This page is about the country Sweden, it's geographical subdivisions and research resources for Sweden.
This is part of the Sweden Project (which now in turn is a sub-project of Nordic Project).
SwedenSweden is a country on the Scandinavian peninsula in northern Europe. It is 528 447 sq.km. and has about 9,5 million inhabitants. Its length is 1 572 km and it is 499 km wide. It has 3 regions, 25 provinces (landskap), 21 counties (län), 290 municipalities (kommuner) and 13 dioceses (stift).[1] SubdivisionsRegionsThere are three regions proper of modern Sweden - Norrland, Svealand and Götaland. Each region consists of a number of provinces (landskap) as shown on the map above. Provinces (in Swedish: landskap)The provinces have roots dating back to the prehistoric age, and up to medieval times they were self-ruling countries with their own laws.[2] Today the provinces serve no administrative purpose, which instead the counties do. The provinces do however still play a strong cultural role in people's lives.[3] Counties (in Swedish: län)Counties were created during the time of Birger Jarl and Magnus Ladulås (13th-14th century) when they reformed the system for paying taxes.[4] There were different kinds of counties. A castle county payed taxes to the castle.[5] Then there were counties for members of the Royal family, deposit counties for people who had loaned the state money, and counties that in return would give military favours.[6] The number and borders of the counties have more or less been the same since 1810, but three major changes have been made since the 1960's. In 1968 the city of Stockholm and the county of Stockholm were merged into Stockholm County. In 1997 the counties of Kristianstad and Malmöhus were merged into Skåne County, and in 1998 Göteborg and Bohus County, Älvsborg County and Skaraborg County were merged into Västra Götaland County.[7] The state is represented on the county level by the County Governor who is the president of the County Administrative Board.[8] In genealogy research, you often encounter the Swedish County Codes, in Swedish called "Länsbokstav", which is literally translated as “county letter". These letters and more info can be found in the Category:Swedish_County_Codes
Hundreds (in Swedish: härad)See Judicial Districts below.
Parishes (in Swedish: socken)Parishes were formed in early medieval times when people in Sweden began building churches. The parish was defined as the geographical area where the residents all visited the same church. As some areas became more populated, parishes were divided and new ones were formed. Up until the 1860's the parishes also took care of much of the administration for the state on the local level, keeping records of who were born, married, died, where they lived and other information. Those are the records that allow us to do genealogy research for the general population in Sweden as far back as the 17th century.
For more information on the parishes, see Municipalities (in Swedish: kommuner)In 1863 the first local government acts were implemented. This meant that the responsibilities of the parishes were split into the ecclestial responsibilities of the church and the wordly responsibilities of the municipalities. Besides the municipalities, which were initially coterminous with the parishes, there were also incorporated towns and market towns. Altogether there were around 2.500 municipalites in 1863. Reforms in 1943, 1952 and 1962 plus some later border changes reduced the number to what it is today. The municipalities constitute the lowest level of local government in Sweden. They are responsible for many public services, such as schools, emergency services and urban planning.[9] Judicial DistrictsThere used to be leets called hundreds (härad) and each hundred comprised a number of parishes. The hundred served as a military division, the court of first instance as well as electoral constituency (1436-1866).[10] Today Sweden is divided into 48 judicial districts.
Research ResourcesGeneral Information
RecordsThere are several companies that provide access to different kinds of records. The main source for genealogy in Sweden are the church records where the church kept track of who was born, who got married, who died and where they lived.
How to do Genealogy in Sweden
Miscellaneous
Alphabet and Language
Sources
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