Norrbotten

Norrbotten, län (county) of northern Sweden, bordering the Gulf of Bothnia, Finland, and Norway. It is Sweden’s largest län, as well as the northernmost, extending above the Arctic Circle. It comprises the traditional landskap (province) of Norrbotten in the east and part of Lappland landskap in the west. From the coast the land rises to the barren, mountainous frontier with Norway; this area contains the highest point in Sweden, Mount Kebne (6,926 feet [2,111 meters]).

Few crops can mature in the short summer, and timber grows only slowly; but the region’s vast iron deposits are worked at Kiruna, Gällivare, and Malmberget, and iron is smelted at Luleå, the capital. Area 40,931 square miles (106,012 square km). Pop. (2005 est.) 252,585.