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129-555: The Swedish National Heritage Board ( Swedish : Riksantikvarieämbetet ; RAÄ) is a Swedish government agency responsible for World Heritage Sites and other national heritage monuments and historical environments. It is governed by the Ministry of Culture . The goals of the agency are to encourage the preservation and protection of historic environments and to promote the respect for and knowledge of historic environments. In order to do this, it tries to ensure that Swedish heritage
258-559: A Facebook account and since 2009, it has used Flickr to publish archived material. In 2012, the agency started a collaboration with Misplaced Pages. Experienced Misplaced Pages editors already worked for the agency in both Stockholm and Visby, and the goal of the collaboration was partly to improve the encyclopedia and partly to link Misplaced Pages to content in the agency's internal databases. The agency also has an internet site called Fornsök, for searching its archives on archaeological and historical sites and buildings. The highest executive director at
387-445: A common gender with the definite suffix -en and the definite article den , in contrast with the neuter gender equivalents -et and det . The verb system was also more complex: it included subjunctive and imperative moods and verbs were conjugated according to person as well as number . By the 16th century, the case and gender systems of the colloquial spoken language and the profane literature had been largely reduced to
516-477: A guttural or "French R" pronunciation in the South Swedish dialects ; consequently, these dialects lack retroflex consonants . Swedish is a stress-timed language, where the time intervals between stressed syllables are equal. However, when casually spoken, it tends to be syllable-timed . Any stressed syllable carries one of two tones , which gives Swedish much of its characteristic sound. Prosody
645-589: A marine climate ( Cfb ). This results in larger seasonal differences than typical of marine climates in spite of it being surrounded by the Baltic Sea for large distances in all directions. This is due to strong continental winds travelling over the sea from surrounding great landmasses. Seasonal temperature variation is smaller in more isolated places on the island such as Hoburgen or Östergarnsholm, having warmer autumn and winter, but are cooler during spring and summer days. Seasonal lag being exceptionally strong in
774-537: A change from tauþr into tuþr . Moreover, the øy diphthong changed into a long, close ø , as in the Old Norse word for "island". By the end of the period, these innovations had affected most of the Runic Swedish-speaking area as well, with the exception of the dialects spoken north and east of Mälardalen where the diphthongs still exist in remote areas. Old Swedish (Swedish: fornsvenska )
903-528: A conversation. Due to the close relation between the Scandinavian languages, a considerable proportion of speakers of Danish and especially Norwegian are able to understand Swedish. There is considerable migration between the Nordic countries , but owing to the similarity between the cultures and languages (with the exception of Finnish ), expatriates generally assimilate quickly and do not stand out as
1032-585: A criminal offence. While the Heritage Board's collection of historical objects was still in Stockholm, several additional positions within the area of heritage preservation were instituted during the 20th century. Sigurd Curman (NA from 1923) created a central head agency with a number of County Antiquarians to head all the county museums in Sweden. The County Antiquarians also coordinated their work with
1161-553: A farmer from Gökhem parish in Västergötland on the mainland was found to be more closely related to modern-day Mediterraneans. This is consistent with the spread of agricultural peoples from the Middle East at about that time. Gutasaga contains legends of how the island was settled by Þieluar and populated by his descendants. It also tells that a third of the population had to emigrate and settle in southern Europe,
1290-747: A group. According to the 2000 United States Census , some 67,000 people over the age of five were reported as Swedish speakers, though without any information on the degree of language proficiency. Similarly, there were 16,915 reported Swedish speakers in Canada from the 2001 census. Although there are no certain numbers, some 40,000 Swedes are estimated to live in the London area in the United Kingdom. Outside Sweden and Finland, there are about 40,000 active learners enrolled in Swedish language courses. In
1419-629: A large proportion of the remaining 100,000 in the Scandinavian countries, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia. Over three million people speak Swedish as a second language, with about 2,410,000 of those in Finland. According to a survey by the European Commission , 44% of respondents from Finland who did not have Swedish as a native language considered themselves to be proficient enough in Swedish to hold
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#17327726453801548-575: A lot more attention military-wise and has seen a much larger spending on the military. As of 2018, the Gotland Regiment has been re-raised and is the first time since World War II that a new regiment has been established in Sweden. The first modern day tourists came to Gotland during the 19th century and were known as "bathers". Gotland became very popular with socialites at the time through Princess Eugenie who lived in Västerhejde , in
1677-544: A map can be added to the texts. All material on Platsr is published under different versions of Creative Commons licenses. In March 2016, stories from approximately 3,300 locations had been written by a little more than 1,800 individuals, heritage societies, archives, museums and libraries. Platsr was created in 2009, at the request of the Swedish government. The idea was to promote a more democratic historiography and to participate in this online. The National Heritage Board also use social media for its operation. The agency has
1806-703: A military standpoint, it occupies a strategic location at the center of the Baltic Sea . The name of Gotland is closely related to that of the Geats and Goths . The island was the home of the Gutes , and sites such as the Ajvide Settlement show that it has been occupied since prehistory . A DNA study conducted on the 5,000-year-old skeletal remains of three Middle Neolithic seal hunters from Gotland showed that they were related to modern-day Finns , while
1935-425: A more abstract sense, such as that set of fish; while fisken means "the fish". In certain cases, the definite form indicates possession, e. g., jag måste tvätta hår et ("I must wash my hair"). Adjectives are inflected in two declensions – indefinite and definite – and they must match the noun they modify in gender and number. The indefinite neuter and plural forms of an adjective are usually created by adding
