Gulf of Bothnia
 |
The Baltic Sea |
The
Gulf of Bothnia (
Fin.;
Pohjanlahti,
Sw.;
Bottniska viken) is the northernmost arm of the
Baltic Sea. It is situated between
Finland's west coast and
Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the
Åland Islands, between the
Sea of Åland and the
Archipelago Sea.
Bothnia is a Latinization of a name in an ancestral
Nordic language from which the current Swedish
botten also derives, Väster-botten on the
Sweden side and Öster-botten the
Finland side ("East Bottom" and "West Bottom"). The -th- in the Latinized word comes from the earlier Germanic letter,
thorn. The name of the Finland province in Finnish, Pohjan-maa, or "Pohja"-land, gives us a hint as to the meaning in both languages: Pohja means both "bottom" and "north."
Botten is believed to be related to English
bottom as in bottomland. It might part of a general north European distinction of lowlands, as opposed to highlands, such as in the names
Netherlands and
Zemaitia (Lithuania) or
Samland (
Prussia).
A second possibility is that botten follows an alternative Scandic connotation of 'furthermost'. Thus, the Gulf of Bothnia would be the farthest extent of the Ocean.
Julius Pokorny gives the extended
Indo-European root as *bhudh-m(e)n with a *bhudh-no- variant, from which also Latin fundus, as in fundament. The original meaning of English north, from Indo-european *ner- "under", indicates an original sense of "lowlands" for "bottomlands". On the other hand, by "North" the classical authors usually meant "outermost", as the northern lands were outermost to them.
Which meaning prevailed is a distinction that may be too precise to determine, especially as European cultures tended to assimilate and exchange cultural elements.
Whether
Pohjanmaa translates botten or vice versa is a question for history and archaeology, relating to who settled and named the region first.
The gulf is 725
km (450
mi) long, 80-240 km (50-150 mi) wide and has an average depth of 60
m (200
ft, 33
fathoms). The maximum depth is 295 m (965 ft, 161 fathoms). The surface area is 117,000 km² (45,200 sq mi).
Into the gulf flow a number of rivers from both sides; consequently, a
salinity gradient exists from north to south. In the South the water is the normal
brackish water of the
Baltic Sea, but in the North the
salinity is so low[
1] that one can no longer taste the
salt in the water and many
freshwater fish thrive in it[
2]. Being nearly fresh, the gulf is iced for five months. Icing of the
Baltic sea begins and ends there.
For the geologic history of the entire region, refer to
Baltic sea.
Some historians consider
Ottar to refer to the Gulf of Bothnia when he uses
Cwen sea (
9th c.). It is possible too that
Claussön's usage
Mare Gotticus (
15th c.) refers to Gulf of Bothnia.
Botten or Pohjan are heavily forested. Trees are logged, then transported to the coast for milling.
*
Ume or
Angerman*
Lule*
Torne*
Kemi*
Oulu*
Lulea*
Härnösand*
Sundsvall*
Gävle*
Pori*
Vaasa*
Oulu
