Tiveden

Tiveden is a long and wide densely forested rocky ridge in Sweden, throughout history notorious for its wilderness and dangers; historically a hiding place for outlaws. In historic times it, along with Tylöskog and Kolmården, formed the border between the land of the Swedes and the land of the Geats.

Within it, the Tiveden National Park has a designated area of Template:Convert, a comparatively small and arguably the most inaccessible part of the forest. It was established in 1983, and administratively belongs to the municipalities of Karlsborg and Laxå.

History

File:The old border forests.PNG

The old forest border between Swedes (Suiones) and Geats. Blue=Tiveden; green=Tylöskog; red=Kolmården

The name is very old and disputed. -Ved is cognate to English Wood and the first part of its name, Ti-, either means "god" or refers to the god Týr, both descendants of the word meaning “god”. Tiveden separates Närke from Västergötland, and was formerly a frontier between the Geats and the Swedes.

The national park area has never been inhabited, but there are several ancient remains of human activities such as worshipping grounds and sacrificial sites.

Geography

File:La2-demis-tiveden.png

Details of Tiveden location between lakes Vänern and Vättern

The forest has small lakes with red waterlilies. When they were discovered they provided the European varieties of red waterlilies that are in cultivation. The folklore tale of how this became goes as follows:

The animal life is scarce, but the forest houses a substantial population of western capercaillie. Nowadays there are small populations of wolves, lynxes and wolverines in Tiveden. Bears have also been sighted.

See also

Related forests:

• Tylöskog
• Kolmården
• Trollkyrka
• Skaga stave church

External links

• Tiveden National Park from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency