VASTERNORRLAND

ln (county) of northeast Sweden, on the Gulf of Bothnia. Its area takes in most of the two traditional landskap (provinces) of Medelpad and ngermanland. Rising from the low coastal strip is a heavily forested interior plateau that supplies timber for sawmilling and wood-processing industries. Road and rail have largely replaced the old logging routes to the coastal mills provided by the ngerman River and other streams. Hrnsand, the capital, Sundsvall, and rnskldsvik are major shipping centres for timber and pulp. There are road, rail, and air connections with Stockholm. Area 8,370 square miles (21,678 square km). Pop. (1992 est.) 261,280.