Sweden
Sweden is a country of space. It's the largest of the Scandinavaian countries, but has a population of only 9 million people. The country is almost continually covered in coniferous forest and has over 100,000 lakes. Stcokholm and Gothenburg are the only large towns. With stunning countryside, castles, aurora borealis, artic circle, Inlandbanan railwayand it's very own ice hotel. There are plenty of unique experiences to be had in Sweden.
- Stockholm is built on fourteen islands connected by bridges.
- The far north of Sweden is sometimes called "the land of the midnight sun". During midsummer the sky becomes light again once twilight has been reached
- Mount Kebne in the Kebnekaise mountain range is Sweden's highest mountain.
- Bronze Age burial cairns can be seen in Skuleskogen National Park.
- Carl Von Linne, known as Linnaeus, was a Swedish botanist and naturalist who lived in the sixteenth century. He introduced the scientific method of naming flora and fauna.
- Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite, was the founder of the Nobel Foundation.
- The Coca Cola bottle was designed by a Swede.
- The Oresund Fixed Link connecting Sweden with Denmark was opened in July 2000. The Link is 15,950 metres - a bridge links up with a 3,510m tunnel on the Danish side.
- Tetra Pak, packaging for liquids, was developed in 1944 by Erik Wallenberg and Ruben Rausing and is one of Sweden's success stories. A more recent success is IKEA, the furniture company, which has retail outlets in Europe, North America and Asia.
Total Area:449,964 sq km Land Borders: Norway, Finland,
Population: 9,016,596
Life Expectancy: 80 years HIV % Total Poulation:0.1%
Ethnic Groups: indigenous population: Swedes with Finnish and Sami minorities; foreign-born or first-generation immigrants: Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, Turks
Languages:Swedish, small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities
Prime Minister:Goran PERSSON GDP - Per Capita: $29,800
A military power during the 17th century, Sweden has not participated in any war in almost two centuries. An armed neutrality was preserved in both World Wars. Sweden's long-successful economic formula of a capitalist system interlarded with substantial welfare elements was challenged in the 1990s by high unemployment and in 2000-02 by the global economic downturn, but fiscal discipline over the past several years has allowed the country to weather economic vagaries. Indecision over the country's role in the political and economic integration of Europe delayed Sweden's entry into the EU until 1995, and waived the introduction of the euro in 1999.
(516) Hygelac, king of the Geats, led attack on Frisia
(550) Gotlanders came under Swedish protection
(800) Svear conquered Götar in southern Sweden; Birka founded on island of Björkö
(829) Christianity introduced by St. Ansgar
(860) Swedish Vikings attacked Constantinople
(1000) Svein Forkbeard, King of Denmark and Olaf Eiríksson, King of Sweden, defeated King Olaf Tryggvason in naval Battle of Svolder; Birka destroyed; Swedes lost control of Hedeby
(1022) Anund Jakob became king
(1026) Canute the Great attacked Swedes and Norwegians at Battle of Holy River; Canute victorious; controlled Scandinavia
(1050) Edmund the Old became king of Sweden
(1054) Sweden and Denmark set boundaries
(1066) Halsten crowned king
(1070) Halsten deposed; Hakon the Red is king
(1150) Erik IX crowned king
(1160) King Erik IX killed by Danish prince
(1187) Estonian raiders sacked, burned Sigtuna
(1208) King Sverker overthrown at Battle of Lena
(1220) Swedish fleet attacked Estonia
(1229) Folkungs deposed King Eriksson
(1233) King Eriksson returned to rule
(1250) King Eriksson died; Valdemar crowned King; Birger Jarl declared regent until Valdemar is of age
(1251) Folkungs rose against rule of Jarl and Valdemar; lost at Herrevads Bridge
(1266) King Valdemar overthrown by brothers
(1275) King Valdemar deposed
(1292) Swedish expansion reached Karelian Isthmus
(1318) Peasants revolted against King
(1323) Sweden and Russia establish border
