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The 'Kattegat' (Danish), or ''Kattegatt'' (Swedish) is a sea area bounded by Jutland (Denmark) and 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.

Contents

Geography

Etymology

References

Geography

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 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.

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.^[1][2] 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.

References

::'In-line:'
1. ''Den Store Danske Encyklopædi'' (2004), CD-rom edition, Copenhagen: Gyldendal, entry ''Kattegat''.
2. ''Nudansk Ordbog'' (1993), 15th edition, 2nd reprint, Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag, entry ''Kattegat''.