Oelandia, or ?and, is a historical Province or landskap, of Sweden. It is located in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Smalandia it consists of the island of ?and, which is the largest island belonging to Sweden, after Gotland.
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2 History 3 Geography 4 Culture 5 Heraldry 6 External Links |
There was an ?and County between 1819 and 1824, otherwise the island has belonged to Kalmar County since 1634. The island was connected to the mainland by a bridge that was constructed in 1973.
Borgholm (1816), was the only chartered city of ?and.
The island has a history of being a royal game park.
The Borgholm Castle built 1669-1681 for Queen Hedvig Eleonora, and designed by Nicodemus Tessin, senior. Located in the vincinity is also Solliden Palace, summer home to the royal family.
The Agricultural Landscape of southern ?and has been entered as a site of the UNESCO World heritage program. Features of this are the many windmills left standing and the special geological landscape called Alvar.
Oelandia was granted its arms already in 1560, but it would last until the 1940s until the proper arms were assigned to the province. The arms granted to ?and had been mixed up with the arms granted to ?and and this was not discovered until the 20th century, by which time the misstake was unilaterally corrected for ?and. ?and, which was no longer a Swedish, but a Finnish (autonomous) province, kept its established but originally unintended coat of arms. The deer is ment to symbolise the status of Oleandia as a royal game park and the arms is represented with a dukal crown. Blazon: "Azure a Deer Or attired, hoofed and gorged Gules."County
For current affairs see: Kalmar CountyHistory
Main article: History of ?andGeography
Main article: Geography of ?and
?and is the second largest island in Sweden, and at the samme time its smallest province. The main towns are Borgholm, F?jestaden and M?byl?ga.Culture
Main article: Culture of ?andHeraldry
Main article: Heraldry of Oelandia