Distrikts of the Landsdel of Norrland
Upon the conclusion of the Aisuyochi War, administrators in both the national capital of Nya Stockholm, and the landsdel's administrative center of Norrahuvudstad found themselves confronted with a problem that had been brewing for several decades.
It had been decided early in Vinland's history that its internal borders would be dictated by the lay of the land, rather than by arbitrary and often troublesome arbitrary lines following various latitudes and longitudes. Almost all of Vinland's eight landsdelar had been formed with a clear historical or hydrographic basis in mind. Thus, when Scandinavian cartographers and surveyors set out to formalize the borders of the landsdelar of Vinland in the 1860s, they did so with the goal of creating reasonable boundaries that logically divided the distinct and diverse regions of the colony.
Nya Sverige comprised the oldest portions of Vinland, and was bounded by the drainage basin of the Gulf of Saint Birgitta (OTL Saint Lawrence) in the north, and by the Bredvatten (OTL Ottawa River) in the south. Dammark was simply the Vinlandic portion of the drainage basin of the Stora Sjöarna (OTL Great Lakes). The Västermark comprised the entirety of the nation's prairie breadbasket, containing the drainage basins of all rivers whose mouths hit the Eriksson Sea (OTL Hudson Bay) below the 60th parallel North. Haroldstad was formed from the drainage basins of the rivers which emptied into the Pacific south of the American colony of Scottson, while Adlö, a contraction of the highly unwieldy 'Adolphusö' (Adolphus Island, OTL Vancouver Island), comprised the large, offshore islands on the Pacific coast. Helluland was formed from the arctic archipelago, while the final two landsdelar, Markland and Norrland, were formed from whatever was left over.
While this solution worked reasonably well for Markland, Norrland wound up encompassing flat subarctic coastline on the Bering Sea, the highest mountains in the nation, vast tracts of boreal forest, arable farmland at its extreme southern fringes, and open tundra in the east. While this mattered little at the time when Norrland was first designated, the development of the land would see it develop in many different directions. The full extent of the coastline was settled by Skraeling Inuit, who remain there to this day. The forested interior remains largely undeveloped save for a few pioneer roads, trading towns, skraeling villages and mining prospects. The south has developed much like its neighbours in the Västermark, growing several successful agricultural towns. Finally, the northwest has boomed, powered by rich placer and hard rock deposits of gold, copper, silver, lead and zinc.
By comparison, the addition of a few thousand Japanese settlers in the area acquired after the Aisuyochi War was nearly inconsequential.
To resolve the difficult task of managing such a vast and diverse land, the Riksdag of Vinland began to float several solutions. One popular early idea was to subdivide Norrland, though this proposal was quite unfeasible due to the already very low population of the region. It held barely over one hundred thousand people in an area the size of western Europe. General agreement arose, however, from a variety of proposal regarding the subdivision of Norrland into a variety of
distrikts, each possessing a degree of autonomy within Norrland. A form of this rather light governance, wherein standardized offices staffed by officers of the Vinlandskridningpolis provided mail service, policing, and various other assorted duties, had been exercised in the old region of Österscottson with reasonable success over the previous decade. Though Österscottson had now been fully integrated into Norrland proper, it was expected hoped that this localization of administration would provide the solution to the challenges of maintaining the rule of Vinlandic law in the vast north.
Alyeska Distrikt
Formed from the portion of Aisuyochi annexed by Vinland in the Treaty of Konradsköping, Alyeska remains essentially a placeholder, until better understanding can be gleaned of the area's geography and demographics.
Gylland Distrikt
Containing the vast majority of the Vildaflod drainage basin, Gylland is united by containing the vast majority of Norrland's modern mining development.
Trämark Distrikt
The core and most populated region of Norrland, Trämark is named for its vast forests. It is notable both for containing the only land route into the rest of Norrland, and for its relatively sizeable skraeling population.
Vildamark
Not a distrikt in of itself, but rather an area whose allocation has not yet been decided. Trämark is very closely connected to this area by rail, but the region's hydrology suggests that this area ought to be part of Gylland. The region's major settlement, Vitahästar, has an economy powered by transportation, receiving raw ores from mines in Gylland, before moving them onto trains to be shipped out to the Pacific port of Dimmafjorden, or by inland rail to Västermark's northwestern city of Einarstad.
Fjordland Distrikt
Located due north of Haroldstad, this distrikt is a coastal maze of mountainous islands and thick forests. Though it is in all cases named for its distinctive geographic features, its name remains a point of contention- many refer to this area as 'Nya Norge', in reference to the old homeland and the landsdel of Nya Sverige, while others prefer the less colourful and more descriptive 'Fjordland'. At any rate, the name may soon be less important, as there is a strong movement led by several of Haroldstad's Riksdagsledamöter (Members of the Riksdag) to incorporate this region into their own landsdel, on the basis that Fjordland has more in common with their southern, fishing-based region than the vast and underpopulated north. The area has grown much more in common with Haroldstad in recent years, largely in part to the numerous military bases established in the area during the Aisuyochi War.
Naslund
A border region that, like Vildamark, is not being put forward as a district, Naslund was an area contested between Norrland and Haroldstad, due to ambiguity in the definition of Haroldstad's border. The southern landsdel contained all of the watersheds draining into the Pacific ocean south of Scottson- but the drainage basin of the River Nas could be either north or south of the southernmost point of Scottson, depending on whether or not one considered the southernmost point of land, or the southernmost point of territorial water.
Tundramark Distrikt
A vast region largely considered uninhabitable by Vinlanders, this eastern distrikt is actually quite well-populated by skraeling Inuit, close cousins of the Hellulanders. While the area's distinctness serves as an almost automatic qualifier for status as a distrikt of Norrland, numerous voices in the Riksdag suggest that this whole area should be transferred into Helluland, in citing the many similarities between the mainland and island Inuit, and the ease of managing both populations under a single flag.