( in , before 1658 a province in the
Kingdom Of Denmark and part of the historical
Lands Of Denmark , since 1997 a
County (''län'') of Sweden. To the north, it borders the provinces
Halland ,
Småland and
Blekinge , to the east and south the
Baltic Sea , and to the west the
Oresund Strait . It is part of the transnational
Oresund Region and the historical region
Skåneland (Terra Scania or the Scanian land). Around 130 km long from north to south, Scania covers less than 3% of Sweden's total area. The population of 1,200,000 represents 13% of Sweden's total population.
Due to the historical connection to Denmark, the vast fertile
Plains , the
Deciduous forests and the relatively mild climate, Scania is often considered culturally and physically distinct from other regions of Sweden.Germundsson, Tomas (2005). "Regional Cultural Heritage versus National Heritage in Scania’s Disputed National Landscape." ''International Journal of Heritage Studies'', Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 21–37. (ISSN 1470–3610).
''For politics see of Scania.]]
Danish Scania was subdivided into administrative units called
Hundreds (''herreder'' in Danish) during medieval times. Under the Swedish administration, several different administrative subdivisions have been in effect within the region. For most of the period between 1658 and 1719, Scania was a
Swedish Dominion .
The provinces of Sweden have no political or administrative function. Scania is presently subdivided into 33
Municipalities Region Skåne.
Municipalities in Skåne . Official site. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
(''kommuner'' in Swedish), the largest being
Malmö Municipality (270,000 inhabitants),
Helsingborg Municipality (124,000),
Lund Municipality (103,000 inhabitants) and
Kristianstad Municipality (75,000 inhabitants). The municipalities have municipal governments, similar to
City Commissions , and are further divided into parishes, originally created by the
Church Of Denmark . The parish division is traditionally used by the
Church Of Sweden , but also serves as a divisioning measure for Swedish census and elections.
Since 1997, the largest administrative unit in Scania is called (''landshövding'' in Swedish). The County Administrative Board is nominally a
Government Agency . The seat of residence for the
Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö. The arms for the for the province and the newly created county are based on the Danish era arms for the city of Malmö. The arms for the county has the red and yellow colors of the province arms reversed and a crown, beak and tongue in yellow instead of blue. When the county arms is shown with a Swedish royal crown, it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of (royal) government authority.
Before Region Skåne was formed in 1999 on a trial basis, the regional development was the responsibility of a Regional Association, comprising the 33 municipalities together with the then current health services principals, namely the Kristianstad and Malmöhus county councils and the Health Services authority in the City of Malmö.
at the
Battle Of Lund , 1676. Painting by Johan Philip Lemke, 1684]]
''Main articles:
History Of Scania and
Skåneland ''
Historically the province of Scania was a part of and
Zealand , the other two
Lands Of Denmark , formed a Danish state in the 9th century.
Following the .Terra Scaniae.
Herr generalguvernör . (In Swedish). Retrieved 8 January 2007.
The Governor-General's seat of residence was in (1679) returned Scania to Swedish administration.
The 1676-1679 war between Denmark and Sweden over Scania was devastating for the people of Scania. It ended in a draw, after much destruction of property and suffering for the civilian population.
Section 9 of the Roskilde peace treaty had initially ensured cultural autonomy in Scania and in an additional agreement, signed at the
Malmö Recess in 1662, Sweden guaranteed that the old laws and privileges of Scania would continue to apply in the region. The Malmö Recess agreement further ensured that Scanian noblemen, priests and peasants would be allowed to send representatives to the Swedish parliament.Oresundstid.
The Swedification of Scania . ''17th century''. Retrieved 7 January 2007.
However, in 1680 Sweden’s first era of
Absolute Monarchy was ushered in as the Swedish king
Charles XI managed to convince the
Diet , (the
Riksdag Of The Estates , an early form of
Swedish Parliament ) to declare the king "a Christian ruler with absolute power to rule his kingdom at his discretion".Upton, Anthony F. (1998). ''Charles XI and Swedish Absolutism, 1660-1697''. Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521573904. In 1682, the Diet downgraded the Council of State to a
King's Council and gave the king unlimited powers to legislate without the need for confirmation from the Diet. A decision not to honor the agreement of the Malmö Recess soon followed and a tougher Swedification program was implemented in Scania, aiming to create uniformity within the Swedish kingdom.Terra Scaniae.
Hårdare försvenskning . (In Swedish). Retrieved 7 January 2006. Scania was allowed to retain its old laws and customs until 1683, at which point the Swedish administration persuaded the Scanian aristocracy to waive the Scanian laws and privileges in favor of the new Swedish law and church ordinance, as a condition for allowing Scanians to have representation in the Swedish parliament.
