Gotland (; ;http://sok.saol.se/pages/P296_M.jpg Svenska Akademiens ordlista, 6 February 2013 in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province/county (Swedish län), municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north, as well as the Karlsö Islands (Lilla and Stora) to the west. The population is 61,023 (2024) of which about 23,600 live in Visby, the main town.
Outside Visby, there are minor settlements and a mainly rural population. The island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area. The county formed by the archipelago is the second smallest by area and is the least populated in Sweden. In spite of the small size due to its narrow width, the driving distance between the furthermost points of the populated islands is about .
Gotland is a fully integrated part of Sweden with no particular autonomy, unlike several other offshore island groups in Europe. Historically, there was a linguistic difference between the archipelago and the mainland with Gutnish being the native language. In recent centuries, Swedish took over almost entirely and the island is virtually monolingually Swedish in modern times. The archipelago is a very popular domestic tourist destination for mainland Swedes, with the population rising to very high numbers during summers. Some of the reasons are the sunny climate and the extensive shoreline bordering mild waters. During summer, Visby hosts the political event Almedalen Week, followed by the Medieval Week, further boosting visitor numbers. In winter, Gotland usually remains surrounded by ice-free water and has mild weather.
Gotland has been inhabited since approximately 7200 BCE. The island's main sources of income are agriculture, food processing, tourism, information technology services, design, and some heavy industry such as concrete production from locally mined limestone. From a military standpoint, it occupies a strategic location at the center of the Baltic Sea and is home to the Gotland Regiment which was re-established in 2018.
Etymology
The name of Gotland is closely related to that of the Geats and Goths.
History Prehistoric time to Viking Age The island has been occupied since prehistory, as evidenced by archaeological sites such as the Ajvide Settlement.Outram, A. K. 2006. Distinguishing bone fat exploitation from other taphonomic processes: what caused the high level of bone fragmentation at the Middle Neolithic site of Ajvide, Gotland? , pp. 32–43. In Mulville, J and Outram, A (eds). The Zooarchaeology of Milk and Fats. Oxford: Oxbow Books. A comprehensive 2026 DNA study analyzing 56 individuals from Gotland found that during the Middle Neolithic the island was inhabited by two genetically distinct populations that lived in close proximity while maintaining very limited genetic admixture. Seal hunters associated with the Pitted Ware culture showed strong genetic continuity with earlier Scandinavian hunter-gatherers and shared closer genetic affinity with present-day Baltic and Finnish populations.
In contrast, a contemporaneous Funnelbeaker culture farmer from Gotland exhibited predominantly Anatolian Neolithic farmer ancestry, consistent with the ancestry profile previously reported for the TRB farmer from Gökhem parish in Västergötland on the mainland, who clustered more closely with present-day Mediterranean populations. The study also identified a high prevalence of early Yersinia pestis strains in both populations. This genetic landscape was later transformed by the expansion of the Corded Ware culture, which introduced Steppe pastoralist ancestry into the region.
By the Iron Age, the island was inhabited by the Gutes. According to the Gutasaga, the island was first settled by Þieluar, whose descendants became the Gutes. The saga also relates that one-third of the population emigrated to southern Europe, a tradition associated with the migration of the Goths, whose name has the same origin as Gutes, the native name of the people of the island. It later tells that the Gutes voluntarily submitted to the king of Sweden and asserts that the submission was based on mutual agreement, and notes the duties and obligations of the Swedish King and Bishop in relationship to Gotland. According to some historians, it is therefore an effort not only to write down the history of Gotland, but also to assert Gotland's independence from Sweden.
It gives Awair Strabain as the name of the man who arranged the mutually beneficial agreement with the king of Sweden; the event would have taken place before the end of the ninth century, when Wulfstan of Hedeby reported that the island was subject to the Swedes:
The number of Arab dirhams discovered on the island of Gotland alone is astoundingly high. In the various hoards located around the island, there are more of these silver coins than at any other site in Western Eurasia. The total sum is almost as great as the number that has been unearthed in the entire Muslim world. These coins moved north through trade between Rus merchants and the Abbasid Caliphate, along the Volga trade route, and the money made by Scandinavian merchants would help northern Europe, especially Viking Scandinavia and the Carolingian Empire, as major commercial centers for the next several centuries.
The Berezan' Runestone, discovered in 1905 in Ukraine, was made by a Varangian (Viking) trader named Grani in memory of his business partner Karl. It is assumed that they were from Gotland.
Notable archaeological findings
The Mästermyr chest, an important artefact from the Viking Age, was found in Gotland.
