SmÃÂ¥land () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. SmÃÂ¥land borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, ÃÂstergötland and the island ÃÂland in the Baltic Sea. The name SmÃÂ¥land literally means "small lands", referring to many small historic provinces from which it was composed. The Latinized form has been used in other languages. The highest point in SmÃÂ¥land is Tomtabacken, at 377 metres (1,237 ft). In terms of total area, SmÃÂ¥land is similar in size to Belgium.
Whilst the traditional provinces of Sweden no longer serve any governmental purpose per se, they do retain historical and cultural importance. The province of SmÃÂ¥land today is divided almost entirely into the three administrative counties of Jönköping, Kalmar, and Kronoberg. Some few small portions of historic SmÃÂ¥land are situated in Halland and ÃÂstergötland Counties.
The current coat of arms, granted in 1569, displays a rampant red lion carrying a crossbow, all on a golden background. The arms may be surmounted by a ducal coronet. The blazon in English would be, "Or, a lion rampant gules, langued and armed azure, holding in its front paws a crossbow of the second, bowed and stringed Sable with a bolt argent."
The population of SmÃÂ¥land was 780,389 as of 31 December 2023.
The land is dominated by a forested high plain in which the soil is mixed with sand and small boulders, making it in all but the coastal areas and unsuited for agriculture except in certain locations, most notably the Kalmar plains. The province is rich in lakes and bogs. The coast is marked by bays in the north (with an island archipelago offshore) and cultivated flatlands in the south. In total, cultivated land covers 14%, meadows cover 7%, and forests cover 50% of the surface of the province. Other than lacking deep valleys, the landscape is similar to the Norrland terrain found further north in Sweden.
The largest towns are Jönköping in the north-west, Växjö in the south, and Kalmar on the east coast near ÃÂland Island.
SmÃÂ¥land comprises the central, eastern, and southern parts of the South Swedish highlands. In detail, the topography of SmÃÂ¥land is a series of flat surfaces built upon or deformed by a geological dome. The elevated terrain thought to be a buckle formed as result of far-away forces transmitted to Sweden. The main surfaces are the Sub-Cambrian peneplain, the South SmÃÂ¥land peneplain and the "200 m peneplain". These surfaces and others are arranged in a stepped sequence called a piedmonttreppen. In eastern SmÃÂ¥land, the Sub-Cambrian peneplain dips gently to the sea. To the West, this part of the Sub-Cambrian peneplain terminates along a northâÂÂsouth escarpment (running slightly to the east of Växjö) that separates it from other flat surfaces. Central and northwestern SmÃÂ¥land contains strings of isolated hills.
The lakes and rivers of SmÃÂ¥land are associated to zones of weak rock, either fractured, weathered, or both. The many lakes in SmÃÂ¥land owe their existence to the creation of basins through the stripping of an irregular mantle of weathered rock by glacial erosion. The Lagan and the Nissan drain western SmÃÂ¥land, following for most of their courses zones of weak rock associated with the Protogine Zone. Rusken, Rymmen, and Möckeln lakes are aligned with a more eastern branch of the Protogine Zone. Canyons cut into the bedrock are common in central and northern SmÃÂ¥land, with the area near Mörlunda containing various particularly narrow (<50 m) canyons.
The climate of SmÃÂ¥land is divided between the oceanic climate of coastal areas such as Kalmar and the humid continental climate of the interior higher areas such as Jönköping. Southern interior areas such as Växjö have similar oceanic climates such as the coastline. However, temperature average differences between areas are relatively small, since SmÃÂ¥land lies in the continental/oceanic transition zone. Summer daytime averages are similar throughout the province, since all three major urban areas are on average around with daytime winter temperatures hovering around the freezing point. The slightly colder nights averaging in Jönköping are in keeping with its continental classification. The locality of MÃÂ¥lilla has the Swedish and Scandinavian all-time highest-measured temperature with on 1 June 1947.
The area was probably populated in the Stone Age from the south, by people moving along the coast up to Kalmar. SmÃÂ¥land was populated by Stone Age peoples by at least 6000 BC, since the Alby People are known to have crossed the ice bridge across the Kalmar Strait at that time.
It is named SmÃÂ¥land ("small lands") because it was an aggrupation of a dozen little (yet largely independent) territories: Kinda (today a part of ÃÂstergötland), Tveta, Vista, Vedbo, Tjust, Sevede, Aspeland, Handbörd, Möre, Värend, Finnveden, and Njudung. Each "small land" had its own law in the Viking age and early Middle Ages and could declare itself neutral in wars that Sweden was involved inâÂÂat least if the King had no army present at the parliamentary debate. Around 1350, during the reign of Magnus Eriksson, the first national law code was introduced in Sweden and the historic provinces lost much of their old autonomy.
The city of Kalmar is one of the oldest cities of Sweden. In the medieval period it was the southernmost and the third largest city in Sweden, when it was a center for export of iron, which, in many cases, was handled by German merchants. At that time, Scania and Blekinge were not part of Sweden.