An entire staff of Swedish politicians, artists, poets and scholars were engaged in creating an image of the king as an instrument of God and a personification of the apocalyptic "Lion of the North", a form of symbolic imagery first introduced for ’s monumental ceiling painting in the Stockholm Royal Palace, Charles XI is depicted with "the goddess of Scania" at his feet.Olin, Martin (2005). "Kungliga rum – maktmanifestation och distribution". ''Historikermöte 2005'', Konstvetenskapliga institutionen. Published online (in English) by the Department of History, Uppsala University,
in pdf-format .
), consisting of the provinces "Scaniam, Hallandiam et Blekingiam".]]Halland and Blekinge were successively removed from the Skåneland dominion and became fully integrated into the Swedish Kingdom, while the counties of Scania were joined into one county. By 1693, only Scania County was left a dominion, with a special, not fully integrated, status.
Scania's status was changed on May 9, 1719, when it was divided into two counties, Malmöhus County and Kristianstad County, and became fully integrated, with two county governors and an administration identical to the other Swedish counties. However, the hostilities between Denmark and Sweden during the
Napoleonic War caused Sweden to revert Scania's status again and a General-Governor was reintroduced. Between 1801 and 1809,
Johan Christopher Toll was appointed General-Governor of Scania, with the county governors of Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County answering to him. On January 1, 1997, the two Scanian counties were joined into the present Skåne County.
)]]
, a skyskraper in
Malmö , the largest city in Skåne.]]
woods at the public forests of
Söderåsen .]]
The geography of Scania was shaped by the last
Ice Age , the
Weichsel Glaciation , a time when it was totally covered with ice. The
Relief in Scania's south-western landscape is formed by thick
Quaternary deposits from sediment accumulation during the glaciations.
Hallandsåsen and
Söderåsen are major landmarks but contrary to popular belief, they are not ridges left behind by the retreating ice but
Horst s formed by inversion tectonic activity along the
Tornquist Tectonic Zone in the
Late Cretaceous . The Scanian horsts run in a North-West to South-West direction, marking the southwest border of
Fennoscandia .Lidmar-Bergström, Karna and Jens-Ove Näslund (2005). "Uplands and Lowlands in Southern Sweden". In ''The Physical Geography of Fennoscandia''. Ed. Matti Seppälä. Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 255-261. ISBN 0199245908.
Unlike some of the other regions of Sweden, the Scanian landscape is not forests following the
Linderödsåsen ridge, and previously marking the border between
Malmöhus County and
Kristianstad County . Denser
Fir forests are found in the north-eastern
Göinge parts along the border with the forest dominated province of
Småland .
The two major plains,
Söderslätt in the south-west och
Österlen in the south-east, consist of highly fertile agricultural land - the yield per unit area is higher than in any other region in Sweden. The Scanian plains are an important resource for the rest of Sweden since between 25-50% of the total production of various types of cereals come from the region. In addition, close to 90% of Sweden's
Sugar Beet s are grown in Scania.SCB. ''Jordbruksstatistisk årsbok 2006''. (Agricultural Statistic Yearbook 2006). Published online in
pdf-format by Statiska Centralbyrån (
Statistics Sweden ). (In Swedish). Retrieved 10 January 2007. The soil is among the most fertile in the world.
The
Kullaberg Nature Preserve in northwest Scania is home to several
Rare Species including Spring vetchling, ''Lathyrus sphaericus''. Hogan, C.M. (2004). ''Kullaberg environmental analysis''. Lumina Technologies prepared for municipality of Höganäs, Aberdeen Library Archives, Aberdeen, Scotland, July 17, 2004.
Scania was historically divided into 14
Charter ed
Towns and 23
Hundreds .
''Main article:
Towns Of Skåne ''
Over 90% of Scania's population live in cities.The Foundation for Recreational Areas in Scania.
"Information about the Skaneled Trails" . Region Skåne. Retrieved 20 Oct. 2006 In 2000, the
Oresund Bridge - the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, linked
Malmö and
Copenhagen , making Scania's population part of a 3.6 million total population in the
Oresund Region . In 2005, the region had 9,200 commuters crossing the bridge daily, the vast majority of them from Malmö to Copenhagen.Peter, Laurence.
"Bridge shapes new Nordic hub" . BBC News, 14 Sep. 2006. Retrieved 20 Oct. 2006.
The below list of towns all held
City Status In Sweden until the term was abolished in Sweden in 1971 in favour of municipalities. In Danish times, other towns had been granted a
Royal Charter , but the towns remained small.
''See also:
Skåne Commuter Rail ''
The
Motorway built between between Malmö and Lund in 1953 was the first
Motorway In Sweden . With the construction of the
Oresund Bridge between
Malmö and
Copenhagen (the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe), the Swedish motorways were linked with
European Route E20 in Denmark and
Scania's Commuter Rail became connected with the Danish railway system.
