Gotland

The Gotland , in the Baltic, is largest island of the Sweden and constitutes at the same time a Swedish county, the Comté of Gotland, and a commune, the Commune of Gotland (it is the only Swedish county to count only one commune).

Gotland has approximately 58.000 inhabitants on a surface of 3.140 km ², which returns to a density of 18,4 habitants/km ².

Around the island of Gotland several smaller islands are of which most important are Fårö, Gotska Sandön, Stora Karlsö och Lilla Karlsö.

The only town of Gotland is Visby, old Hanseatic city located on the west coast.

Geography

Gotland, just like the island of Öland in Sweden and the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa in Estonia, is a calcareous plate without mountains. The culminating point of Gotland, with Lojsta in the center of the island, is only with 83 meters of altitude. However the cliffs along the west coast are often rather impressive. Especially in the north and the south of the island, one also finds pillars limestones, called Raukar. The raukar are carved by the sea and sometimes high of 10 Mr. the calcareous rock is rich in fossils and supports a very rich flora, with much of orchises.

The parts north and south of the island are dominated by arid landscapes, of which some of the Alvar (of the particular dry moors in the islands of Öland and Gotland), whereas the center of the island east one the most fertile areas of Sweden.

History

Until 1361, where it was invaded by the king Valdemar Atterdag, Gotland was a kind of republic of peasants, enjoying a relative independence inside the Kingdom of Sweden. The peasants gotlandais very rich thanks to the strategic site of their island, were often located in the middle of the Baltic, between the Occident and Russia, which made island a transitory port of the goods coming from the Russia (Gotlandais had in XIIe century a counter with Novgorod) and of Visby one of the most important Hanseatic cities. It was connected to Sweden by the Traité of Brömsebro, in 1645.

This old prosperity returned to the island its historical heritage partiulièrement rich. One counts on the island not less than 92 churches of the Middle Ages, of which almost all were very well preserved until our days and the town of Visby is classified Héritage world by UNESCO.

Nowadays, Gotland saw especially tourism, favoured by its landscapes and its single inheritance in Scandinavia. The island is connected to Nynäshamn and Oskarshamn by ferry.

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