Tag Archives: Study in Sweden

Sweden is the largest country in area and with 10.2 million residents most populous state in Northern Europe with the capital Stockholm. In the east and south it borders on the Baltic Sea and in the southwest on straits to the North Sea. From the coast the land rises gradually to the high mountains of the Skanden. Sweden is rich in lakes and forests. Its climate is largely continental. Urban agglomerations are mainly to be found in the south, otherwise the country is relatively sparsely populated. The Sami in Lapland are the indigenous people. According to COUNTRYAAH, Sweden is a nation in Northern Europe, the capital city of which is Stockholm. The latest population of Sweden is 10,099,276. MYSTERYAROUND: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Sweden, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.

Sweden is a parliamentary hereditary monarchy. The king or queen have predominantly representative tasks. Many parties belong to the parliament (Reichstag). They usually form coalition governments. For many decades, politics preferred the model of the welfare state (“people’s home”). Through high taxes, the public benefits were distributed among all people in Sweden. In addition, Sweden achieved a high level of equality between men and women. For a long time the country took in large numbers of migrants. This policy was abandoned in 2015/16 with the large influx of refugees. Sweden is a member of the European Union, but has decided not to introduce the euro.

The economy is heavily oriented towards export. Important industries are wood processing, vehicle and mechanical engineering as well as electrical engineering. World-famous companies are IKEA (furniture), Volvo (cars), Saab (planes, armaments) and Ericsson (telecommunications). The majority of those in employment work in the service sector. Digitization in public and private life is well advanced.
History
The Sami have roamed Lapland as reindeer nomads since prehistoric times. During the Iron Age, the south of what is now Sweden was settled by North Germanic ethnic groups. Around 300 AD, the first historically tangible tribes appeared in central Sweden, the Svear and Gauten (gods). The royal family of the Ynglingers left behind large burial mounds and places of worship and rulers. Swedish Vikings (Varangians) undertook raids and trade expeditions from the 9th to the 11th centuries. They came to the Black Sea via the rivers Volga and Dnieper (now Ukraine, Russia). Important trading centers in Northern Europe were on Gotland (Birka, Visby) and on an island in Lake Mälaren (Hovgården).

In the 10th century under Olaf III. (about 995-1022) an elective kingdom with the center in Old Uppsala. In the 11th / 12th Sweden was Christianized in the 19th century. From 1397 the country was united with Norway and Denmark in the Kalmar Union. It only became independent again under King Gustav I (1523–1560) from the House of Wasa. That was also when the Reformation was introduced.

In the 17th century Sweden rose to become a great power, especially through the successes of Gustav II Adolf (1611–32) in the Thirty Years War. However, the country lost its supremacy in northern Europe in the 2nd Northern War (1700–21, Northern Wars). In the 18th century the king had to give up his sole rule. The Reichstag (representation of the estates) and the Reichsrat (government) were given more power (»period of freedom« 1719–72). In 1809 Finland had to be ceded to Russia. In return, Sweden received Norway (1814) after the Napoleonic Wars, with which it remained connected until 1904. The current royal house was founded by the French marshal Count Bernadotte, who ruled as Charles XIV John from 1818–44.