Scania has three major public airports,
Malmö Airport ,
Ängelholm-Helsingborg Airport and
Kristianstad Airport . One of the oldest airports in the world still in use is located in Scania, namely
Ljungbyhed Airport , in operation since 1910. Starting in 1926, the
Swedish Air force used the airport for flight training, and up until the military school was moved to the nearby Ängelholm F10 Wing in 1997,
the airport was extremely busy. In the late 1980s, it was Sweden's busiest airport, with a record high of more than 1,400 take-offs and landings per day.
Ljungbyhed airport - ESTL . Fact sheet created by
Lund University School of Aviation . Retrieved 22 January 2007.
The major ports of Scania are Malmö Harbour and
Helsingborg Harbour. Ferry connections across the
Baltic Sea operate from several smaller ports as well.
Scania's long-running and sometimes intense trade relations with other communities along the coast of the European continent through history has made the culture of Scania distinct from other geographical regions of Sweden. Its open landscape, often described as a colorful patchwork quilt of corn and rape fields, and the relatively mild climate at the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, have inspired many Swedish artists and authors to compare it to European regions like history is to the Scanian."Strindberg, August (1893). "Skånska landskap med utvikningar". ''Prosabitar från 1890-talet''. Bonniers , Stockholm, 1917. (In Swedish).
''See also:
List Of Castles In Scania ''
, Scania, built 1641.]]
— a typical example of a Danish
Medieval church.]]
Traditional Scanian architecture is shaped by the limited availability of wood; it incorporates different applications of the building technique called , and which has also been preserved in
Elsinore (Helsingør). Among Ystad's half-timbered houses is the oldest such building in Scandinavia, ''Pilgrändshuset'' from 1480.Ystad Municipality.
A walk through the centuries , section "Pedestrian street". Official site. Retrieved 16 January 2007.
In , the buildings were destroyed to punish the different villages for their protection of members of the
Snapphane movement in the late 17th century.Herman Lindquist (1995).'' Historien om Sverige – storhet och fall''. Norstedts Förlag, 2006. ISBN 9113015354. (In Swedish). An original, 17th century Göinge farm, ''Sporrakulla Farm'', has been preserved in a forest
called Kullaskogen, a
Nature Reserve close to Glimåkra in
Östra Göinge . According to the local legend, the farmer saved the farm in the first raid of 1612 by setting a forest fire in front of it, making the Swedish troops believe that the farm had already been plundered and set ablaze.
Skåneleden: 6B. Breanäsleden (In Swedish). Official site by The Foundation for Recreational Areas in Scania and Region Skåne. See also
Göingebygden , official site by Skåne Nordost Tourism Office and
The Snapp-hane Kingdom . Official site by Osby Tourism Office.
's coin, likely minted in Lund between 994 and 1013 AD.]] A number of Scanian towns flourished during the
Viking Age . The city of
Lund is believed to have been founded by the Viking-king
Sweyn Forkbeard . Scanian craftsmen and traders were prospering during this era and Denmark's first and largest mint was established in Lund. The first Scanian coins have been dated to 870 AD.Hauberg, P. (1900). ''Myntforhold og Udmyntninger i Danmark indtil 1146''. D. Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr., 6. Række, historisk og filosofisk Afd. V. I.,
Chapter III: Danmarks Mynthistorie indtil 1146 , and
Chapter V: Myntsteder published online by Gladsaxe Gymnasium. (In Danish). Retrieved 10 January 2007. The archaeological excavations performed in the city indicate that the oldest known
Stave Church in Scania was built by Sweyn Forkbeard in Lund in 990.City of Lund.
Touchdowns in the History of Lund . Official site for the City of Lund. Retrieved 10 January 2006. In 1103, Lund was made the archbishopric for all of Scandinavia.
Many of the old churches in today's Scanian landscape stem from the
Medieval age, although many church renovations, extensions and destruction of older buildings took place in the 16th and 19th century. From those that have kept features of the authentic style, it is still possible to see how the
Medieval ,
Romanesque or
Renaissance churches of Danish Scania looked like. Many Scanian churches have distinctive
Crow-stepped Gable s and sturdy church porches, usually made of stone.
The first version of and
Italy , and was ready for use in 1123. It was consecrated in 1145 and for the next 400 years, Lund became the
ecclesiastical power center for Scandinavia and one of the most important cities in Denmark. The cathedral was altered in the
16th century by architect
Adam Van Düren and later by
Carl Georg Brunius and
Helgo Zetterwall .
