306 The present Swedish provinees Skåne. Blekinge and Halland were at the beginning of the 12th eentury Danish while Bohuslän and Jämtland were Norwegian territories. Of the tribes, which in prehistoric times inhabited Sweden, two came to dominate: in the north the Swedes, mentioned already by Tacitus [sinones], and in the south the (lOths (Geats). The Swedes originated in the area, which is the present province of Uppland, then called Svitjod. from where they extended their supremacy, probably at first to Västmanland and Södermanland, that is to the neighbouring territories in the west and the south, and later to Närke and Hälsingland. Fights between Swedes and Goths finally led to the domination of the Swedes over the Gothie tribes —such fights already in the 6th century are described in the English poem Beowulf a unification of the Svea- and G(»ta-parts into one realm. The first ruler of a united Svea kingdom was as far as is known Olof Eriksson, called Skötkonung, c. 995—1022. 'I'he subdivision of the lands in the Svea-parts of the country in hundare was by the older school of Swedish historians regarded as conditioned by the organization of a fleet that was created by the Swedes in their parts of the country: it was assumed that the hundarc was a territory, that had to contribute to the fleet organization number of ships with food and other equipment for the crew; consequently the ledung-district should have been named himdare. The ledung-organization in the Svea-parts was supposed to be very old. going back to the times of Tacitus. As to the origin of the term härad, indicating subdivision of the lands in the Göta-parts of the country, the opinions of the historians have been divided. According to one theory, which has had some support, the word härad was supposed to be derived from the old Germanic hariraida, meaning “host”, originally “riding troop”, from which word the meaning “resident host” and later “settlement” should have developed. In 1968 a Swedish historian. S. Söderlind. advanced a new theory of the notion of hiindare and härad: both these words would originally go back to the Germanic numeral of 100, hand. The Swedish hundare was supposed to be formed from this and to the so-called lediing 100 men and a certain
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