Editing Norrbotten (section)

== Administration ==
The traditional [[provinces of Sweden]] serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. In this case, however, the county is older than the province. When the new national border to the [[Russia]]n [[Grand Duchy of Finland]] was established, the province of Västerbotten was divided, resulting in the formation of the Finnish municipalities of [[Kolari]], [[Muonio]], [[Pello]], [[Tornio]], and [[Ylitornio]]. However, Finnish Västerbotten is not widely recognized as a distinct historical province and is typically merged with [[Ostrobothnia (historical province)|Ostrobothnia]]—except for Muonio, which is considered part of [[Laponia (historical province of Finland)|Finnish Lapland]]. In Sweden, the northernmost [[Counties of Sweden|counties]] were created in 1810, comprising the northern regions of [[Lapland (Sweden)|Lapland]] and [[Västerbotten]]. Since then, northern Västerbotten has gradually developed a distinct provincial identity.