Stockholm, Sweden Travel: "Venice of the North" 1936 RKO World on Parade 11min
more at
http://news.quickfound.net/intl/sweden_news
.html
Public domain film from the
Library of Congress Prelinger Archive, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of
Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in
Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 864,324 in the municipality (
2010), 1.4 million in the urban area (2010), and around
2.1 million in the 6,519 km2 (2,517.00 sq mi) metropolitan area (2010).
As of 2010, the
Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Sweden's population.
Founded no later than c. 1250, possibly as early as 1187, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden's cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the coast in the south-east of Sweden at the mouth of
Lake Mälaren, by the
Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of
Beta+. In The 2008
Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked
24th in the world, 10th in
Europe, and first in Scandinavia. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks. It is sometimes referred to as
Venice of the North.
Stockholm is the site of the national
Swedish government, the
Parliament of Sweden (riksdagen), the
Supreme Court of Sweden (
Högsta domstolen), and the official residence of the
Swedish monarch as well as the prime minister. Since
1980, the monarch has resided at
Drottningholm Palace in
Ekerö Municipality outside of
Stockholm and uses the Stockholm Palace as his workplace and official residence.
The government has its seat in
Rosenbad and the parliament in the
Parliament House...
Stockholm's location appears in
Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne. The earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in
Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name (stock) means log in
Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old
German word (
Stock) meaning fortification. The second part of the name (holm) means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet
Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. The city is said to have been founded by
Birger Jarl to protect Sweden from a sea invasion by foreign navies and to stop the pillage of towns such as
Sigtuna on Lake Mälaren.
Stockholm's core of the present
Old Town (
Gamla Stan) was built on the central island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid-13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the
Baltic trade of the
Hanseatic League. Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with
Lübeck,
Hamburg,
Gdańsk,
Visby,
Reval, and
Riga during this time[citation needed]. Between 1296 and 1478 Stockholm's
City Council was made up of 24 members, half of whom were selected from the town'
s German-speaking burghers.
The strategic and economic importance of the city made Stockholm an important factor in relations between the
Danish Kings of the
Kalmar Union and the national independence movement in the
15th century. The
Danish King Christian II was able to enter the city in 1520. On
8 November 1520 a massacre of opposition figures called the
Stockholm Bloodbath took place and set off further uprisings that eventually led to the breakup of the Kalmar Union. With the accession of
Gustav Vasa in 1523 and the establishment of a royal power, the population of Stockholm began to grow, reaching 10,
000 by 1600.
The
17th century saw Sweden grow into a major
European power, reflected in the development of the city of Stockholm. From 1610 to 1680 the population multiplied sixfold. In 1634 Stockholm became the official capital of the
Swedish empire. Trading rules were also created that gave Stockholm an essential monopoly over trade between foreign merchants and other Swedish and
Scandinavian territories...
By the second half of the
19th century, Stockholm had regained its leading economic role.
New industries emerged and Stockholm was transformed into an important trade and service centre as well as a key gateway
point within Sweden. The population also grew dramatically during this time, mainly through immigration.
At the end of the 19th century, less than 40% of the residents were Stockholm-born.
Settlement began to expand outside the city limits. The 19th century saw the establishment of a number of scientific institutes, including the
Karolinska Institute.
The General Art and
Industrial Exposition was held in 1897...