Prehistory helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities Sweden's prehistory begins in the
Allerød oscillation, 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 clans of
hunter-gatherers who relied on
flint technology. Sweden and its people were first described by the Roman historian
Publius Cornelius Tacitus in his
Germania (98 AD). In
Germania 44 and 45 he mentions the Swedes (
Suiones) as a powerful tribe with ships that had a
prow at each end (
longships). Which kings () ruled these Suiones is unknown, but
Norse mythology presents a long line of legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries BC. The
runic script was in use among the south Scandinavian elite by at least the second century AD, but all that has survived from the Roman Period is curt inscriptions demonstrating that the people of south Scandinavia spoke
Proto-Norse at the time, a language ancestral to Swedish and other
North Germanic languages. In the sixth century, the Byzantine historian
Jordanes names two tribes living in
Scandza, both of which are now considered to be synonymous with the Swedes: the and . The were known to the Roman world as suppliers of black fox skins and, according to Jordanes, had very fine horses, similar to those of the
Thyringi of ("").
Viking Age expeditions (blue lines) The Swedish
Viking Age lasted roughly from the eighth century to the 11th century. It is believed that Swedish Vikings and
Gutar mainly travelled east and south, going to Finland, Estonia, the
Baltic countries, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the
Black Sea and even as far as
Baghdad. Their routes passed
through the Dnieper south to
Constantinople, on which they carried out numerous raids. The
Byzantine emperor Theophilos noticed their great skills in war and invited them to serve as his personal bodyguard, known as the
Varangian Guard. The Swedish Vikings, called
Rus, are believed to be the founders of
Kievan Rus'. The Vikings were described by many outside sources, such as the Arab traveller
Ibn Fadlan. The actions of these
Swedish Vikings are commemorated on many
runestones in Sweden, such as the
Greece runestones and the
Varangian runestones. There was also considerable participation in expeditions westwards, which are commemorated on stones such as the
England runestones. The last major Swedish Viking expedition appears to have been the ill-fated expedition of
Ingvar the Far-Travelled to
Serkland, the region south-east of the
Caspian Sea. Its members are commemorated on the
Ingvar runestones, none of which mentions any survivor. dating from 800 to 1099, example of Viking art During the early stages of the Viking Age, a centre of trade in
Northern Europe developed at
Birka on the island of
Björkö, not far from where Stockholm was later constructed, in mid-latitude Sweden. Birka was founded around 750 AD as a trading port by a king or merchants trying to control trade. Birka was the
Baltic link in the
Dnieper trade route through
Ladoga (
Aldeigja) and
Novgorod (
Holmsgard) to the
Byzantine Empire and the
Abbasid Caliphate. It was abandoned around 975, at about the same time
Sigtuna was founded as a town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people.
Kingdom of Sweden The exact age of the kingdom of Sweden is unknown. Determining its age depends mostly on whether Sweden is considered a nation when the (Swedes) ruled Svealand or when the and the (Geats) of Götaland were united under a single ruler. Svealand was described by
Tacitus in 98 AD as being under a single ruler, though it is unknown how long this had been the case. The epic poem
Beowulf describes semi-legendary
Swedish-Geatish wars in the sixth century. However, historians typically start the line of
Swedish monarchs from when Svealand and Götaland were ruled under the same king, namely
Erik the Victorious and his son
Olof Skötkonung in the tenth century. These events are often described as the
consolidation of Sweden, although substantial areas were conquered and incorporated later. In this context, "Götaland" primarily refers to the provinces of
Östergötland and
Västergötland.
Småland was of little interest at the time due to its deep pine forests, with only the city of
Kalmar and its castle holding any significant importance. There were also Swedish settlements along the southern coastline of
Norrland, one of the four
lands of Sweden.