2064-531: A naval base in the past, as of 2004 , there are no naval units based on Gotland. The Tofta firing range itself (also known as the Tofta Tank firing range), is a military training ground which is located 8 km (5.0 mi) south of Visby. Another less common name for the range is the Toftasjön firing range. Tracing its origins back to 1898, as of 2008 the range extended over 2,700 acres (11 km ). It
2193-435: A noun. They can double as demonstrative pronouns or demonstrative determiners when used with adverbs such as här ("here") or där ("there") to form den/det här (can also be "denna/detta") ("this"), de här (can also be "dessa") ("these"), den/det där ("that"), and de där ("those"). For example, den där fisken means "that fish" and refers to a specific fish; den fisken is less definite and means "that fish" in
2322-536: A number of these grinding grooves to the Stone Age, from c. 3300 BC to c. 2000 BC , based on astronomical alignments, although his methodology has been heavily criticized. The Medieval town of Visby has been entered as a site of the UNESCO World heritage programme. An impressive feature of Visby is the fortress wall that surrounds the old city, dating from the 13th century. Many of
2451-465: A permanent fixed link to the main island. Residents are depending on an around the clock, free of charge, car ferry for transportation over a strait roughly 1.3 km (0.81 mi) wide, taking about eight minutes. Fårö may get connected to the main island with a bridge in the future, but the project has had plenty of delays related to funding. At the closest point, the two islands are separated by less than 500 metres (1,600 ft), although that
2580-540: A ram statant Argent armed Or holding on a cross-staff of the same a banner Gules bordered and with five tails of the third." The county was granted the same coat of arms in 1936. The municipality, created in 1971, uses the same picture, but with other tinctures . Gotland is Sweden's largest island, and it is the largest island fully encompassed by the Baltic Sea (with Denmark's Zealand at the Baltic's edge). With its total area of 3,183.7 km (1,229.2 sq mi)
2709-582: A reserve component of the Swedish Amphibious Corps . Among the residual war reserve stocks reported to be still in storage on Gotland in March 2015, were 14 tanks ( Stridsvagn 122s ) at the Tofta skjutfält (the Tofta firing range), but without any crews or dedicated maintenance personnel assigned to them. Gotland currently has no local air defence capability. Despite its importance as
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#17327726453802838-517: A rich heritage of folklore, including myths about the bysen , Di sma undar jordi , Hoburgsgubben and the Martebo lights . Gotland gives its name to the traditional farmhouse ale Gotlandsdricka , a turbid beer with much in common with Finnish sahti , and related beers from the Baltic states . There are a number of notable people born or living on Gotland, or in other major ways associated with
2967-636: A special branch of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland has official status as the regulatory body for Swedish in Finland. Among its highest priorities is to maintain intelligibility with the language spoken in Sweden. It has published Finlandssvensk ordbok , a dictionary about the differences between Swedish in Finland and Sweden. From the 13th to 20th century, there were Swedish-speaking communities in Estonia , particularly on
3096-442: A suffix ( -t or -a ) to the common form of the adjective, e. g., en grön stol (a green chair), ett grönt hus (a green house), and gröna stolar ("green chairs"). The definite form of an adjective is identical to the indefinite plural form, e. g., den gröna stolen ("the green chair"), det gröna huset ("the green house"), and de gröna stolarna ("the green chairs"). Swedish pronouns are similar to those of English. Besides
3225-576: A tradition associated with the migration of the Goths , whose name has the same origin as Gutes , the native name of the people of the island. It later tells that the Gutes voluntarily submitted to the king of Sweden and asserts that the submission was based on mutual agreement, and notes the duties and obligations of the Swedish King and Bishop in relationship to Gotland. According to some historians, it
3354-413: A village, Gammalsvenskby ("Old Swedish Village"). A few elderly people in the village still speak a Swedish dialect and observe the holidays of the Swedish calendar, although their dialect is most likely facing extinction. From 1918 to 1940, when Estonia was independent, the small Swedish community was well treated. Municipalities with a Swedish majority, mainly found along the coast, used Swedish as
3483-477: A year. In 2007, the number of passengers exceeded 1.5 million. In 2012, the ferries had 1,590,271 passengers and the airlines 327,255 passengers. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic tourism did not change much as Swedes chose to visit the island instead of travelling abroad. The main port of call on Gotland is Visby. The city is visited by a number of cruise ships every year. About 40 cruise lines frequent
3612-442: Is Lojsta Hed which stands 82 m (269 ft) above sea level. The average height of the island is 29 meters. Settlements besides Visby include: Of these, Hemse is the largest settlement in southern Gotland and along with Roma the two largest inland villages. Burgsvik is the southernmost locality and Fårösund the northernmost. The island of Fårö is permanently settled, but with only a few hundred year-round residents and lacks
3741-446: Is accessible to all citizens, to spread information about that heritage, and to "empower heritage as a force in the evolution of a democratic, sustainable society". The National Heritage Board was founded in 1630. On the 20 May that year, Johannes Bureus who was a prominent rune researcher and King Gustavus Adolphus' private teacher, was appointed the first riksantikvarien ("National Antiquarian"). Bureus' teachings had made
3870-947: Is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages . In the established classification, it belongs to the East Scandinavian languages , together with Danish , separating it from the West Scandinavian languages , consisting of Faroese , Icelandic , and Norwegian . However, more recent analyses divide the North Germanic languages into two groups: Insular Scandinavian (Faroese and Icelandic), and Continental Scandinavian (Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish), based on mutual intelligibility due to heavy influence of East Scandinavian (particularly Danish) on Norwegian during
3999-402: Is at a distance from road connections. Slite is the largest settlement on Gotland's sparsely populated east coast. The eastern coast of Gotland, including the adjacent marine waters and islets, has been designated an 150,000 ha Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a suite of waterfowl , waders and terns . Gotland has a semi-continental variety of
