Sweden , officially Kingdom of Sweden . Scandinavian country of Europa del Norte that forms part of the European Union (EU). It borders the north with Norway and Finland , the east with Finland and the Gulf of Botnia, the Baltic Sea and the west with the North Sea and Norway. They have land borders with Norway and Finland, and are connected to Denmark by the Oresund port.
The capital is Stockholm .
This rune of Aspa, is the oldest ancient mention that has Sweden and its date.
The name “Suecia” derives from the ancient English Sweoðeod , which means “people of the Swedes”. This word derives from Sweon / Sweonas (old Scandinavian Sviar, Latin Suiones). The name in Swedish, Sverige, literally means “Kingdom of suiones”, excluding the gautas en Götaland. The etymology of Suiones, and of Sweden, is probably derived from the proto-Germanic Swihoniz which means “property of one” referring to the property of a Germanic tribe.
Variations of English Sweden are used in the majority of languages, except in Danish and Norwegian, where the name is the same as in Swedish, Sverige. In Finnish languages (Ruotsi) and Estonian (Rootsi), the name comes from the same root as the word ” Rusia”, referring to the Rus ethnicity, originated in the coastal areas of Uppland and Roslagen.
History
Prehistory
The prehistory in Sweden begins at the Allerød Oscilación call period, around 12,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic, with nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers in the country, characterized by the use of arrow pieces of arrows piedra.
The South of Sweden was part of the area where the Nordic Edad del Bronce developed . This period started around 1700 years before the beginning of the import of the bronce from the center of Europe. Mining was not practiced during this period, as Scandinavia does not have large deposits, all metals were imported.
In the absence of the domination of the Roman Empire , the Swedish hierarchy is considered from the introduction of the pious architecture and monastic orders around the year 1100 years
At the beginning of Siglo II , a large part of the suelo cultivated in the south of Sweden was divided into lots with small bards of piedra. On one side of the wall there would be permanent trees and meadows for the winter training, but the other would be the forest and the land that was used to graze the cattle. This land division was used until Siglo XIX .
The Swedish Viking season encompasses the following VIII to XI. During this period, it is believed that the Swedes would have expanded to the east of Sweden and intermingled with the gautas del sur. The Swedish viking and the vikingos guter hacían incursions mainly in the east and in the south, in Finland, in the Baltic countries , Russia, in the Mediterranean and in the cities of Lejana like Baghdad .
The Byzantine emperor Theophilus proved his skill for war, and encouraged them to serve as his personal guardian, known as the Guardian varega. It is also believed that the Swedish Viking, called “Rus”, are the founding priests of Rusia.
Swedish Empire
During the 17th century, Sweden emerged as a European power. Before the rise of the Swedish Empire, Sweden was a very poor country, scarcely populated, little known in the north of Europe, without any important power in its reputation. He was suddenly converted into one of the leading nations in Europe by Axel Oxenstierna and the king Gustavo II Adolfo de Suecia , thanks to the conquest of territories of Russia and Poland – Lithuania , but also his participation in the War of the 30 years , Whatever Sweden did in the continental leader of Protestantism had the collapse of the empire in 1721 .
As a result of the 17th century, Sweden was the third largest country in Europe, only surpassed by Rusia and Spain . Sweden achieved its maximum territorial expansion under the reign of Charles X of Sweden ( 1622 – 1660 ) after the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 .
Carlos XII tried to invade Norway in 1716 ; however, it was changed at the site of the Fredriksten fortress in 1718 .
In the 17th century, Sweden did not have enough resources to maintain its territories away from Scandinavia, due to the loss of most of the cultures, culminating in the loss of the east of Sweden by Rusia, territories that would become semi-autonomous Duchy of Finland in the imperial Russia.
El rey Carlos XIII of Sweden Lanzo una campaña military against Norway el 27 de julio de 1814 , ending con la Convencion Moss, la cual forzó Norway a una unión personal con bajo el Sweden Swedish power that permaneció hasta 1905 . The 1814 campaign was the last war in which Sweden participated as a belligerent.
Modern History
Between 1750 and 1850 the Swedish population doubled. According to some specialists, the emigration in the United States has become the only way to avoid the hamburger and the rebellion; more than 1% of the population emigrated annually during the decade of the 1880s .
The majority of Swedish immigrants moved to the American Middle East, achieving a major impact on the Minnesota settlement . As secondary destinations, other Swedish currents went to Delaware , Canada , Chile and , to a lesser extent, Argentina .
