Norrbotten

The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. In this case, however, the county is older than the province. When the new national border to the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland was established, the province of Västerbotten was divided, resulting in the formation of the Finnish municipalities of Kolari, Muonio, Pello, Tornio, and Ylitornio. However, Finnish Västerbotten is not widely recognized as a distinct historical province and is typically merged with Ostrobothnia—except for Muonio, which is considered part of Finnish Lapland. In Sweden, the northernmost counties were created in 1810, comprising the northern regions of Lapland and Västerbotten. Since then, northern Västerbotten has gradually developed a distinct provincial identity. Not being one of the old historical provinces of Sweden, Norrbotten had not been granted a coat of arms in the same way as the others. As recently as 1995, after decades of controversy, Norrbotten got its arms, and was thus recognized as a real province.