Uppland () is a historical

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

or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, 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 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 fr ...

. On the small uninhabited island of Märket in the Baltic, Uppland has a very short and unusually shaped land border with

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

, an autonomous province of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

. The name literally means ''up land'', a name which is commonly encountered in especially older English literature as ''Upland''. Its Latinised form, which is occasionally used, is ''Uplandia''. Uppland is famous for having the highest concentration of

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

s in the world, with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone left by the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to 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 se ...

Administration

The traditional

provinces of Sweden The provinces of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges landskap) are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces; they have no administrative function (except for in some cases as sport districts), but remain historical legacies and a ...

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 purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, 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 and the coat of arms is represented with a ducal

coronet A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. A coronet differs from other kinds of crowns in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara doe ...

, 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.

Cities

* Djursholm (1913) * Enköping (approximately 1300) * Lidingö (1926) * Norrtälje (1622) * Sigtuna (approximately 990) *

Solna Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of ...

(1943) * Stockholm (1252) * Sundbyberg (1927) *

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat 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 inha ...

(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: 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

Uppland is the birthplace of Bridget of Sweden (1303 – 23 July 1373). The earliest unambiguous mention of the province of Uppland comes from the 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) ** Princess Ingiburga, his wife (1312-1318 – also Öland) * Prince Gustav (1827–1852) * Prince Sigvard (1907-1934)

Religion

is the seat of the only archbishop of the Lutheran

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Swed ...

. Before the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the archdiocese and archbishop were within the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 the Europ ...

and the castle of Drottningholm are

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Sports

Football in the province is administered by Upplands Fotbollförbund. Bandy is also popular, with IK Sirius.

References

External links

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