The Kattegat (Danish: [ˈkʰad̥əɡ̊ad̥]) or Kattegatt (Swedish: [ˈkatːəˈɡatː]) is a 30,000 km sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark to the south and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden in the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Danish Straits. The sea area is a continuation of the Skagerrak and may be seen as a bay of the Baltic Sea or the North Sea or, as in traditional Scandinavian usage, neither of these.