| Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige Timeline: Differently | ||||||
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| Anthem: "Du Gamla, Du Fria" (national) Kungssången (royal) |
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 Location of Sweden in Europe
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| Capital (and largest city) | Stockholm | |||||
| Official languages | Swedish and Teedish | |||||
| Government | Unitary constitutional monarchy | |||||
| - | King | Philip II | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Stefan Löfven | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 450,295 km2 173,860 sq mi |
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| Population | ||||||
| - | Estimate | 10.3 million | ||||
| Currency | Krona (SEK) | |||||
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund Strait. At over 450,000 square kilometres, Sweden is the fifth-largest country in Europe and the 52nd-largest in the world. The capital city is Stockholm. Sweden has a total population of 10.3 million, of which 2.5 million have a foreign background, making it the 14th-most populous country in Europe and the 70th in the world. It has a low population density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre (57/sq mi) and the highest urban concentration is in the central and southern half of the country.
The climate is in general mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Despite the high latitude, Sweden often has warm continental summers, being located in between the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and the vast Eurasian Russian landmass. The general climate and environment varies significantly from the south and north due to the vast latitudinal difference and much of Sweden has reliably cold and snowy winters. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested and includes a portion of the Scandinavian Mountains.
Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, with Legislative power vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. It is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens. It has the world's eleventh-highest per capita income and ranks very highly in quality of life, health, education, protection of civil liberties, economic competitiveness, equality, gender equality, prosperity and human development. Sweden is a founding member of the League of Nations and the Germanic League.
History
King Gustaf IV Adolphus, the first Hanoverian King
Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats (Swedish Götar) and Swedes (Svear) and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen. An independent Swedish state emerged during the early 12th century. After the Black Death in the middle of the 14th century killed about a third of the Scandinavian population, the Hanseatic League threatened Scandinavia's culture, finances and languages. This led to the forming of the Scandinavian Kalmar Union in 1397, which Sweden left in 1523. When Sweden became involved in the Thirty Years War on the Reformist side, an expansion of its territories began and eventually the Swedish Empire was formed. This became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, ending with the annexation of present-day Finland by Russia in 1809.
In 1810, the British-German prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and Viceroy of Hanover, was elected as Crown Prince of Sweden, beating out Jean Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo. This took place because Charles XIII had no legitimate heir, and a crown prince previously elected in January 1810, Charles August, suddenly had died of a stroke during a military exercise.
In 1922 the last Hannover king died without a male heir. The Riksdag elected a Danish Glücksburg prince named Andreas, who took the name King Andreas I.
Sweden remained neutral during the Great War. In 1940, the country fought briefly alongside Germany in the Polish-German War due to the influence of Hilterism, but ended up leaving the conflict after several significant losses.
Political parties
There are four major parties in Sweden.
- Social Democrats: This the most leftist party by far, they have the leaders of opposition and only have had 5 Presidential terms and 3 Prime Ministers.
- Centre Party: This is the centre right party and have the second biggest part of the Parliament .
- Conservative Party: This is the most popular party which holds the Majority in and have the Premiership.
- Fascist Party: This is a far right party which has been around for a while but has only recently won its first Presidential Election in 2016.
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