During the second half of Siglo XIX , social and union movement movements took place, as well as abstinent and independent religious groups, which began to press for a democratic state. In 1889 the Swedish Social Democratic Party was founded. These movements took place in the country with a modern parliamentary democracy, achieved during the First World War . As the Industrial Revolution advanced during Siglo XX , the rural population started to migrate to cities to work in factories and to be included in unions. In 1917 a socialist revolution failed.
World Wars
Sweden remained officially neutral during both world wars, although its neutrality in World War II has been debated many times; I was under the influence of the German part of the war, and were isolated from the rest of the world by means of blocks. Initially, the Swedish government considered that he was not in a position to oppose Germany , and later collaborated with Hitler . Swedish volunteers in Nazi SS units were among the first to invade the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarroja. Sweden also provided steel, wheels and machinery to Germany during the war. The end of the war, when the German defeat seemed imminent, Sweden started to play a role in humanitarian efforts and to take refugees, among the many Jews from Europe occupied by the Nazis who were saved, partly because Sweden participated in missions. of rescuing in concentration camps, and because Sweden was the main refugee center in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. However, internal and external criticism ensured that Sweden could do better to resist the threats of the Nazis, even running the risk of an occupation.
Since approximately 1934 until 1975 , Sweden has sterilized more than 62,000 people taking practical barbaric eugenic theories that suppose that there is a relationship between ethnicity and reason with mental and physical health. In 1996 the socialdemocrats refused to pay compensation to victims. In 1999 the Swedish government started to compensate the victims and their family members.
Recent history
During the Cold War Sweden publicly adopted a position of neutrality, but in the official way the Swedish leaders maintained connections with the United States. At the beginning of 1960 , Sweden and the United States agreed to deploy nuclear submarines off the coast of Sweden and this sameism both countries had a secret defense pact that was given in 1994 .
Like other countries in the world, it entered a period of economic decline, due to the 1973 –74 and 1978 –79 oil embargoes . In the 1980s, the pillars of Swedish industry were easily restructured. The construction of boats was discontinued, the splint of forests was integrated with modern paper production, the steel industry was concentrated and specialized, and mechanical engineering was robotic.
Between 1970 and 1990 all taxes were raised more than 10%, and growth was very slow compared to the majority of Western European countries . The limit on the limit of income for workers has reached more than 80% and public spending has exceeded the national GDP, while its economic policy was tested by classical economists.
In the early 1990s, Sweden fell into a fiscal crisis. The government’s response was to reduce spending and institute a series of reforms to boost Sweden’s competitiveness, among which are to reduce the Swedish welfare state and privatize goods and public services. The reforms have allowed the European Union to enter , which Sweden has belonged to since the 1st of 1995 , even adopting the euro, since it was decided to keep the Swedish crown as its national currency.
Currently Sweden is one of the countries with the highest Human Development Index, being among the twenty largest economies in the world. Sweden also participated in international military operations, including Afghanistan , where Swedish troops are under the command of NATO ; and in the European Union supporting operations of “peace forces” in countries like Kosovo , Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cyprus . In addition, several Swedish companies export arms that are used by the American army in Irak .
Geography
Located in the north of Europe, Sweden borders the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Botnia to the east, giving the country a wide coastal line, which forms the eastern part of the Scandinavian peninsula. The west meets the Scandinavian Alps , which are a natural border with Norway. The north east borders Finland, the west with the Skagerrak, Kattegat and Öresund stretches. In addition, it has marine limits with Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia; y is connected to Denmark by the Oresund post.
With 449,964 km², Sweden is the 55th largest country in the world. It is the fifth largest in Europe, and the largest in Northern Europe with a population of more than 9.2 million inhabitants for 2008 .
Climate
The major part of Sweden has a temperate climate, despite its latitude, with four different parks and templated temperatures throughout the year. The country can be divided into three types of climates: the part with an oceanic climate, the central part with a continental humid climate and the northern part with a boreal climate. However, Sweden is more warm and dry than other places of similar latitudes and of other latitudes including more, due mainly to the Corriente del Golfo. For example, the center and the country had warmer weather than parts of Russia, Canada and the United States. Due to its location, the length of the day varied enormously.
North of the Arctic Circle , the sun never sets on some summer days, and on some winter days it never dawns. The day in Stockholm lasts more than 18 hours at the end of June, but only around 6 hours at the end of the day. The large part of the Swedish territory receives between 1,600 and 2,000 hours of sunlight annually.