(1332) Magnus Eriksson crowned King of Sweden and King of Norway
(1350's) Black Death killed one-third of population
(1397) Union of Kalmar united Sweden, Denmark and Norway under one monarch
(1448) Karl Knutsson crowned King of Sweden and King of Norway
(1450) Danish King Kristian I convinced Norway to renounce King Knutsson
(1451) Danes attacked Sweden
(1465) King Knutsson forced to abdicate
(1467) Knutsson again crowned King of Sweden
(1495) Russians forces invade Sweden
(1497) King Hans of Denmark and Norway attacked Sweden; King Hans declared King of Sweden
(1523) Gustav I (Gustav Vasa) crowned King; separates Swedish Crown from Kalmar Union
(1651) Sweden seized territory of Estonia
(1568) King Eric XIV deposed; John III named King
(1570) Peace of Stettin concluded; Denmark recognized independence of Sweden; Sweden gave up claim to Norway
(1617) Treaty of Stolbovo ended Swedish occupation of Northern Russia
(1628) Swedish warship Vasa sank in Stockholm harbor; 25 drowned
(1632) Swedish and Saxon army defeat Imperial forces; King Gustavus II died in battle
(1637) Swedish immigrants sailed to Delaware
(1653) Stockholm became capital of Sweden
(1654) Queen Christina abdicated throne; converted to Catholicism, later buried in Rome in St. Peters
(1685) King Charles II barred Jews from settling in Stockholm
(1698) King Charles II invaded Denmark; forced Danish King to sign Peace of Travendal
(1700 - 1721) Northern War occurred
(1721) Peace of Nystad ended Northern War
(1743) In Treaty of Abo, Sweden ceded southeast Finland to Russia
(1790) Swedish army captured one-third of Russian fleet at Battle of Svensksund
(1792) King Gustav III assassinated
(1809) Sweden declared independence; constitutional monarchy established; Russia took Aland Island group from Sweden
(1814) Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden
(1832) Göta Canal opened
(1852) Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Stockholm
(1866) Alfred Nobel invented dynamite
(1875) Denmark, Norway and Sweden adopted common basis of currency
(1879) Labor strike by workers in timber industry occurred, several thousand refused to work
(1897) World exposition held in Stockholm; first Swedish car built
(1901) First Nobel Prize awarded
(1905) Union of Norway and Sweden dissolved
(1914) World War I began, Sweden neutral
(1918) Sweden recognized Finland as independent state; Swedish naval expedition sent to Aland Islands to protect against Russians; Spanish flu epidemic killed 38,000 in Sweden
(1920) Sweden joined League of Nations
(1939) World War II began; Sweden neutral
(1940) Sweden forced to allow German troops to cross through Sweden to Norway; Sweden became refuge for Danes and Norwegians
(1941) Transit agreement with Germany canceled
(1946) Sweden joined United Nations
(1952) Sweden founding member of Nordic Council
(1953) Swedish diplomat, Dag Hammarskjold, became secretary general of United Nations
(1959) Sweden became founding member of European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
(1971) Two-chamber parliament replaced by one chamber elected by representation
(1975) Constitutional reforms enacted; powers of monarch are removed, office became ceremonial only
(1980's) Soviet submarines suspected of invading Swedish territorial waters; relations with Soviet Union deteriorated
(1986) Prime Minister Olof Palme assassinated
(1994) Voters narrowly approved EU membership
(1995) Sweden joined EU
(2000) Bridge and tunnel opened between Malmo, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark
(2001) 12,000 demonstrators in Goteborg set up flaming barricades to protest globalization
(2003) Foreign Minister Anna Lindh assassinated in Stockholm; referendum vote rejects (Euro); power outage in southern Sweden and Denmark left 4 million without electricity
(2006) Bird flu discovered in Sweden; Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds resigned over shutting down website related to cartoons of Prophet Muhammad; Social Democrats lost elections ending 12 years of rule; Trade Minister, Maria Borelius, resigned over allegations of tax evasion