Sweden

I

Introduction

Sweden, country in northern Europe, occupying the eastern portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Slightly larger than the state of California and roughly similar in shape, Sweden is the largest and most populous nation of Scandinavia. The Swedes’ name for their country, Sverige, means “the land of the Sveas,” an ancient tribe of the region. Stockholm is the country’s capital and largest city.

Sweden is one of the world’s northernmost nations. The country extends nearly 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from north to south, and one-seventh of its territory lies above the Arctic Circle. Thick glaciers that receded after the last ice age scoured the land, rounding mountaintops, scraping out deep valleys, and carving long fjords into the coastline. Nearly 100,000 lakes dot the landscape and cover about one-twelfth of Sweden’s total area.

Sweden shares a hilly land boundary with Norway to the west, and it touches Finland to the northeast. Elsewhere it faces water. The Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea lie to the east. To the south and southwest lie the waterways separating Sweden from Denmark: the Skagerrak, Kattegat, and Öresund straits. Two sizable islands in the Baltic Sea, Gotland and Öland, are also a part of Sweden. Thousands of rocky islets fringe Sweden’s Baltic coastline, sheltering the mainland from the open sea.

Thick forests, narrow lakes, and swift-flowing streams cover much of the sparsely inhabited northern two-thirds of Sweden. In the far north, above the Arctic Circle, the land is desolate and remains frozen for most of the year. The lowlands of the southern third of Sweden are home to most of the population, agricultural lands, and industries.

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Once a relatively impoverished farming nation, Sweden rapidly industrialized beginning in the late 19th century. Swedes turned to their vast forests, extensive waterpower resources, and rich deposits of iron ore to build an economy centered on the export of manufactured goods. Today, services drive Sweden’s economy, but manufacturing remains very important, and the quality of Swedish engineering and industrial design is widely acclaimed. Sweden is famous for its mixed economy, a system in which the government plays an active role in guiding economic life. Swedes enjoy one of the world’s most comprehensive social welfare systems and a standard of living that is unsurpassed.

More than 1,000 years ago, Swedish Viking seafarers dominated the Baltic Sea and established far-reaching trade routes. Swedish armies later conquered an empire that included Finland, much of Norway, and parts of Russia and Germany. Today, Sweden is noted for its neutrality in foreign affairs. Sweden remained neutral in World War I and World War II, and it declined to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after its founding in 1949. A member of the United Nations (UN), Sweden has helped mediate conflicts in many troubled areas of the world. Swedish voters narrowly elected to join the European Union (EU) in 1995. They have not embraced all aspects of European integration, however. Notably, Swedes have declined to adopt the euro, the EU’s common currency.

II

Land and Resources

The total area of Sweden is 449,964 sq km (173,732 sq mi). The greatest distance from north to south in Sweden is about 1,575 km (about 980 mi), and from east to west about 500 km (about 310 mi). The coastline totals about 3,218 km (about 2,000 mi) in length. Much of Sweden’s coastline is rocky, but there are stretches of sandy beaches in the south.

The Kjølen Mountains, the backbone of the Scandinavian peninsula, form much of Sweden’s hilly border with Norway. The mountains and hills, the source of most of Sweden’s major rivers, drop gradually southeast to the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea. The mountains, apart from several of the highest peaks, were rounded by great glaciers that retreated about 8,000 years ago. The ice sheets scraped out deep valleys and created thousands of glacial lakes. Movement of the glaciers deposited moraines—ridges of rock, gravel, sand, and clay—in many areas across the landscape. Some permanent ice fields still remain in the high mountain regions.

A

Major Regions

Geographically and historically, Sweden may be divided into three major regions. They are Norrland, or Northland, in the north; Svealand, or Land of the Swedes, in the center; and Götaland, or Land of the Goths, in the south.

Norrland accounts for almost two-thirds of Sweden’s land area but is home to only about one-sixth of the population. In the far north, within the Arctic Circle, is Swedish Saamiland, a region inhabited by the Saami people. The land is largely treeless and barren with extensive stretches of highlands that hold rich mineral deposits. Sweden’s highest peak, Kebnekaise, rises to 2,111 m (6,926 ft) in Swedish Saamiland.

The central part of Norrland is relatively level and marked by marshlands, peat bogs, and dense stands of forest—chiefly Scotch pine and Norway spruce. The landscape is broken in many places by long narrow lakes, swift-flowing rivers, and stony ridges of glacial origin known as moraines. Farther south is a more developed agricultural and industrial region with richer soils and Sweden’s most important iron ore deposits.

Svealand is also densely wooded, although many parts of this region have been cleared for farming and industrial and urban development, particularly around the cities of Stockholm and Uppsala. The land in central Svealand is generally low and level with fertile soils. Svealand is home to many lakes, including Sweden’s largest lakes.

In Götaland, south of the central lowlands, the land rises again to the highlands of Småland. This area is similar to the moraine and peat bog region of Norrland, except that it has a more moderate climate. Further south, at the southern tip of Sweden, the land drops to the low fertile plains of the province of Skåne. This densely populated and highly developed agricultural region is known as Sweden’s breadbasket.

B

Islands

Southeast of Stockholm in the Baltic Sea are Sweden’s two largest islands, Öland and Gotland. Öland, covering 1,344 sq km (519 sq mi), and Gotland, covering 3,140 sq km (1,210 sq mi), are generally level. The islands enjoy a mild maritime climate and are home to a diversity of unusual plants. Sandy beaches fringe the islands in places, making them popular vacation destinations. Numerous smaller islands ring the waters off the Swedish coast.

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