Map of the
Baltic Sea, showing the Gulf of Bothnia in the upper half
The
Gulf of Bothnia (; ) 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.
Name
Bothnia is a
Latinization of
Old Norse botn , meaning "bottom". The name
botn was applied to the Gulf of Bothnia as
Helsingjabotn in
Old Norse, after
Hälsingland, which at the time referred to the coastland west of the gulf. Later,
botten was applied to the regions
Västerbotten on the western side and
Österbotten the eastern side ("East Bottom" and "West Bottom"). The Finnish name of Österbotten,
Pohjanmaa, or "Pohja"-land, gives a hint as to the meaning in both languages:
pohja means both "bottom" and "north."
Botn/
botten is
cognate with the
English word
bottom, and it might be part of a general north European distinction of lowlands, as opposed to highlands, such as the
Netherlandic region,
Samogitia (
Lithuanian), and
Sambia (
Russia).
A second possibility is that
botten follows an alternative Scandinavian 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 the Latin
fundus, as in fundament, is derived. 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.
The third possibility is that
botten is a mistranslation of
pohja in
pohjanmaa, as
pohja in Finnish means both north and bottom. The common translation for
Pohjanlahti is "the bay in the north," which makes sense. "The bay of the bottom" doesn't make sense, but could have been translated so by a Swedish speaking person who wasn't well versed in Finnish. These types of translation errors are common in Finland, so the explanation seems reasonable. However, whether
Pohjanmaa was translated to
botten or vice versa is a question for history, archaeology, and politics, and relates to who settled and named the region first.
Geophysical data
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). The northernmost point is situated in
Töre in the
Bothnian Bay.
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, in the
Bothnian Bay, the salinity is so low that one can no longer taste the
salt in the water and many
freshwater fish thrive in it. Being nearly fresh, the gulf is frozen over five months every year. The icing of the
Baltic Sea begins and ends in the Gulf of Bothnia.
Geological history
For the geological history of the entire region, refer to the
Baltic Sea.
History
Some historians suggest that the adventurer
Ottar was referring to the Gulf of Bothnia when he spoke of the
Kven Sea in the 9th century. It is also possible that
Claudius Clavus's usage of the term
Mare Gotticus in the 15th century refers to the Gulf of Bothnia.
Economy
The land surrounding the Gulf of Bothnia is heavily forested. Trees are logged, then transported to the coast for milling.
Rivers
Cities