Saint Ansgar is traditionally credited with introducing Christianity to Sweden in 829, but the new religion did not begin to fully replace
paganism until the 12th century. During that century, Sweden was undergoing dynastic struggles between the
Erik and
Sverker clans. The conflict ended when a third clan married into the Erik clan, founding the
Bjälbo dynasty, which gradually consolidated Sweden into a stronger state. According to the
Legend of Saint Erik and the ''
Erik's Chronicle'', Swedish kings conducted
a series of Crusades to pagan Finland and started conflicts with the
Rus', who by then had no further connections with Sweden. As a result of the Crusades, mostly with the Second Swedish Crusade led by
Birger Jarl Finland gradually became part of the kingdom of Sweden and the sphere of influence of the
Catholic Church. The Swedes built fortresses in
Tavastland and
Åbo, while a Swedish royal council was instituted, an administrative structure and fiscal apparatus was created, and law codes were codified during the reigns of
Magnus Ladulås (1275–1290) and
Magnus Eriksson (1319–1364). As a result, the Finnish lands were firmly integrated into the Swedish realm. Except for the provinces of Scania, Blekinge, and Halland in the southwest of the Scandinavian peninsula, which were part of the Kingdom of Denmark during this period,
feudalism never developed in Sweden as it did in much of Europe. As a result, the peasantry remained largely a class of free farmers throughout most of Swedish history.
Slavery, also known as
thralldom, was not common in Sweden, and the institution gradually diminished due to the spread of Christianity, the difficulty of obtaining slaves from lands east of the Baltic Sea, and by the development of cities before the 16th century. Indeed, both slavery and
serfdom were abolished altogether by a decree of King
Magnus Eriksson in 1335. Sweden remained a poor and economically underdeveloped country, where barter was the primary means of exchange. In 1319, Sweden and Norway were united in a
personal union under King Magnus Eriksson, the grandson of King
Magnus Ladulås of Sweden and of King
Haakon V of Norway. Magnus Eriksson also ruled Scania from 1332 to 1360. In the mid-14th century, Sweden was struck by the
Black Death. The population of Sweden and most of Europe was decimated. The population did not reach its pre-1348 levels until the beginning of the 19th century, with one third of the population dying between 1349 and 1351. During this period, the cities began to acquire greater rights and were heavily influenced by German merchants of the
Hanseatic League, active especially at
Visby. In 1397, Queen
Margaret I of Denmark (the former daughter-in-law of Magnus Eriksson) established the personal union of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark through the
Kalmar Union. However, Margaret's successors, whose rule was centred in Denmark, were unable to control the Swedish nobility.
liberated Sweden from
Christian II of Denmark, ending the
Kalmar Union. He established the
House of Vasa which ruled Sweden and Poland until the 17th century. In 1520, King
Christian II of Denmark, who attempted to restore the Union of Kalmar through military force, ordered the massacre of Swedish nobles in Stockholm, an event known as the "
Stockholm Bloodbath." This atrocity incited the Swedish nobility to renew their resistance, and on 6 June 1523 (now celebrated as
Sweden's National Day), they made
Gustav Vasa their king. This is sometimes considered as the
foundation of modern Sweden. Shortly afterwards the new king rejected Catholicism and led Sweden into the
Protestant Reformation. During the
Riksdag assemblies of 1527 and 1544, under King Gustav Vasa, representatives of all four
estates of the realm (clergy,
nobility,
townsmen and
peasants) were called on to participate for the first time. When Gustav Vasa broke the monopoly power of the
Hanseatic League, he was regarded as a hero by the Swedish people. Furthermore, when Sweden became more developed, after breaking the trade monopoly of the Hanseatic League, and entered its golden age, the fact that the peasantry had traditionally been free meant that a greater share of the economic benefits went to them rather than to a feudal landowning class. The end of the 16th century was marked by a final phase of rivalry between the remaining Catholics and the new Protestant communities. In 1592, Gustav Vasa's Catholic grandson and
king of Poland,
Sigismund, ascended the Swedish throne. He pursued to strengthen
Rome's influence by initiating
Counter-Reformation and created a dual monarchy that temporarily became known as the
Polish-Swedish Union. His despotic rule, strongly characterised by intolerance towards the Protestants, sparked a
civil war that plunged Sweden into poverty. In opposition, Sigismund's uncle and successor,
Charles Vasa, summoned the
Uppsala Synod in 1593 which officially confirmed the modern
Church of Sweden as
Lutheran. Following his
deposition in 1599, Sigismund attempted to reclaim the throne sparing no expense, and hostilities between
Poland and Sweden continued for the next hundred years.
