Editing Norrbotten County (section)

=== Culture ===
{{Tone|section|date=September 2019}}
Many different cultures can be found in Norrbotten County, including [[Sami people|Sami]] culture, [[Tornedalians|Tornedalian/Kven]] culture and the Swedish settler-culture. Many of the old local Swedish and Finnic dialects have survived in the area. The people of Norrbotten County have a saying: "I am not a Swede; I am a Norrbothnian". A local way of speaking, coupled with understated irony, is also sometimes used as a means to exclude southerners. These contrasts are well known throughout Sweden and often appear in TV, films, literature and folklore connected to Norrbotten, for characterizing, satiric or dramatic purposes (e.g. some characters in the books of [[Eyvind Johnson]] or the police detective Einar Rönn in the crime novels of [[Maj Sjöwall]] and [[Per Wahlöö]]).{{cn|date=April 2025}}

The coast has the historical cities of [[Luleå]] and [[Piteå]]. Luleå's [[Gammelstad]] ("Old town"), which is 10&nbsp;km north of the present downtown, has been declared a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]].

Apart from the [[Swedish language|Swedish]] language, [[Sami language|Sami]], [[Meänkieli language|Meänkieli]], and [[Finnish language|Finnish]] may be used in dealing with [[Government Agencies in Sweden|government agencies]], [[court]]s, [[Municipalities of Sweden|municipalities]], [[preschool]]s and [[nursing home]]s in parts of Norrbotten County. The Sami languages have official minority language status in [[Kiruna Municipality|Kiruna]], [[Gällivare Municipality|Gällivare]], [[Jokkmokk Municipality|Jokkmokk]], [[Luleå Municipality|Luleå]], [[Arjeplog Municipality|Arjeplog]] and [[Arvidsjaur Municipality|Arvidsjaur municipalites]]. Meänkieli and Finnish have the same status in Gällivare, [[Haparanda Municipality|Haparanda]], Kiruna, [[Pajala Municipality|Pajala]], and [[Övertorneå Municipality|Övertorneå]], Luleå and [[Kalix Municipality|Kalix municipalities]].<ref name="samiska">{{Cite web |title=Kommuner i förvaltningsområdet för samiska |url=https://www.minoritet.se/kommuner-i-forvaltningsomradet-for-samiska |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Minoritet.se |language=sv}}</ref><ref name="meankieli">{{Cite web |title=Kommuner i förvaltningsområdet för meänkieli |url=https://www.minoritet.se/kommuner-i-forvaltningsomradet-for-meankieli |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Minoritet.se |language=sv}}</ref><ref name="Förval">{{Cite web |title=Förvaltningsområden |url=https://www.minoritet.se/forvaltningsomraden |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Minoritet.se |language=sv}}</ref>