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4128-481: Is generally seen as adding specific Central Swedish features to the new Bible. Though it might seem as if the Bible translation set a very powerful precedent for orthographic standards, spelling actually became more inconsistent during the remainder of the century. It was not until the 17th century that spelling began to be discussed, around the time when the first grammars were written. Capitalization during this time
4257-538: Is marked primarily through suffixes (endings), complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles . The prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a comparatively large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative , a highly variable consonant phoneme . Swedish nouns and adjectives are declined in genders as well as number . Nouns are of common gender ( en form) or neuter gender ( ett form). The gender determines
4386-568: Is often one of the most noticeable differences between dialects. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages , V2 , which means that the finite verb (V) appears in the second position (2) of a declarative main clause . Swedish morphology is similar to English; that is, words have comparatively few inflections . Swedish has two genders and is generally seen to have two grammatical cases – nominative and genitive (except for pronouns that, as in English, also are inflected in
4515-638: Is one of the official languages of the European Union , and one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries speaking Swedish have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for interpretation or translation costs. The Swedish Language Council ( Språkrådet )
4644-475: Is termed nusvenska (lit., "Now-Swedish") in linguistics, and started in the last decades of the 19th century. It saw a democratization of the language with a less formal written form that approached the spoken one. The growth of a public school system also led to the evolution of so-called boksvenska (literally, "book Swedish"), especially among the working classes, where spelling to some extent influenced pronunciation, particularly in official contexts. With
4773-527: Is the predominant language; in 19 municipalities , 16 of which are located in Åland , Swedish is the sole official language. Åland county is an autonomous region of Finland. According to a rough estimation, as of 2010 there were up to 300,000 Swedish-speakers living outside Sweden and Finland. The largest populations were in the United States (up to 100,000), the UK, Spain and Germany (c. 30,000 each) and
4902-455: Is the regulator of Swedish in Sweden but does not attempt to enforce control of the language, as for instance the Académie française does for French . However, many organizations and agencies require the use of the council's publication Svenska skrivregler in official contexts, with it otherwise being regarded as a de facto orthographic standard. Among the many organizations that make up
5031-407: Is the sole official language of Åland (an autonomous province under the sovereignty of Finland), where the vast majority of the 26,000 inhabitants speak Swedish as a first language. In Finland as a whole, Swedish is one of the two "national" languages, with the same official status as Finnish (spoken by the majority) at the state level and an official language in some municipalities . Swedish
5160-631: Is the term used for the medieval Swedish language. The start date is usually set to 1225 since this is the year that Västgötalagen ("the Västgöta Law") is believed to have been compiled for the first time. It is among the most important documents of the period written in Latin script and the oldest Swedish law codes . Old Swedish is divided into äldre fornsvenska (1225–1375) and yngre fornsvenska (1375–1526), "older" and "younger" Old Swedish. Important outside influences during this time came with
5289-471: Is therefore an effort not only to write down the history of Gotland, but also to assert Gotland's independence from Sweden. It gives Awair Strabain as the name of the man who arranged the mutually beneficial agreement with the king of Sweden; the event would have taken place before the end of the ninth century, when Wulfstan of Hedeby reported that the island was subject to the Swedes: Then, after
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5418-465: The Gustav Vasa Bible , a translation deemed so successful and influential that, with revisions incorporated in successive editions, it remained the most common Bible translation until 1917. The main translators were Laurentius Andreæ and the brothers Laurentius and Olaus Petri . The Vasa Bible is often considered to be a reasonable compromise between old and new; while not adhering to
5547-643: The Carolingian Empire , as major commercial centers for the next several centuries. The Berezan' Runestone , discovered in 1905 in Ukraine, was made by a Varangian ( Viking ) trader named Grani in memory of his business partner Karl. It is assumed that they were from Gotland. The Mästermyr chest , an important artefact from the Viking Age , was found in Gotland. On 16 July 1999,
5676-459: The Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, a Russian army landed on the southeastern shores of Gotland near Grötlingbo . Under command of Nikolai Andreevich Bodisko 1,800 Russians took the city of Visby without any combat or engagement, and occupied the island. A Swedish naval force rescue expedition was sent from Karlskrona under the command of admiral Rudolf Cederström with 2,000 men;
5805-467: The French vous (see T-V distinction ). Ni wound up being used as a slightly less familiar form of du , the singular second person pronoun, used to address people of lower social status. With the liberalization and radicalization of Swedish society in the 1950s and 1960s, these class distinctions became less important, and du became the standard, even in formal and official contexts. Though
5934-585: The Indo-European language family , spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland . It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the fourth most spoken Germanic language , and the first among its type in the Nordic countries overall. Swedish, like the other Nordic languages , is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during
6063-667: The Teutonic Knights , awarded to them on the condition that they expel the piratical Victual Brothers from their fortified sanctuary . An invading army of Teutonic Knights conquered the island in 1398, destroying Visby and driving the Victual Brothers from Gotland. In 1409, Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen of the Teutonic Knights guaranteed peace with the Kalmar Union of Scandinavia by selling
6192-518: The United States , particularly during the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a significant Swedish-speaking immigrant population. This was notably true in states like Minnesota , where many Swedish immigrants settled. By 1940, approximately 6% of Minnesota's population spoke Swedish. Although the use of Swedish has significantly declined, it is not uncommon to find older generations and communities that still retain some use and knowledge of
