Uppland is a historical

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

or ' on the eastern coast of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, just north of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, the capital. It borders

Södermanland Södermanland ( ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latinisation of names, Latinized form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden, historical province (or ) on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Österg� ...

, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. The name literally means ''up land'', a name which is commonly encountered in especially older English literaturer as ''Upland''. Its Latinised form, which is occasionally used, is ''Uplandia''. Uppland is often called called the province of "castles, ancient remains and runestones" and is famous for having the highest concentration of runestones in the world, with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone left by the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. Many of its castles and places of historical interest include Drottningholm Palace, Skokloster Castle, Salsta Castle, the medieval

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...

, where many royals are buried, and Uppsala Castle. Famous people from the region include

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

, St. Bridget of Sweden,

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

Anders Celsius Anders Celsius (; 27 November 170125 April 1744) was a Swedes, Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories ...

and Gustav Vasa. It has Sweden's oldest town, Sigtuna, thought to have been established around AD 980 and

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, Sweden's oldest university.

Administration

The traditional

provinces of Sweden The 25 provinces of Sweden () are historical, geographical and cultural regions. They have no administrative function, but retain their own cultural identities, dialects and folklore. Several were administrative subdivisions until 1634, when t ...

serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. The corresponding administrative

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, or ', is Uppsala County, which occupies the larger part of the territory. The bulk of the population, however, is within Stockholm County. Minor parts of the province are also in Västmanland, Gävleborg, and Södermanland Counties.

Heraldry

Uppland's arms were granted in 1560, distinctive in its depiction of a . Historically, Uppland ranked as a

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important differe ...

and the coat of arms is represented with a ducal coronet, blazoned thus: ''"Gules, a Royal Orb Or gemmed of the field and Azure with the cross bottoned Argent."'' Despite the fact that the Uppsala County has a different name and a smaller territory, it was granted the same coat of arms in 1940.

Geography

Uppland was historically divided into chartered cities and districts. Within Roslagen they were called ' (which roughly means "ship district"), and in the rest of the province hundreds. The abovementioned districts and cities have no administrative function today. On the small uninhabited island of Märket in the Baltic, Uppland has a very short and unusually shaped land border with

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

, an autonomous province of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Cities

* Djursholm (1913) *

Enköping Enköping is a locality and the seat of Enköping Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 30,000 inhabitants in 2018. Geography Enköping is situated near Lake Mälaren, about 78 km west of Stockholm. A comparably large number of S ...

(approximately 1300) * Lidingö (1926) * Norrtälje (1622) * Sigtuna (approximately 990) * Solna (1943) *

(1252) - northern part of city only. The southern part belongs to

* Sundbyberg (1927) *

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

(1286) * Vaxholm (1652) * Öregrund (1491) * Östhammar (approximately 1300)

Districts

Facts

*Highest mountain: Upplandsberget at Siggeforasjön, 117 metres *Most Runestones: as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone *Largest lake: Mälaren *Archipelago: Roslagen *

National Parks A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

: Ängsö, Färnebofjärden

Population

The population of Uppland was 1,602,652 as of 31 December 2016. The provincial population corresponds to the different overlapping counties as follows:

History

The earliest unambiguous mention of the province of Uppland comes from the year 1296, when it was mentioned that it included the '' Folklands'' of Fjärdhundraland, Attundaland, Tiundaland and Roslagen. The Swedish capital of Stockholm is divided between two provinces. The southern half lies in Södermanland and the northern half in Uppland.

Dukes and duchess

* Prince Waldemar (1310–1318 – also Öland) ** Ingeborg Eriksdottir of Norway, his wife (1312–1318 – also Öland) * Prince Gustav (1827–1852) * Prince Sigvard (1907–1934)

Religion

is the seat of the only

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the Lutheran

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

. Before the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, the archdiocese and archbishop were within the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Culture

The archaeological site

Birka Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö, Ekerö, Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of Continent ...

and the castle of Drottningholm are

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Sports

Football in the province is administered by Upplands Fotbollförbund.

Bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

is also popular, with

IK Sirius Idrottsklubben Sirius, commonly known as IK Sirius or Sirius, is a Swedish Sport, sports club located in Uppsala. Today IK Sirius is active in bandy, floorball, and association football, football as an . History The sports club that became IK Sir ...

References

External links

Uppland
- Tourist site
Uppland
- Tourist information {{Authority control Provinces of Sweden