Scania also has churches built in the
Gothic style, such as Saint Petri Church in
Malmö , dating from the early 14th century. Similar buildings can be found in all
Hansa cities around the
Baltic Sea (such as
Helsingborg and
Rostock ). The parishes in the countryside did not have the means for such extravagant buildings. Possibly the most notable countryside church is the ancient and untouched stone church in
Dalby . It is the oldest stone church in Sweden, built around the same time as Lund cathedral. After the Lund Cathedral was built, many of the involved workers travelled
around the province and used their acquired skills to make baptism fonts, paintings and decorations, and naturally architectural constructions.
Scania has 240 castles and country estates - more than any other province in Sweden.Region Skåne (2006). style, was a wish to refer back to an earlier era when the aristocracy had special privileges and political power in relation to the Danish king.Bjurklint Rosenblad, Kajsa. ''Scenografi för ett ståndsmässigt liv: adelns slottsbyggande i Skåne 1840-1900''. Malmö: Sekel, 2005. ISBN 9197522236.
Abstract in English at Scripta Academica Lundensia, Lund University.
''See also:
Scanian (linguistics) ''
Scanian dialects have various local native idioms and speech patterns, and realizes diphthongs and South Scandinavian
Uvular Trill , as opposed to the supradental /r/-sound characteristic of spoken
Standard Swedish . They are very similar to the dialect of
Danish spoken in
Bornholm ,
Denmark . The prosody of the Scanian dialects have more in common with
German ,
Danish and
Dutch (and sometimes also with
English , although to a lesser extent) than with the prosody of central Swedish dialects.Gårding, Eva (1974). "Talar skåningarna svenska" (Do Scanians speak Swedish). ''Svenskans beskrivning''. Ed. Christer Platzack. Lund: Institutionen för nordiska språk, 1973, p 107, 112. (In Swedish). In general, Scanian dialects behave more like the other Germanic languages that have vowel quantity.
Famous Scanian authors include (1880-1949) from Stehag,
Eslöv ;
Fritiof Nilsson Piraten (1895-1972) from Vollsjö,
Sjöbo ;
Hjalmar Gullberg (1898-1961) from
Malmö ;
Artur Lundkvist (1906-1991) from Hagstad,
Perstorp ;
Hans Alfredsson (born 1931) and
Jacques Werup (born 1945), both from Malmö.
Birgitta Trotzig (born 1929) from Gothenburg has written several historic novels set in Scania, such as ''The Exposed'' of 1957, which describes life in 17th century Scania with a primitive country priest as its main character and the 1961 novel ''A Tale from the Coast'', which recounts a legend about human suffering and is set in Scania in the 15th century.
A printing-house was established in the city of Malmö in 1528. It became instrumental in the propagation of new ideas and during the 16th century, Malmö became the center for the Danish reformation.Infotek Öresund.
Litteraturhistoria, Malmö . Fact sheet produced by Infotek Öresund, a cooperative project between the public libraries of Helsingborg, Elsinore, Copenhagen and Malmö, published online by Malmö Public Library, 4 November 2005. (In Swedish).
Scanian culture, as expressed through the medium of textile art, has received international attention during the last decade.See for example: [http://www.khalili.org/4_SWEDISH/4_EXHIBIT_boston.htm Monument to Love] and
Textiles de Scania des XVIIIe et XIXe Siècles . Scanian textiles from the Khalili Collection exhibited at the Swedish Cultural Centre in Paris and the Boston University Art Gallery. Retrieved 15 January 2007. The art form, often referred to as Scanian Marriage Weavings, flourished from 1750 for a period of 100 years, after which it slowly vanished. Consisting of small textile panels mainly created for wedding ceremonies, the art is strongly symbolic, often expressing ideas about fertility, longevity and a sense of hope and joy.Keelan, Major Andrew and Wendy Keelan.
The Khalili Collection - An Introduction . The Khalili Family Trust. Retrieved 15 January 2007. The Scanian artists were female weavers working at home, who had learned to weave at a young age, often in order to have a marriage chest filled with beautiful tapestries as a dowry.
According to international collectors and art scholars, the Scanian patterns are of special interest for the striking similarities with river horse of Scanian folklore.Lundström, Lena (2003). "Vattenväsen i väverskans händer". Curator's description of the exhibition "Aqvaväsen" at Trelleborgs Museum in ''Vårt Trelleborg'', 2:2003, pp. 20-21. Available online in
pdf format . (In Swedish).
Scania was granted its 's head erased Gules, crowned Azure and armed Azure, when it should be armed".
Since 1772, Swedish Princes have been created Dukes of various provinces, although this is a solely nominal title. The Dukes of Skåne are:
From his marriage, in 1905, King
Gustaf VI Adolf had his summer residence at
Sofiero palace in
Helsingborg . He and his family spent their summers there, and the cabinet meetings held there during the summer months forced the ministers to arrive by night train from
Stockholm . He died at Helsingborg Hospital in 1973.