6321-591: The Vatican City , it was the first antiquities regulation in Europe. The decree made it possible to protect ancient monuments and sites from treasure hunters and vandalism, such as people who wanted to use ancient tumuli as brick kilns . Public interest in ancient monuments and their protection subsided after the time of the Swedish Empire in the 1720s. In 1780, most of the museum collections owned by
6450-527: The Viking Age . It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish , although the degree of mutual intelligibility is dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker. Standard Swedish , spoken by most Swedes , is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century, and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties and rural dialects still exist,
6579-525: The land of the Burgundians , we had on our left the lands that have been called from the earliest times Blekingey , and Meore , and Eowland , and Gotland, all which territory is subject to the Sweons ; and Weonodland was all the way on our right, as far as Weissel -mouth. The number of Arab dirhams discovered on the island of Gotland alone is astoundingly high. In the various hoards located around
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#17327726453806708-581: The nationalist ideas that emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the languages have separate orthographies , dictionaries, grammars, and regulatory bodies. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are thus from a linguistic perspective more accurately described as a dialect continuum of Scandinavian (North Germanic), and some of the dialects, such as those on the border between Norway and Sweden, especially parts of Bohuslän , Dalsland , western Värmland , western Dalarna , Härjedalen , Jämtland , and Scania , could be described as intermediate dialects of
6837-410: The object form) – although it is debated if the genitive in Swedish should be seen as a genitive case or just the nominative plus the so-called genitive s , then seen as a clitic . Swedish has two grammatical numbers – plural and singular . Adjectives have discrete comparative and superlative forms and are also inflected according to gender, number and definiteness . The definiteness of nouns
6966-624: The sunny climate and the extensive shoreline bordering mild waters. During summer, Visby hosts the political event Almedalen Week , followed by the Medieval Week , further boosting visitor numbers. In winter, Gotland usually remains surrounded by ice-free water and has mild weather. Gotland has been inhabited since approximately 7200 BC. The island's main sources of income are agriculture, food processing, tourism, information technology services, design, and some heavy industry such as concrete production from locally mined limestone . From
7095-399: The 1950s, when their use was removed from all official recommendations. A very significant change in Swedish occurred in the late 1960s, with the so-called du-reformen . Previously, the proper way to address people of the same or higher social status had been by title and surname. The use of herr ("Mr." or "Sir"), fru ("Mrs." or "Ma'am") or fröken ("Miss") was considered
7224-604: The 1980s. The National Heritage Board's Gotland Studies ( Riksantikvarieämbetets Gotlandsundersökningar ) ( RAGU ), were previously a regional office under the archaeological commission operations during the 1970s to 1980s. Since 2015, this is under the aegis of the Gotland Museum . The agency run the Internet network Platsr, a site where individuals and organizations can write texts about events and memories connected to local history. Pictures, short films and locations on
7353-485: The 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse , evolved into Old Norse. This language underwent more changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, which resulted in the appearance of two similar dialects: Old West Norse (Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland) and Old East Norse (Denmark and Sweden). The dialects of Old East Norse spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish , while
7482-442: The Baltic sea with Visby as one of their destinations. In 2005, 147 ships docked at Visby, in 2010 the number was 69. In 2014, 62 ships are scheduled to visit Visby. The decrease in visiting ships is due to the fact that the modern cruise ships are too large to enter Visby harbor. Ships must anchor a fair distance from shore whereupon passengers are shuttled to shore in small boats, which is not possible during bad weather. In 2007,
7611-597: The Midsummer's Eve celebration on the island, but also throughout the summer months. The games have widespread renown; some of them are played by people as far away as in the United States. The knotwork design subsequently named the " Valknut " has the most attested historic instances on picture stones in Gotland, which include being on both the Stora Hammars I and the Tängelgårda stones . Gotland also has
7740-471: The Modern Swedish period were the gradual assimilation of several different consonant clusters into the fricative [ʃ] and later into [ɧ] . There was also the gradual softening of [ɡ] and [k] into [j] and the fricative [ɕ] before front vowels . The velar fricative [ɣ] was also transformed into the corresponding plosive [ɡ] . The period that includes Swedish as it is spoken today
7869-670: The Mounted Royal Guard's old caserns at the History Museum in Östermalm . Under the open area between the museum's main building and the Eastern Stable are storage rooms where the archive and library collections are kept. Since 2015, the agency has operations in Stockholm, Visby and Tumba (Swedish Museum Services). It also has functions at the Gamla Uppsala museum ] and Glimmingehus . The agency
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#17327726453807998-635: The National Heritage Board and the National Historical Museums, in 1998. On 2 June 2005, the government decided to relocate a major part of the National Heritage Board's activities from Stockholm to Gotland . The move was made to compensate for the loss of jobs on the island when the Swedish military closed down all permanent garrisons there. The National Heritage Board moved to the newly built facilities at
8127-425: The National Heritage Board holds the title riksantikvarie ("National Antiquarian"). The title corresponds with Director-general in other government agencies. The office was instituted on 20 May 1630 by King Gustavus Adolphus. Since then, 31 persons have held the position. Swedish language Swedish ( endonym : svenska [ˈsvɛ̂nːska] ) is a North Germanic language from
8256-602: The National Heritage Board, which function as an independent government agency since 1938. Part of the museum collections are today under the Statens historiska museer (SHMM) ("National Historical Museums"), the history of which is closely linked with that of the National Heritage Board. The Antikvarisk-topografiska arkivet (ATA) ("The Antiquarian-Topographical Archives") and the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities' Library are also part of
