Sweden is a Scandinavian country bordering Norway and Finland. It is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Oresund straits. Present day Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union but has a very low population density.

Pre-history of Sweden:

The pre-historic period dates to as far as 12000 B.C. when the area was occupied by the Palaeothilic reindeer hunters. They used the flint technology to light fires in those periods. A large part of this history is undocumented and reference has been made to this country in history from the first century AD. It was known to be a military power in those times.

The Viking Era:

Sweden has been witness to the Viking expeditions in those times. Swedish Vikings and the Gutar used to mainly travel east as well as south, going to countries such as Finland, the Baltic countries, Russia and even as far as Baghdad.

The Kingdom of Sweden:

It is not exactly known when the Kingdom of Sweden was actually born. Some historians attribute the birth of Kingdom of Sweden to the early part of the 6^th century by making reference to the list of Swedish monarchs beginning with Eric the Victorious.

History of Sweden:

Though Sweden was known as a military power horse in the 17^th century, the country has not participated in any wars during the last two centuries. Sweden exercised the option of being armed neutrality during both the World Wars. Armed neutrality means it would not take part in any war related activities but would not hesitate to hit back if provoked.

However in the early days of Swedish history they were known for their militancy as can be evidenced from the days of the Thirty Years War during the time of King Gustavus Adolphus when they annexed parts of Poland as well as Russia. In fact King Gustavus had very high ambitions to become the Holy Roman Emperor but he was killed in the Battle of Luzen in 1632.

The Swedish continued the invasions and had a chance to conquer the whole of Russia in 1700 after the Battle of Narva. But King Charles decided otherwise and shifted his attention towards invasion of Poland and Lithuania. This gave the Russians time to regroup and inflict on Sweden its heaviest defeat in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. It was during this war that Russia started making use of The “Scorched Earth Technique” in war which they continued to use till World War II.

Modern Sweden:

Sweden is divided geographically into North and South Sweden. South Sweden is predominantly an agrarian economy with potatoes being the major crop in Sweden. North Sweden is hugely forested. Sweden has a predominantly urban civilization.

Sweden is the 55^th largest country in the world with an area as large as maybe California. It has a temperate climate with a coast line of more than 3000 kilometres. Sweden is rich in natural resources such as zinc, iron ore, lead copper and uranium as well.

Sweden is among the sparsely populated countries in the world with a very low population density. It is a medically advanced country with an infant mortality rate of 2.76 per 1000 births.

Government of Sweden:

Sweden is officially named as Kingdom of Sweden with its capital in Stockholm. It has a self declared independence date which falls on the 6^th of June and is also known as Flag Day in Sweden.

Economy of Sweden:

In the earlier days Sweden was known as an agrarian economy. But today barely 1% of the GDP comes from agriculture. Timber, hydropower and iron ore constitute the main resources of the economy with the engineering sector contributing more than 50% to the GDP. Sweden is one of the few countries which have a liberalised energy market.

Famous sons of Sweden:

The most famous son of Sweden has to be Alfred Noble, the inventor of the dynamite, after who the prestigious Nobel Prize is named. In the world of sport the most famous son of Sweden is undoubtedly the great tennis player Bjorn Borg.