Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Historically, it was the name for all the coastal areas of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

, including the eastern parts of lake Mälaren, belonging to

Svealand Svealand (), or Swealand, is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south central Sweden and is one of three historical lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tiveden, T ...

. The name was first mentioned in the year 1493 as "Rodzlagen". Before that the area was known as ''Roden''. Roden had a ''skeppslag'' (roughly translated: ship district), the coastal equivalent to the inland Hundreds. When the king would issue a call to

leidang The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' ( Norwegian), ''leding'' ( Danish), ''ledung'' ( Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for s ...

, the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

equivalent of military conscript service, the ''skeppslag'' in Roden was responsible for raising ships for the leidang

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

. The name comes from the ''rodslag'', which is an old coastal Uppland word for a rowing crew of warrior oarsmen. Etymologically, Roden, or Roslagen, is the source of the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and Estonian names for Sweden: and .The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text Translated by O. P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor A person from Roslagen is called a Rospigg which means "inhabitant of Ros". Swedes from the Roslagen area, that is "the people of Ros", gave their name to the

Rus' people The Rusʹ (Old East Slavic: Рѹсь; Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian: Русь; Old Norse: '' Garðar''; Greek: Ῥῶς, ''Rhos'') were a people in early medieval eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were or ...

and thus to the states of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

(see Rus' (name)).Harper, Douglas
"Russia"
''Online Etymology Dictionary''. The area also gives its name to the endangered domesticated Roslag sheep, which originated from the area centuries ago.

Communications

The region is served by the Roslagsbanan, a narrow-gauge railway network from Stockholm, going as far noth as Kårsta. The motorway E18 goes through Roslagen between

Kapellskär Kapellskär () is a port about north of Stockholm, in Sweden. It is located by the Baltic Sea, in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County. Services The port is served by frequent passenger ferry services to Mariehamn, Åland, Finland, operated ...

and Stockholm.

Nature

The hiking trail Roslagsleden crosses the region starting in

Danderyd Danderyd Municipality (''Danderyds kommun''; ) is a municipality north of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It is one of the smallest municipalities of Sweden, but the most affluent. Its seat is located in Djursholm and it is ...

and ending in

Grisslehamn Grisslehamn is a locality and port located on the coast of the Sea of Åland in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. The locality had 249 inhabitants in 2010. The name Grisslehamn was first mentioned in a document from 1376 about t ...

References

External links

* http://www.roslagen.se/ Tourism page Coasts of the Baltic Sea Uppland History of the Rus' people {{Sweden-geo-stub