Norrbotten is a province or landskap in the extreme north of Sweden. Historically it represents the northern part of Swedish Västerbotten. In the north and to the west it is bounded by Lappland, to the east by Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia. There is also a County of Norrbotten.
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The province of Norrbotten makes up the eastern part of the County of Norrbotten.
Norrbotten was historically a part of the province of Västerbotten, which stretched across Torne river and in to Finland. Following the Finnish War in 1809 Västerbotten was separated into a Swedish and a Finnish part where the main part of the province remained within Swedish borders being divided upon the County of Västerbotten and the County of Norrbotten. During the 20th century the part of the province that lay with in the County of Norrbotten came to be recognized as a separate province, under the name Norrbotten, in its own right.
As the status for a separate Province of Norrbotten for a long time was undecided, cultural identification is, untypically compared to the other provinces, instead bonded to the County of Norrbotten.
The province of Norrbotten was not recognized as a province in its own right until the 20th century and does not have a coat of arms. The County of Norrbotten however does have a coat of arms composed of the arms of Västerbotten and Lappland.
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