Everything about The Kattegat totally explained
The
Kattegat (
Danish), or
Kattegatt (
Swedish) is a sea area bounded by
Jutland (
Denmark), and
Scania,
Halland and
Bohuslän (
Sweden). The
Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the
Oresund and the
Danish Straits. The Kattegat is a continuation of the
Skagerrak and may be seen as either a
bay of the
Baltic Sea, a bay of the
North Sea, or, in traditional Scandinavian usage, none of these.
Geography
According to the definition established in a 1932 convention signed by Denmark,
Norway and Sweden (registered in the
League of Nations Treaty Series 199 - 1933), the northern boundary between Kattegat and Skagerrak is found at the northernmost point of
Skagen on Jutland and the southern boundary towards
Oresund is found at the tip of
Kullen Peninsula in Scania.
Waterways that drain into the Kattegat are the rivers of
Göta älv at
Gothenburg, together with the
Lagan,
Nissan,
Ätran and
Viskan from the province of
Halland on the Swedish side, and the river of
Gudenå from
Jutland, in Denmark.
The main islands of the Kattegat are
Samsø,
Læsø and
Anholt, where the latter two, due to their dry summer climate, are referred to as the Danish
desert belt.
A number of noteworthy coastal areas abut the Kattegat, including the
Kullaberg Nature Reserve in Scania, Sweden, which contains a number of
rare species and a scenic
rocky shore, the town of
Mölle, which has a picturesque harbour and views into the Kullaberg, and
Skagen at the northern tip of Denmark.
Currently, a proposed bridge from Jutland to
Zealand, across the southern part of Kattegat is under political consideration in Denmark.
Etymology
According to
Den Store Danske Encyklopædi and
Nudansk Ordbog, the name derives from the
Dutch words
Kat (cat) and
Gat (hole). It refers to late
medieval navigation, where captains compared this region to a hole so narrow that even a cat would have difficulty creeping through due to the many reefs and shallow waters. At one point, the passable waters were a mere 3.84
kilometers (2.38
miles) wide.
An older name for both the
Skagerrak and Kattegat was the
Norwegian Sea or
Jutland Sea (
Knýtlinga saga mentions the name
Jótlandshaf). The name of the
Copenhagen street
Kattesundet is derived from same root.
[Further Information]
Get more info on 'Kattegat'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://kattegat.totallyexplained.com">Kattegat Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
