250,000 inhabitants (2.5% of the national population), most of them in Luleå, Piteå, Boden, and Kiruna.

• 🌍 Abisko, a national park
• 🌍 Jukkasjärvi, with the Ice Hotel
• 🌍 Kebnekaise and Nikkaluokta, Sweden's tallest mountain
• 🌍 Kvikkjokk, gateway to Laponia
• 🌍 Laponia, four national parks, and the largest wilderness in Europe
• 🌍 Riksgränsen, a ski resort
• 🌍 Ritsem, a remote hub for hiking trails

Lapland is the homeland of the Sami: Sápmi. While Swedish settlers arrived to the coast in the 14th century, and Sweden claimed the land in the 16th century, the communities remained isolated, speaking either Sami, Meänkieli (close to Finnish), or bondska, a Nordic dialect group very different from standard Swedish.

The demand for iron and wood induced a wave of colonization in the late 19th century with enormous investment in railways, mines and hydroelectric plants, which are today indispensable to the Swedish economy. In the late 20th century, the industries were automated, and the countryside was again depopulated, though tourism and space science have emerged as new businesses – and many of the Sami are still there.

Seasonal variations of temperature and daylight are dramatic, and the Midnight Sun can be seen in much of the country. See winter in the Nordic countries.

Though Swedish is the everyday language, and English is well understood, the northern edge of Sweden is linguistically diverse. The Sami languages, as well as the Meänkieli at the Torne river, are Finno-Ugric; similar to the Finnish language, the latter mutually intelligible. Some of the most archaic Swedish dialects, collectively described as bondska, have survived in towns such as Överkalix.

Resrobot is a search engine for all public transport in Sweden.

Arctic Sweden contains enormous areas of pristine nature. The Northern Lights can be seen during favourable conditions.

The Norrbotten Megasystem is an industrial cluster along the Iron Ore Line.

Riksgränsen ski resort

As Sweden's northernmost county, with the tallest mountains, winter sport and hiking are popular.

Riksgränsen is Sweden's northernmost ski resort, with snow well into June.

See also: Nordic cuisine

• Kalix löjrom. 
• Reindeer
• Surströmming (fermented herring); see Nordic cuisine#Ingredients.
• Palt

Nightlife is limited to the cities and the resorts.

The region is the coldest in Sweden; see Cold weather and Winter driving. The limited daylight during winter also poses danger.