Scandinavia
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| Area | 1,480,789 sq km (large) |
| Population | 27,555,275 inhab. (Broadly defined) |
| Country |  Denmark ,  Norway ,  Sweden |
| Health States | Constitutional monarchy |
| Capitals | Copenhagen Denmark , Oslo Norway , Stockholm, Sweden |
| Currencies | Crown ( da , no , su ) |
| Languages | Scandinavian languages |
| Religion | Predominantly Lutheran |
| Time Zone | UTC +1 |
Scandinavia is a region located in Northern Europe. It includes, in the strictest sense, the Norway and Sweden , which share the Scandinavian Peninsula. In its most common, is added Denmark , which shares with the two First Nations history and culture Commons. Scandinavia is indeed the homeland of some of the Germanic peoples and the Vikings. It also includes, in the broadest sense, the Finland , the Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
Because successive waves of glaciation that have struck, Scandinavia has been repeatedly depopulated and devoid of terrestrial fauna and flora.
Summary |
Strict Sense
It includes, in general, the Scandinavian peninsula , which corresponds to Norway and Sweden as well as Denmark , whose people, ethnically fairly homogeneous (except for Sami and Finnish ), speak related languages. These three countries also have a long common history, often wrongly reduced to the period viking of the eighth century and the eleventh century to the twelfth century , they were often gathered under the same crown (including the Union Kalmar )
Since the 1850s , Scandinavia included, politically and culturally, Denmark , the Norway and Sweden. Geographically, the Scandinavian Peninsula includes Norway and Sweden, while the peninsula of Jutland Denmark and includes a small region of Germany (Denmark no longer has any territory on the Scandinavian peninsula since the early nineteenth century ).
The Denmark , the Norway and Sweden are seen as a region united political and cultural movements during rising nationalism in these countries in the mid- nineteenth century (See Scandinavianism ). Before the mid-nineteenth century, the term covered a larger area of northern Europe comprising adjacent regions of Germany and Russia surrounding the Finland and Estonia. The latter, by its linguistic proximity with Finland, claims to much of Northern and Baltic.
Today, the linguistic similarities ( Scandinavian and Germanic ) as much as historical and cultural can unite Scandinavia. These similarities have also persisted after the hostile policies of these countries during the two world wars and the Cold War , and different positions on the accession to international organizations (eg the NATO and the European Union ).
Other definitions
In a broad sense, there also includes Finland , a long time under Swedish rule and the Swedish-speaking minority that lives in urban centers, and Iceland , long ruled by the Danish and Norwegian settlement originally, and the Faroe Islands , an autonomous region Denmark and the maximum effect, the Svalbard and Greenland respectively as dependent of Norway and Denmark. In current usage, the term Scandinavia is often used erroneously as a synonym for the Nordic countries ", which refers unambiguously Denmark , the Norway , the Swedish , the Finland and Iceland , all member countries of the Nordic Council.
Geography
The region comprises almost all of the Scandinavian peninsula, from Jutland and islands in between. Smaller portions of peninsulas belong to Finland and to Germany.
Environment
Scandinavian countries enjoy a wild fauna and exceptionally well-preserved in Europe, as well as some manmade landscapes. The forest is however increasingly artificialized and intensively exploited to meet the demands of wood and pulp from countries and other countries.
The area was hit twice by the cloud of Chernobyl and radioactive releases from the east.
The Baltic Sea is heavily polluted semi-enclosed, with many dead zones , probably due to eutrophication, pollution and general locally severe pollution related to munitions dumped after both World Wars, including thousands of tons of chemical munitions starting to flee.
Etymology
Three hypotheses explaining the origin of the name "Scandinavia".
- The Germanic Skathin meaning "danger" and Awjo meaning "island". It may refer to the dangerous shoals around Skanr-Falsterbo in southern Scandinavia. The term appears in texts Roman and the History of the Goths by Jordanes as Scandza.
- A derivative from the name of the historical province of Skne ( Scania in the southernmost part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, in Sweden ).
