Sweden's MOST POWERFUL truck being assembled in factory'
A great video of
Sweden's most powerful truck being assembled in factory. Sweden (Listeni/ˈswiːdən/ swee-dən;
Swedish:
Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the
Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: About this sound
Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a
Scandinavian country in
Northern Europe. It borders
Norway and
Finland, and is connected to
Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the
Öresund. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third-largest country in the
European Union by area, with a total population of over 9.7 million.[11] Sweden consequently has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54/sq mi), with the highest concentration in the southern half of the country. Approximately 85% of the population lives in urban areas.[12]
Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the geographical area of
Fennoscandia.
Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the
Geats/
Götar and
Swedes/
Svear and constituting the sea peoples known as the
Norsemen. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the
Middle Ages. In the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the
Swedish Empire, which 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, beginning with the annexation of present-day Finland by
Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in
1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union.
Since then, Sweden has been at
peace, maintaining an official policy of neutrality in foreign affairs.[13] The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in
1905, leading to Sweden's current borders. Though it was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from
German-occupied Europe. After the end of the
Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1
January 1995, but declined
NATO membership.
Today, Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, with the
Monarch as the head of state. The capital city is
Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country.
Legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral
Riksdag.
Executive power is exercised by the
Government, chaired by the
Prime Minister. Sweden 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 eighth-highest per capita income and ranks highly in numerous metrics of national performance, including quality of life, health, education, protection of civil liberties, economic competitiveness, equality, prosperity and human development.[14][15][16][17][18] Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995, but declined Eurozone membership following a referendum. It is also a member of the
United Nations, the
Nordic Council,
Council of Europe, the
World Trade Organization and the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (
OECD).
Etymology
Main article:
Name of Sweden
The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from
Old English Swēoþēod, which meant "people of the Swedes" (Old Norse
Svíþjóð,
Latin Suetidi). This word is derived from Sweon/
Sweonas (Old Norse
Sviar, Latin Suiones). The
Swedish name Sverige (a compound of the words Svea and Rike, with lenition of the consonant [k], first recorded in the cognate Swēorice in
Beowulf)—[19] literally means "
Kingdom of the Swedes", excluding the Geats in
Götaland.
Variations of the name Sweden are used in most languages, with the exception of
Danish and
Norwegian using Sverige,
Faroese Svøríki,
Icelandic Svíþjóð, and the more notable exception of some
Finnic languages where Ruotsi (Finnish) and
Rootsi (
Estonian) are used, names commonly considered etymologically related to the
English name for Russia, referring to the people,
Rus', originally from the coastal areas of
Roslagen,
Uppland.
The etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning "one's own",[20] referring to one's own
Germanic tribe.
Prehistory
Main article:
Prehistoric Sweden
A Vendel-era helmet, at the
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
Sweden's prehistory begins in the
Allerød oscillation,[according to whom?] a warm period around
12,000 BC, with
Late Palaeolithic reindeer-hunting camps of the
Bromme culture at the edge of the ice in what is now the country's southernmost province,
Scania. This period was characterised by small bands of hunter-gatherer-fishers using flint technology.
Sweden is first described in a written source in
Germania by
Tacitus in 98
AD. In Germania 44 and 45 he mentions the Swedes (Suiones)