Swedes love islands. Most inhabited Swedish islands are around the coasts of the country, but there’s a special affection for islands which are in inland lakes. Lake Vänern, the country’s largest lake, has a number of inhabited islands, the largest of which is Torsö. Frösön is the largest island in Lake Storsjön and prior to the founding of Östersund in 1786, this island community perceived itself to be the hub of Jämtland life. And with good reason, for Frösön has a history of human settlement that goes back over a thousand years. It has a distinguished old church and the northernmost rune stone in the world.

Tidal islands
There are islands which never lose their island status. And then there are islands which come and go with every tide. Such fragments of land, which are only proper islands at low tide, are called drying islands or tidal islands. We look at some ...