The New International Encyclopædia/Öland

ÖLAND, ẽ′länd′, or OELAND. An island in the Baltic Sea, lying off the southeast coast of Sweden, from which it is separated by Kalmar Sound, from 4 to 17 miles wide (Map: Sweden, G 8). It is included in the Swedish Län of Kalmar. The island is 80 miles in length, and from 4 to 10 miles in breadth, with an area of 510 square miles. It consists mainly of a sandstone ridge scantily covered with soil, but in some parts it is well wooded, and has good pastures, on which cattle and sheep are reared. In favorable seasons, barley, oats, and flax yield good crops. The fishing is excellent all round the coasts. There are large alum-works on the island, and an extensive line of windmills along the Alwar Hills, near which stands Borgholm (population, in 1900, 926). This town is famous for the magnificent ruins of Borgholm Castle. Oeland was often a battlefield in the wars between Denmark and Sweden. Population, in 1890, 37,519; in 1900, 30,408.