The temperature varies from the north to the south. The central part of the country has warm, cold winter seasons, with maximum temperatures between 20 and 25 ° C and minimum between 12 and 15 ° C during the summer; and an average temperature of -4 to 2 ° C in winter. For the most part, the northern part of the country has badly cut and fresh summer, and much larger and cooler winter, with temperatures usually below the freezing point since September until May. Heat waves occasionally occur, and temperatures above 25 ° C are present for several days in summer, sometimes up in the northern part of the country. The highest temperature recorded in Sweden was 38 ° C in Målilla, in 1947 , but the lowest temperature was -52.6 ° C in Vuoggatjålme in 1966.
However, the largest part of Sweden receives between 500 and 800 mm of precipitation each year, causing the country to be considerably drier than the world average. The western part of the country has more rainfall, between 1000 and 1200 mm, and in some mountainous areas in the north it is estimated that more than 2000 mm of precipitation are received. Snowfalls occur from March to March, from November to April in the center and from October to May in the north of Sweden. Despite its geographical location, the central part of the country tends to be virtually free of nieve.
Economy
Sweden has a market economy freely regulated by the State, which has been known as a Swedish model and is presented as an example of the socio-economic proposal of European social democracy. Oriented mainly to exportation, with a modern distribution system, sufficient external and internal communications and a specialized work force. The wood, the hydraulic power and the hierarchy constitute the basis of its highly focused economy on international trade. Engineering contributes 50% of production and exports. Telecommunications and automotive and pharmaceutical industries are also of great importance. Agriculture accounts for 2% of GDP and growth.
All of the Swedish industrial production is carried out by private companies, which is in contrast to other industrialized countries, such as Austria and Italy , from where the companies of the State have the greatest presence.
The economically active population (PEA) is for 4.5 million people, surrounding all of a third party with higher education studies. The country’s economy grows at a rate of 2% per year. The promising worker receives 40% of his salary after tax payments and social security contributions. The imposing price in Sweden is high compared to other developed countries, reaching 51.1% of GDP in 2007, double the number of countries like the United States and Ireland . Public employers are only one third of the work force, one higher than the majority of countries. GDP growth has accelerated since the reforms carried out in the 1990s, especially in the manufacturing sector.
Sweden exports automobiles, engineering products, steel, electronic devices, telecommunication equipment and paper industry products.
Sweden rejected the euro as a currency through popular vote and currently the official currency of the country is the Swedish crown (SEK). The Swedish Central Bank (Sveriges Riksbank) – founded in 1668 what the central bank has the longest in the world – takes care of the stability of prices, maintaining inflation at 2% per year, one of the lowest rates between countries Europeans since the mid-1990s. Countries with the largest share of financial activity in Germany, the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom , Denmark, and Finland.
Cultur
The culture of Sweden is typically perceived as egalitarian, sencilla and open to influences from other countries. The country has received the cultural influence of other countries and institutions: the Catholic Church and Germany during the Media Age , France during the 18th century, from Germany in the 19th century and the countries of the Anglo-sphere after the Second World War.
Another cultural aspect highlighted at the international level is the delivery of the Nobel Prize , instituted by Alfred Nobel . This award has been awarded every year since 1901 to persons who have carried out outstanding investigations, invented techniques, revolutionary equipment, and notable contributions to society, even on numerous occasions in the course of which has rendered the whole state of polemics and nonconformities.
Literature
Sweden was the home of several writers recognized worldwide including August Strindberg , Astrid Lindgren , and Nobel Prize winners Selma Lagerlöf and Harry Martinson . In total, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Swedish writers. Among the poorest known artists in the country are painters like Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn , and sculptors Tobias Sergel and Carl Milles .
Music
ABBA was one of the first musical groups in Sweden to become famous around the world, which is still among the most successful artists, with about 370 million records sold. With ABBA, Swedish music enters a new era, with Swedish pop gaining international importance. Other bands that became famous worldwide are Roxette , of which they speak but later, Ace of Base , Europe The Cardigans and Mando Diao, among others.
Cine
Several Swedish actors have been important in the development of the film for years and have become famous Hollywood stars , among which we can highlight: Ingrid Bergman , Greta Garbo , Viveca Lindfors, Max von Sydow, Dolph Lundgren, Lena Olin, Stellan Skarsgård, Peter Stormare, Izabella Scorupco, Pernilla August, Ann-Margret, Anita Ekberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Malin Akerman and Gunnar Björnstrand. Ingmar Bergman , Lukas Moodysson, and Lasse Hallström are some of the Swedish directors who have had successful films worldwide.