8385-484: The National Heritage Board. These departments are housed in the Eastern Stable opposite the main office building in Stockholm. The functions of the Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and the National Heritage Board were separated in 1975 while they were still under the aegis under the newly formed government agency the "National Heritage Board and National Historical Museums". These were separated into two agencies,
8514-543: The Romanesque style from 1150 to 1250. The newer churches were constructed in the Gothic architectural style that prevailed from about 1250–1400. The oldest painting inside one of the churches on Gotland stretches as far back in time as the 12th century. Traditional games of skill like Kubb , Pärk , and Varpa are played on Gotland. They are part of what has become called "Gutniska Lekar", and are performed preferably on
8643-601: The Swedish Language Council, the Swedish Academy (established 1786) is arguably the most influential. Its primary instruments are the spelling dictionary Svenska Akademiens ordlista ( SAOL , currently in its 14th edition) and the dictionary Svenska Akademiens Ordbok , in addition to various books on grammar, spelling and manuals of style. Although the dictionaries have a prescriptive element, they mainly describe current usage. In Finland,
8772-449: The administrative language and Swedish-Estonian culture saw an upswing. However, most Swedish-speaking people fled to Sweden before the end of World War II , that is, before the invasion of Estonia by the Soviet army in 1944. Only a handful of speakers remain. Swedish dialects have either 17 or 18 vowel phonemes , 9 long and 9 short. As in the other Germanic languages, including English, most long vowels are phonetically paired with one of
8901-406: The archipelago is the second smallest by area and is the least populated in Sweden. In spite of the small size due to its narrow width, the driving distance between the furthermost points of the populated islands is about 170 kilometres (110 mi). Gotland is a fully integrated part of Sweden with no particular autonomy, unlike several other offshore island groups in Europe. Historically, there
9030-441: The buildings on the range, the former tank repair shop , is currently owned by a private company ( Peab ), with the military renting back the top floor for its own use. When not used by the military, a number of cultural and sports events have been held at the range, one of the most notable being the Gotland Grand National [ sv ] , the world's largest enduro race, from 1984 to 2023. As of 2018, Gotland has received
9159-410: The bulk of this initial garrison will make up a new motorised rifle battalion, alternatively referred to in other reports as a "modular-structured rapid response Army battalion". A later report claimed that plans were at an advanced stage for a support helicopter squadron and an Air Force "fast response Gripen jet squadron" to also be based on the island to support the new garrison and further reinforce
9288-504: The colloquial spoken language of its day, it was not overly conservative in its use of archaic forms. It was a major step towards a more consistent Swedish orthography . It established the use of the vowels "å", "ä", and "ö", and the spelling "ck" in place of "kk", distinguishing it clearly from the Danish Bible, perhaps intentionally, given the ongoing rivalry between the countries. All three translators came from central Sweden, which
9417-556: The countryside had to be put down by King Magnus III of Sweden in 1288. In 1361, Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark invaded the island. About 1,500 Gotlandic farmers were killed by the Danish invaders after massing for the Battle of Mästerby . The Victual Brothers occupied the island in 1394 to set up a stronghold as a headquarters of their own in Visby. At last, Gotland became a fief of
9546-403: The declension of the adjectives . For example, the word fisk ("fish") is a noun of common gender ( en fisk ) and can have the following forms: The definite singular form of a noun is created by adding a suffix ( -en , -n , -et or -t ), depending on its gender and if the noun ends in a vowel or not. The definite articles den , det , and de are used for variations to the definitiveness of
9675-572: The defences. Prior to the disbandment of the original garrison, there had been a continuous Swedish military presence on Gotland in one form or another, for nearly 200 years. After the standing down of the original garrison, a battalion of the Swedish Home Guard is based on Gotland for emergencies as part of the Eastern Military Region ( MR E ). The unit, 32:a Gotlandsbataljonen (the 32nd Gotland battalion), acts as
9804-541: The dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish . The dialects are described as "runic" because the main body of text appears in the runic alphabet . Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, which had only 16 letters. Because the number of runes was limited, some runes were used for a range of phonemes , such as
9933-545: The firm establishment of the Christian church and various monastic orders, introducing many Greek and Latin loanwords. With the rise of Hanseatic power in the late 13th and early 14th century, Middle Low German became very influential. The Hanseatic league provided Swedish commerce and administration with a large number of Low German -speaking immigrants. Many became quite influential members of Swedish medieval society, and brought terms from their native languages into
10062-453: The first proposition for building a new pier at Visby harbor, large enough to serve the modern cruise ships, was made. In 2011, the matter of the new pier was discussed in the Riksdag and in 2012 research and planning for the pier began. In January 2014, a letter of intent for building a new cruise pier in Visby harbor was signed by Region Gotland and Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP). The pier
10191-682: The government were handed over to the National Library and the National Archives . In 1768, the remainder of the objects were placed in the care of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities , with the National Antiquarian as the academy's secretary. During the 18th century, there was a new interest in natural science as well as Neoclassicism and the study of "antiquities"
10320-430: The industrialization and urbanization of Sweden well under way by the last decades of the 19th century, a new breed of authors made their mark on Swedish literature . Many scholars, politicians and other public figures had a great influence on the emerging national language, among them prolific authors like the poet Gustaf Fröding , Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf and radical writer and playwright August Strindberg . It
