Län - The län

The län

In Sweden a län is but an arm of the executive power of the national government, and has no autonomy nor legislative power. The län subdivision does not always match the traditional provinces, which are called landskap (singular and plural) in Swedish (including Swedish-speaking Finland) and maakunnat (singular maakunta) in Finnish. The same situation existed in Finland until län/lääni were abolished in 2010.

  • Counties of Sweden — (Sveriges län)
  • Provinces of Finland (abolished 2010) — (Suomen läänit / Finlands län)

Historically the term guberniya (Russian: губе́рния) was used for the län/lääni in the Grand Duchy of Finland as a part of Russia from 1809 to 1917. See Governorates of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

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