This is where my heart is. Wherever in the world I reside; this is the country that I always will return to.
Jämtland is a province in the center of Sweden. It borders to the territories of Härjedalen in the south, Ångermanland and Medelpad in the east, Lappland in the north and Trøndelag, Norway in the west, covers an area of 13,130 square miles, and is the second largest in Sweden. It has a population of 113,000. The majority of them live in the area surrounding lake Storsjön. Östersund is the only city in the province with a population of about 43,000. A quick calculation, disregarding the area in and around Östersund, reveals that the population density of Jämtland is about 5 persons/sq mile.
From the Viking Age until 1178 when it was conquered by Norway, Jamtland was an independent province, a republic, ruled by a public assembly called "Jamtamot" with its own laws. Then for over 450 years it was ruled by Norwegian and Danish kings until it was ceded to the Swedes in 1645 at the Peace Treaty of Brömsebro. During the unrest period in Jämtland's history (1563-1677) it shifted alignment between the two states no less than 13 times. Many are the stories about farmers that lost the right to their land because they happened to recognize the wrong king at the wrong time.
The long connection to Norway explains the similarities in music and dance tradition, and the origin of our language. It also tells why we do not have Swedish as our first language although it’s the official one. At least 50.000 of the inhabitants still know the language Jamska and are bilingual. In spite of 350 years of Swedish attempts to make it extinct it has survived. Jamska differs from Swedish in words, grammar and syntax. The difference can be compared to the one existing between Swedish and Norwegian.