10449-465: The island had twenty district courts ( tings ), each represented by its elected judge at the island-ting, called landsting . New laws were decided at the landsting, which also took other decisions regarding the island as a whole. The city of Visby and rest of the island were governed separately, and a civil war caused by conflicts between the German merchants in Visby and the peasants they traded with in
10578-691: The island has remained under Swedish rule. On 19 September 1806, Gustav IV Adolf offered the sovereignty of Gotland to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem , who had been expelled from Malta in 1798, but the Order rejected the offer since it would have meant renouncing their claim to Malta. The Order never regained its territory, and eventually it reestablished itself in Rome as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . On 22 April 1808, during
10707-544: The island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up 0.8% of Sweden's total land area. The province includes the small islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north, as well as the Karlsö Islands, (Lilla and Stora) to the west, which are even smaller. The island of Gotland has an area of 2,994 km (1,156 sq mi), whereas the province has 3,183.7 km (1,229.2 sq mi) [3,151 km (1,217 sq mi) of land excluding
10836-532: The island of Gotland to Queen Margaret of Denmark, Norway and Sweden . The authority of the landsting was successively eroded after the island was occupied by the Teutonic Order, then sold to Eric of Pomerania and after 1449 ruled by Danish governors. In late medieval times, the ting consisted of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants. Since the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645,
10965-473: The island was liberated and the Russians capitulated. Russian forces left the island on 18 May 1808. The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes today, but are historical and cultural entities. In the case of Gotland, however, due to its insular position, the administrative county ( län ), Gotland County , and the municipality ( kommun ), Region Gotland , both cover
11094-614: The island, there are more of these silver coins than at any other site in Western Eurasia. The total sum is almost as great as the number that has been unearthed in the entire Muslim world. These coins moved north through trade between Rus merchants and the Abbasid Caliphate , along the Silver-Fur Road , and the money made by Scandinavian merchants would help northern Europe, especially Viking Scandinavia and
11223-436: The island; palæo- sea-stacks are preserved in places. The island's main sources of income are agriculture along with food processing, tourism, IT solutions, design and some heavy industry such as concrete production from locally mined limestone . Most of Gotland's economy is based on small scale production. In 2012, there were over 7,500 registered companies on Gotland. 1,500 of these had more than one employee. Gotland has
11352-562: The islands (e. g., Hiiumaa , Vormsi , Ruhnu ; in Swedish, known as Dagö , Ormsö , Runö , respectively) along the coast of the Baltic , communities that today have all disappeared. The Swedish-speaking minority was represented in parliament , and entitled to use their native language in parliamentary debates. After the loss of Estonia to the Russian Empire in the early 18th century, around 1,000 Estonian Swedish speakers were forced to march to southern Ukraine , where they founded
11481-482: The islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north, as well as the Karlsö Islands ( Lilla and Stora ) to the west. The population is 61,023 (2024) of which about 23,600 live in Visby , the main town. Outside Visby, there are minor settlements and a mainly rural population. The island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area. The county formed by
11610-616: The king interested in ancient monuments and national heritage sites and artifacts, at that time called "antiquities". Together with a priest and a young student, Bureus went on a journey through Sweden to draw and document runestones , collect old coins, chronicles , law books, letter and manuscripts. In 1666, Johan Hadorph the seventh National Antiquarian, established the Placat och Påbudh, Om Gamble Monumenter och Antiquiteter ("Signs and Decrees, of Old Monuments and Antiquities"), Sweden's first draft for an Antiquities Act . Aside from laws of
11739-401: The lakes and rivers]. The population is 61,001 as of December 2021. As of 2016, approximately 23,600 people (about 40% of residents) lived in Visby, which is the seat of the municipality and the capital of the county. Gotland is located about 90 km (56 mi) east of the Swedish mainland and about 130 km (81 mi) from the Baltic states , Latvia being the nearest. Gotland is
11868-484: The language, particularly in rural communities like Lindström and Scandia . Swedish is the official main language of Sweden. Swedish is also one of two official languages of Finland. In Sweden, it has long been used in local and state government, and most of the educational system, but remained only a de facto primary language with no official status in law until 2009. A bill was proposed in 2005 that would have made Swedish an official language, but failed to pass by
11997-490: The last millennium and divergence from both Faroese and Icelandic. By many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. However, because of several hundred years of sometimes quite intense rivalry between Denmark and Sweden, including a long series of wars from the 16th to 18th centuries, and
12126-456: The name of the main island, but the adjacent islands are generally considered part of Gotland and the Gotlandic culture: There are several shallow lakes located near the shores of the island. The biggest is Lake Bästeträsk , located near Fleringe in the northern part of Gotland. The Hoburg Shoal bird reserve is situated on the southern tip of the island. The highest point of the island
12255-471: The narrowest possible margin (145–147) due to a pairing-off failure. A proposal for a broader language law, designating Swedish as the main language of the country and bolstering the status of the minority languages, was submitted by an expert committee to the Swedish Ministry of Culture in March 2008. It was subsequently enacted by the Riksdag , and entered into effect on 1 July 2009. Swedish
12384-421: The national standard languages. Swedish pronunciations also vary greatly from one region to another, a legacy of the vast geographic distances and historical isolation. Even so, the vocabulary is standardized to a level that make dialects within Sweden virtually fully mutually intelligible. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish In
12513-424: The north. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the other dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é , as in stæinn to sténn "stone". This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain and the later stin . There was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr "dead". This change is shown in runic inscriptions as