- A derivative of Skadi , the Norse goddess name-cold giant, hunting and winter
In Celtic, Brythonic and Gaelic Llychlyn (Welsh), Lec'hlenn (Breton), Lochlann (pronounced Locklann) or who just Loghlin log, logh = lake + lann, flax = moor land. Scandinavia and Norway, are called in Scotland, Land of the Lochs History
The Scandinavians were Christianized during the Tenth - XIII centuries which was resulting in three consolidated kingdoms:
- Denmark consists of the "Lands of Denmark: Scania (Skneland), Zealand (Sjlland) and Jutland (Jylland), including some parts of Sweden today;
- Sweden formed the "Lands of Sweden;
- Norway including some parts of Sweden and current with Iceland , the Greenland , the Faroe Islands , the islands Shetland , the Orkneys and the Hebrides.
The three kingdoms were then assembled in the Kalmar Union throughout the fifteenth century and the union was split into two halves:
- "Denmark Norway" (possessions overseas including in the northern Atlantic Ocean );
- "Sweden" (with Finland and other territories now in the Baltic Sea ).
In the mid- seventeenth century , treaties Brmsebro and Roskilde have permanently transferred some provinces and islands of Norway and Denmark to Sweden.
After the Napoleonic wars , Scandinavia has been reorganized into three personal monarchical unions:
- the Denmark with Schleswig-Holstein (dissolved 1864 );
- of Sweden and Norway (dissolved 1905 );
- Russia with the Grand Duchy of Finland (until 1917 )
Following the Second World War , a Scandinavian Defence Union (defense agreement between Sweden , the Norway and Denmark ) was attempted but was aborted.
Languages
Most of the Scandinavian languages ( Danish in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, Sweden, and Norwegian in Norway) are mutually intelligible. The Scandinavians may easily understand the languages of each of their neighbors as they appear daily in newspapers and are heard on radio and television. The Danish , the Swedish and Norwegian are traditionally seen as different languages, so they are more like dialects of a common language. This language is related to other Germanic languages from the north, the Icelandic and Faroese descended from Old Norse. Since the Middle Ages , Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have been influenced to varying degrees by the German. A substantial amount of this influence comes from economic activity managed by hanses germanophones.
The Norwegians, who have two parallel forms of writing and a strong presence of local dialects, are accustomed to changes and may perceive Danish and Swedish as slightly more distant dialects.
The Scandinavian languages are (as a language family) entirely independent of the Finnish and the Estonian , who as Finno-Ugric languages are related to Hungarian. However, there was always a lot of borrowing from the Swedish by these languages.
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century , the movement "ethnic-nationalist" of Fennoman in Finland fought for equal rights between the language people speak Finnish and Swedish-speaking elite.
Politics
The modern use of the term comes from the Scandinavian political movement in Scandinavia , which was active in the mid- nineteenth century , mainly between the First War of Schleswig (Schleswig) ( 1848 - 1850 ), in which the Sweden-Norway has shown its considerable military force and the Second War of Schleswig ( 1864 ), where the Parliament of Sweden rejected the king's promises of military support.
The king proposed the unification of Denmark , of Norway and Sweden as "uk". This after the tumultuous events during the Napoleonic wars that led to the division of Sweden (the eastern part became the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 ) and Denmark. Finland became part of Imperial Russia meant when it should be left out of any attempt at political union between the Nordic countries.
The geographical Scandinavia included Norway, Sweden and parts of Finland, but also included political Scandinavia Denmark. Politically Sweden and Norway were united under a common monarch and Finland was a part of Sweden. Denmark also included the territories of Iceland , the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean (which however historically had belonged to Norway, but unintentionally remained with Denmark as the Treaty of Kiel ).
The end of the Scandinavian political movement came when Denmark refused military support to the Sweden-Norway to annex the duchy of Schleswig. The Second War of Schleswig followed in 1864. It was a brief but disastrous war between Denmark and Prussia (supported by Austria ). The Schleswig-Holstein was conquered by Prussia, and after the success of Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 , a German Empire was created and a new balance around the Baltic Sea was established.
Even if a Scandinavian political union never appeared, there was a Scandinavian Monetary Union with the Crown as a common currency, which lasted from 1873 to the beginning of the First World War.
After the First World War , resumed cooperation with Scandinavian participation of Finland and newly independent since 1944 , the Iceland. In 1952 , the Nordic countries became partners in the Nordic Council.
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