On 16July 1999, the world's largest Viking silver treasure, the Spillings Hoard, was found in a field at Spillings farm northwest of Slite. The silver treasure was divided into two parts weighing a total of ( and ) and consisted mostly of coins, about 14,000, from foreign countries, mostly Islamic. It also contained about of bronze objects along with numerous everyday objects such as nails, glass beads, parts of tools, pottery, iron bands and clasps. The treasure was found by using a metal detector, and the finders fee, given to the farmer who owned the land, was over 2 million kronor (about US$308,000). The treasure was found almost by accident while filming a news report for TV4 about illegal treasure hunting on Gotland.
Middle Ages
Early on, Gotland became a commercial center, with the town of Visby the most important Hanseatic city in the Baltic Sea. In late medieval times, the island had twenty district courts (tings), each represented by its elected judge at the island-ting, called landsting. New laws were decided at the landsting, which also took other decisions regarding the island as a whole. The earliest recorded law for the island is Gutalagen, which was written around 1220 CE and remained in use until 1645 when Sweden regained control of the island from Denmark.
The city of Visby and rest of the island were governed separately, and a civil war caused by conflicts between the German merchants in Visby and the peasants they traded with in the countryside had to be put down by King Magnus III of Sweden in 1288. In 1361, Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark invaded the island. About 1,500 Gotlandic farmers were killed by the Danish invaders after massing for the Battle of Mästerby.
In 1394, the Victual Brothers occupied Gotland to set up a stronghold as a headquarters in Visby. Gotland became a fief of the Teutonic Knights, awarded to them on the condition that they expel the piratical Victual Brothers from their fortified sanctuary. In 1398, an invading army of Teutonic Knights conquered the island, destroying Visby and driving the Victual Brothers from Gotland. In 1409, Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen of the Teutonic Knights guaranteed peace with the Kalmar Union of Scandinavia, by selling Gotland to Queen Margaret of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
The authority of the landsting was successively eroded after the island was occupied by the Teutonic Order, then sold to Eric of Pomerania and after 1449 ruled by Danish governors. In late medieval times, the ting consisted of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants.
Early modern period
Since the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, the island has remained under Swedish rule.
On 19 September 1806, Gustav IV Adolf offered the sovereignty of Gotland to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who had been expelled from Malta in 1798, but the Order rejected the offer since it would have meant renouncing their claim to Malta. The Order never regained its territory, and eventually it reestablished itself in Rome as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
On 22 April 1808, during the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, a Russian army landed on the southeastern shores of Gotland near Grötlingbo. Under command of Nikolai Andreevich Bodisko 1,800 Russians took the city of Visby without any combat or engagement, and occupied the island. A Swedish naval force rescue expedition was sent from Karlskrona under the command of admiral Rudolf Cederström with 2,000 men; the island was liberated and the Russians capitulated. Russian forces left the island on 18 May 1808.
Administration The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes today, but are historical and cultural entities. In the case of Gotland, due to its insular position, the administrative county (län), Gotland County, and the municipality (kommun), Region Gotland, both cover the same territory as the province. The diocese of Visby is also congruent with the province.
Gotland is traditionally divided into 92 sockens. In January 2016, they were all reconstituted into Districts, administrative areas with the same borders as the former sockens.
Heraldry
Gotland was granted its arms in about 1560.Clara Nevéus, Bror jacques de Wærn: Ny svensk vapenbok, 1992 The coat of arms is represented with a ducal coronet. Blazon: "Azure a ram statant Argent armed Or holding on a cross-staff of the same a banner Gules bordered and with five tails of the third." The county was granted the same coat of arms in 1936. The municipality, created in 1971, uses the same picture, but with other tinctures.
Geography
Gotland is Sweden's largest island, and it is the largest island fully encompassed by the Baltic Sea (with Denmark's Zealand at the Baltic's edge). With its total area of the island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up 0.8% of Sweden's total land area. The province includes the small islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north, as well as the Karlsö Islands, (Lilla and Stora) to the west, which are even smaller. The island of Gotland has an area of , whereas the province has [ of land excluding the lakes and rivers]. The population is 61,001 as of December 2021. As of 2016, approximately 23,600 people (about 40% of residents) lived in Visby, which is the seat of the municipality and the capital of the county.
Gotland is located about east of the Swedish mainland and about from the Baltic states, Latvia being the nearest. Gotland is the name of the main island, but the adjacent islands are generally considered part of Gotland and the Gotlandic culture: Furillen Fårö Gotska Sandön, a National park of Sweden The Karlsö Islands (Stora Karlsö and Lilla Karlsö) Laus holmar Ytterholmen Östergarnsholm
There are several shallow lakes located near the shores of the island. The biggest is Lake Bästeträsk, located near Fleringe in the northern part of Gotland. The Hoburg Shoal bird reserve is situated on the southern tip of the island. The highest point of the island is Lojsta Hed which stands above sea level. The average height of the island is 29 meters.
Settlements besides Visby include:
Burgsvik Fårösund Hemse Klintehamn Roma Slite Tofta