12642-486: The old A7 military compound in Visby, in 2008. Since 2007, the facilities also housed the Swedish Exhibition Agency . The move to Gotland was questioned by several officials within the agency who believed that the government did not understand how the National Heritage Board worked. Large parts of the operation are as of 2016 still remaining in Stockholm. Since 2012, this includes the main office in
12771-441: The only acceptable way to begin conversation with strangers of unknown occupation, academic title or military rank. The fact that the listener should preferably be referred to in the third person tended to further complicate spoken communication between members of society. In the early 20th century, an unsuccessful attempt was made to replace the insistence on titles with ni —the standard second person plural pronoun)—analogous to
12900-402: The original Germanic three- gender system. Nouns , adjectives , pronouns and certain numerals were inflected in four cases; besides the extant nominative , there were also the genitive (later possessive ), dative and accusative . The gender system resembled that of modern German , having masculine, feminine and neuter genders. The masculine and feminine genders were later merged into
13029-480: The reform was not an act of any centralized political decree, but rather the result of sweeping change in social attitudes, it was completed in just a few years, from the late 1960s to early 1970s. The use of ni as a polite form of address is sometimes encountered today in both the written and spoken language, particularly among older speakers. Swedish is the sole official national language of Sweden , and one of two in Finland (alongside Finnish ). As of 2006, it
13158-696: The residents still speak Gutnish (Gutamål), the autochthonous language on the islands. But most of them now speak Gotlandic ( Swedish : gotländska ), a Gutnish-influenced Swedish dialect. In the 13th century, a work containing the laws of the island, called "the Gotlandic law" (Gutalagen), was published in Old Gutnish , as well as the Gutasaga . Gotland is noted for its 94 Medieval churches , most of which are restored and in active use. These churches exhibit two major styles of architecture: Romanesque and Gothic . The older churches were constructed in
13287-468: The rune for the vowel u , which was also used for the vowels o , ø and y , and the rune for i , also used for e . From 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. The innovations spread unevenly from Denmark, creating a series of minor dialectal boundaries, or isoglosses , ranging from Zealand in the south to Norrland , Österbotten and northwestern Finland in
13416-421: The same territory as the province. Furthermore, the diocese of Visby is also congruent with the province. Gotland is traditionally divided into 92 sockens . On 1 January 2016, they were all reconstituted into Districts , administrative areas with the same borders as the former sockens. Gotland was granted its arms in about 1560. The coat of arms is represented with a ducal coronet. Blazon: "Azure
13545-451: The sea was 50 to 100 m (160 to 330 ft), and reefs continued to dominate the sedimentary record. Some sandstones are present in the youngest rocks towards the south of the island, which represent sand bars deposited very close to the shoreline. The lime rocks have been weathered into characteristic karstic rock formations known as rauks . Fossils, mainly of crinoids , rugose corals and brachiopods , are abundant throughout
13674-444: The short /e/ (transcribed ⟨ ɛ ⟩ in the chart below). There are 18 consonant phonemes, two of which, / ɧ / and /r/ , vary considerably in pronunciation depending on the dialect and social status of the speaker. In many dialects, sequences of /r/ (pronounced alveolarly) with a dental consonant result in retroflex consonants ; alveolarity of the pronunciation of /r/ is a precondition for this retroflexion. /r/ has
13803-428: The short vowels, and the pairs are such that the two vowels are of similar quality , but with the short vowel being slightly lower and slightly centralized. In contrast to e.g. Danish, which has only tense vowels, the short vowels are slightly more lax, but the tense vs. lax contrast is not nearly as pronounced as in English, German or Dutch. In many dialects, the short vowel sound pronounced [ɛ] or [æ] has merged with
13932-473: The south, and overlies a 75 to 125 m (246 to 410 ft) thick Ordovician sequence. It was deposited in a shallow, hot, and salty sea on the edge of an equatorial continent. The water depth never exceeded 175 to 200 m (574 to 656 ft), and became shallower over time as bioherm detritus and terrestrial sediments filled the basin. Reef growth started in the Llandovery Epoch , when
14061-496: The subject in a clause, a trait that is restricted to North Germanic languages: Gotland Gotland ( / ˈ ɡ ɒ t l ə n d / , Swedish: [ˈɡɔ̌tːland] ; Gutland in Gutnish ), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland ( / ˈ ɡ ɒ θ l ə n d / ), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province / county (Swedish län), municipality , and diocese . The province includes
14190-534: The two cases and two genders of modern Swedish. A transitional change of the Latin script in the Nordic countries was to spell the letter combination "ae" as æ – and sometimes as a' – though it varied between persons and regions. The combination "ao" was similarly rendered a , and "oe" became o . These three were later to evolve into the separate letters ä , å and ö . The first time the new letters were used in print
14319-517: The two natural genders han and hon ("he" and "she"), there are also the two grammatical genders den and det , usually termed common and neuter . In recent years, a gender-neutral pronoun hen has been introduced, particularly in literary Swedish. Unlike the nouns, pronouns have an additional object form, derived from the old dative form. Hon , for example, has the following nominative, possessive, and object forms: Swedish also uses third-person possessive reflexive pronouns that refer to
14448-439: The vocabulary. Besides a great number of loanwords for such areas as warfare, trade and administration, general grammatical suffixes and even conjunctions were imported. The League also brought a certain measure of influence from Danish (at the time Swedish and Danish were much more similar than today). Early Old Swedish was markedly different from the modern language in that it had a more complex case structure and also retained
14577-484: The weather station Östergarnsholm. As an example, December is warmer than March with temperature lows being similar to April. August is typically the warmest month, an unusual occurrence in Swedish sites. In capital Visby, July and August temperatures tend to be quite even. Since winters usually remain just above freezing and brackish water remaining liquid longer than freshwater, the sea remains ice-free all year round, except during rare extreme cold waves . The last time
