Last modified: 2014-05-29 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: sweden | west bothnia | vasterbotten | bothnia | reindeer |
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![[Flag of West Bothnia]](../images/s/se-vbott.gif)
by Elias Granqvist
The flag is a banner of the arms;
arms granted in 1560, revised grant on 15 June 1939.
This is the flag of West Bothnia, a historical province in Sweden. The reindeer
is a characteristic animal of the Bothnian fauna.
Elias Granqvist, 25 December 2001
West Bothnia (in Swedish: Västerbotten) was originally all Swedish land west
of the Gulf of Bothnia (while the Swedish land east of this gulf was East Bothnia,
or Ostrobothnia (Österbotten)). The land of the Laps (the Samis) were however considered
a province of its own as soon as it was possible to positively see it as a part
of the Swedish realm, and this was called Lapland (in Swedish Lappland, in Finnish
Lappi). The original eastern border of the province was at the Kemi and Ounas Rivers,
but in the peace treaty of Hamina (Fredrikshamn) in 1809, the border between Sweden
and Russia was drawn along the Torne River. During the 20th Century, many people
has come to see the northern part of the province as a province in its own right,
called North Bothnia (Norrbotten).
Elias Granqvist, 25 December 2001
Official blazon in Swedish: "I med 6-uddiga stjärnor av guld bestrött blått fält en springande ren av silver med röd beväring."
Blazoned in English: "Azure Seme of Mullets Or a Reindeer in full course Argent
attired and hoofed Gules."
English blazon by Željko Heimer, 4 October 2000