SmÃÂ¥land was the center of several peasant rebellions. The most nearly successful was the Dackefejden led by Nils Dacke in 1542 and 1543. When officials of king Gustav Vasa were assaulted and murdered, the king sent small expeditions to pacify the area; but all failed. Dacke was the virtual ruler of large parts of SmÃÂ¥land during that Winter, though much troubled by a blockade of supplies, before finally being defeated by larger forces attacking from both Västergötland and ÃÂstergötland. He famously defended Kronoberg Castle (now ruined) but was shot while trying to escape to then Danish-ruled Blekinge.
A portion of SmÃÂ¥land called the Kingdom of Crystal is known for its many glassworks and can be traced back to the 18th century.
During the 17th and 18 Century SmÃÂ¥land saw Christian revival break out, leading to an increase of entrepreneurship, church building and the sending out of missionaries all over the world. To this day, the people of SmÃÂ¥land are affected by this activity.
In the 19th century, SmÃÂ¥land was afflicted by social and economic turbulence and poverty, and it had substantial emigration to North America. 4,300 Swedish emigrants were recruited to settle in Stamford, Texas, by the family network of the first Swedish emigrant to Texas, Swante M. Swenson, who came from Jönköping.
The furniture company IKEA was founded in the SmÃÂ¥land town of ÃÂlmhult.
Overnight between 8 and 9 January 2005 the province suffered serious damage from the storm Gudrun.
Towns with former city status were: Eksjö (chartered around 1400), Gränna (1652), Huskvarna (1911), Jönköping (1284), Kalmar (approximately 1100), Ljungby (1936), Nybro (1932), Nässjö (1914), Oskarshamn (1856), Sävsjö (1947), TranÃÂ¥s (1919), Vetlanda (1920), Vimmerby (approximately 1400), Värnamo (1920), Västervik (approximately 1200), Växjö (1342)
SmÃÂ¥land has four national parks:
Compared to much of Sweden, SmÃÂ¥land has a higher level of religious intensity and church participation.
In terms of Lutheran ecclesiastical boundaries, most of the province encompasses the diocese of Växjö. Parts of northern SmÃÂ¥land are in the diocese of Linköping.
SmÃÂ¥land is known for its free church congregations in Jönköping County. Most of Kalmar County and Kronoberg County have few or no free church congregations.
Politically SmÃÂ¥land is the strongest province for the Christian Democrats (KD), and both of the last two leaders of the party - Göran Hägglund and Alf Svensson live in Jönköping Municipality in northern SmÃÂ¥land.
Botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707âÂÂ1778), often called the father of taxonomy or "the flower-king", was born in ÃÂlmhult, SmÃÂ¥land. The twinflower's genus (Linnaea) was named by Dutch botanist Jan Frederik Gronovius in honor of Linnaeus because of it being his favorite plant.
Ingvar Kamprad (1926âÂÂ2018), founder of furniture retailer IKEA, was also from ÃÂlmhult. Some IKEA locations offer a children play area named after SmÃÂ¥land.
SmÃÂ¥land is home to Linnaeus University, located in Växjö and Kalmar, and Jönköping University.
The Swedish emigration to North America during the 19th century, is best depicted in a suite of novels by author Vilhelm Moberg, which is also the basis for the musical Kristina from DuvemÃÂ¥la created by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA fame.
In her writing, children's book author Astrid Lindgren often portrayed scenes from her own childhood, growing up on a farm in SmÃÂ¥land.
In the 20th century, SmÃÂ¥land has been known for its high level of entrepreneurship and low unemployment, especially in the Gnosjö region.
Old Swedish encyclopedia Nordisk familjebok describes the inhabitants of SmÃÂ¥land as follows:
A running joke local to Sweden, is that SmÃÂ¥landians are very economical, ranging from modestly frugal to utterly cheap. Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA said that the SmÃÂ¥landians are seen as the Scotsmen of Sweden.
The local language is a Swedish dialect known as SmÃÂ¥ländska (Smalandian). This may in turn be separated in two main branches, with the northern related to the Götaland dialects and the southern to the Scanian dialects. SmÃÂ¥ländska is a collective term for the Swedish dialects spoken in SmÃÂ¥land. SmÃÂ¥land is characterized by relatively strong differences between its various regions, the traditional âÂÂsmall lands.â For example, there are fairly significant differences between the SmÃÂ¥ländska spoken in Tjust in the northeastern part of SmÃÂ¥land, the SmÃÂ¥ländska spoken in the far southwest in Finnveden, and the SmÃÂ¥ländska spoken in areas bordering the old East Danish provinces, where many features are shared with the Scanian dialect. Like other dialects, these have developed through three interacting forces: the preservation of archaic features from Old East Norse, the adoption of innovations from surrounding regions, and unique local characteristics. Historically, the division of the province into the dioceses of Linköping and Växjö has had a significant influence on the dialects.
For details, see: Districts of SmÃÂ¥land
After the unification of Sweden, around 800âÂÂ1200 AD, SmÃÂ¥land was for consistency divided into chartered cities and into hundreds.
The historical sub-divisions of all Sweden's provinces were through hundreds (Swedish: härad). These were SmÃÂ¥land's hundreds:
List of towns in SmÃÂ¥land, Sweden
Football in the province is administered by SmÃÂ¥lands Fotbollförbund.