14706-499: The west part of the island from the 1860s. When a new law ensuring two weeks vacation for all employees in Sweden was passed in 1938, camping became a popular pastime among the Swedes, and in 1955, Gotland was visited by 80,000 people. In the 1970s mostly young people were attracted to Gotland. Since 2010 the island has become a more versatile vacation spot visited by people from all over the world, in all manner of ways. In 2001, it
14835-490: The whole passage from the mainland to Gotland froze was in 1987 when icebreakers were used to maintain passenger and goods traffic to the island. Gotland is made up of a sequence of sedimentary rocks of a Silurian age, dipping to the south-east. The main Silurian succession of limestones and shales comprises thirteen units spanning 200 to 500 m (660 to 1,640 ft) of stratigraphic thickness, being thickest in
14964-616: The world's largest Viking silver treasure, the Spillings Hoard , was found in a field at Spillings farm northwest of Slite . The silver treasure was divided into two parts weighing a total of 67 kg (148 lb) (27 kg (60 lb) and 40 kg (88 lb)) and consisted mostly of coins, about 14,000, from foreign countries, mostly Islamic. It also contained about 20 kg (44 lb) of bronze objects along with numerous everyday objects such as nails, glass beads, parts of tools, pottery, iron bands and clasps. The treasure
15093-525: The world's northernmost established vineyard and winery, located in Hablingbo . Gotland occupies a strategic location in the Baltic sea from a defence viewpoint. In March 2015, the Swedish government decided to begin reestablishing a permanent military presence on Gotland, starting with an initial 150 troop garrison, consisting primarily of elements from the Swedish Army . It has been reported that
15222-530: The written language is uniform and standardized . Swedish is the most widely spoken second language in Finland where its status is co- official language . Swedish was long spoken in parts of Estonia , although the current status of the Estonian Swedish speakers is almost extinct. It is also used in the Swedish diaspora , most notably in Oslo , Norway, with more than 50,000 Swedish residents. Swedish
15351-406: Was a linguistic difference between the archipelago and the mainland with Gutnish being the native language. In recent centuries, Swedish took over almost entirely and the island is virtually monolingually Swedish in modern times. The archipelago is a very popular domestic tourist destination for mainland Swedes, with the population rising to very high numbers during summers. Some of the reasons are
15480-573: Was a major training and storage facility for the Gotland garrison during its existence, and was still occasionally used for training by various elements of the Armed Forces since the garrison was shut down in 2005. However, from the second half of 2014 onwards, there has been a marked increase in the use of the range, especially by armored units (mostly company sized), as tensions in Northeastern Europe have escalated. At least one of
15609-484: Was during the 20th century that a common, standardized national language became available to all Swedes. The orthography finally stabilized and became almost completely uniform, with some minor deviations, by the time of the spelling reform of 1906. With the exception of plural forms of verbs and a slightly different syntax, particularly in the written language, the language was the same as the Swedish of today. The plural verb forms appeared decreasingly in formal writing into
15738-749: Was finished in 2018. The estimated cost is 250 million crowns (about US$ 38.52 million). A number of stones with grooves exist on Gotland. Archaeologists interpret these grooves as traces of an unknown industrial process in the High Middle Ages . There are approximately 3,700 grinding grooves, of which about 750 occur in the solid limestone outcrop and the rest in other rock formations. The latter often consist of hard rocks such as granite or gneiss, but also soft rocks such as sandstone occur. Grinding grooves are also found in Skåne, in southern Sweden and in Finland. Astronomer Göran Henriksson dates
15867-426: Was found by using a metal detector, and the finders fee, given to the farmer who owned the land, was over 2 million kronor (about US$ 308,000). The treasure was found almost by accident while filming a news report for TV4 about illegal treasure hunting on Gotland. Early on, Gotland became a commercial center, with the town of Visby the most important Hanseatic city in the Baltic Sea . In late medieval times,
15996-656: Was in Aff dyäffwlsens frästilse ("By the Devil's temptation") published by Johan Gerson in 1495. Modern Swedish (Swedish: nysvenska ) begins with the advent of the printing press and the European Reformation . After assuming power, the new monarch Gustav Vasa ordered a Swedish translation of the Bible . The New Testament was published in 1526, followed by a full Bible translation in 1541, usually referred to as
16125-401: Was looked upon as somewhat dated. Some renewal of the studies was brought about when Johan Gustaf Liljegren became National Antiquarian in 1826. Among the projects he started was an organized inventory of objects and sites and archaeological excavations were done at Birka and Visby . A new antiquities regulation was also created in 1867. It stated that any violation of an ancient monument was
16254-470: Was not standardized. It depended on the authors and their background. Those influenced by German capitalized all nouns, while others capitalized more sparsely. It is also not always apparent which letters are capitalized owing to the Gothic or blackletter typeface that was used to print the Bible. This typeface was in use until the mid-18th century, when it was gradually replaced with a Latin typeface (often Antiqua ). Some important changes in sound during
16383-464: Was previously tasked with archaeological commission operations. This was Sweden's largest archaeological operations organization with several regional offices, among those in Stockholm, Linköping , Gothenburg and Lund . On 1 January 2015, the archaeological operations were transferred to the National Historical Museums. The National Heritage Board's previous double functions - as government agency and outsourcer - had been questioned as early as in
16512-439: Was the fifth largest tourist destination in Sweden based on the total number of guest nights. Gotland is usually the part of Sweden which receives the most hours of sunlight during a year with Visby statistically the location with the most sunshine in Sweden. In 2007 approximately 750,000 people visited Gotland. In 1996, for the first time, ferries between Gotland and mainland Sweden carried more than 1 million passengers in
16641-478: Was the sole native language of 83% of Swedish residents. In 2007, around 5.5% (c. 290,000) of the population of Finland were native speakers of Swedish, partially due to a decline following the Russian annexation of Finland after the Finnish War 1808–1809. The Fenno-Swedish - speaking minority is concentrated in the coastal areas and archipelagos of southern and western Finland. In some of these areas, Swedish
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