Swedish Empire at the
Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631 between 1560 and 1815; its peak was between 1658 and 1660 Sweden rose to prominence on a continental scale during the reign of king
Gustavus Adolphus, seizing territories from
Russia and the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in multiple conflicts. During the Thirty Years' War, Sweden conquered approximately half of the Holy Roman states and defeated the Imperial army at the
Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631. Gustavus Adolphus planned to become the new
Holy Roman Emperor, ruling over a united Scandinavia and the Holy Roman states, but he was killed at the
Battle of Lützen in 1632. After the
Battle of Nördlingen in 1634 – Sweden's only significant military defeat of the war – pro-Swedish sentiment among the German states faded. These German provinces broke away from Swedish power one by one, leaving Sweden with only a few northern German territories:
Swedish Pomerania,
Bremen-Verden and
Wismar. From 1643 to 1645, during the last years of the war, Sweden and
Denmark-Norway fought the
Torstenson War. The result of that conflict and the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War helped establish postwar Sweden as a major force in Europe. The
Peace of Westphalia in 1648 granted Sweden territories in northern Germany. In the middle of the 17th century, Sweden was the third-largest country in Europe by land area. Sweden reached its largest territorial extent under the rule of
Charles X after the
treaty of Roskilde in 1658, following Charles X's
crossing of the Danish Belts. The foundation of Sweden's success during this period is credited to Gustav I's major changes to the
Swedish economy in the 16th century, and his introduction of
Protestantism. One-third of the Finnish population died in the devastating
Great Famine of 1695–1697 that struck the country. Famine also hit Sweden, killing roughly 10% of Sweden's population. In the 17th century, Sweden was engaged in many wars, for example with Poland–Lithuania, with both sides competing for territories of today's
Baltic states. The Polish–Swedish War (1626–1629) ended with a ceasefire in
Stary Targ (
Truce of Altmark) on 26 September 1629 that was in favour of the Swedes, to whom Poland ceded the larger part of
Livonia together with its important port of
Riga. The Swedes also gained the right to tax Poland’s Baltic trade (3.5% on the value of goods), and kept control of several cities in
Royal Prussia and
Ducal Prussia (including
Pillau (Baltiysk),
Memel (Klaipėda) and
Elbing (Elbląg)). The Swedes later conducted a series of invasions into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, known as the
Deluge. After more than half a century of almost constant warfare, the Swedish economy had deteriorated. It became the lifetime task of Charles X's son,
Charles XI, to rebuild the economy and refit the army. His legacy to his son, the coming ruler of Sweden,
Charles XII, was one of the finest arsenals in the world, a large standing army and a great fleet. Russia, the most serious threat to Sweden at this time, had a larger army but lagged far behind in both equipment and training. After the
Battle of Narva in 1700, one of the first battles of the
Great Northern War, the Russian army was so severely devastated that Sweden had an open chance to invade Russia. However, Charles XII did not pursue the Russian army, instead
turning against Poland and defeating the Polish king,
Augustus II the Strong, and his Saxon allies at the
Battle of Kliszów in 1702. This gave Russia time to rebuild and modernise its army. in 1709. In the following years, Russia and her allies occupied all
Swedish dominions on the Baltic coast and even Finland. After the success of invading Poland, Charles XII decided to make an attempt at
invading Russia, but this ended in a decisive Russian victory at the
Battle of Poltava in 1709. After a long march exposed to
Cossack raids, the Russian Tsar
Peter the Great's
scorched-earth techniques and
the extremely cold winter of 1709, the Swedes stood weakened with a shattered morale and were enormously outnumbered against the Russian army at Poltava. The defeat meant the beginning of the end for the Swedish Empire. In addition,
the plague raging in East Central Europe devastated the
Swedish dominions and reached Central Sweden in 1710. Returning to Sweden in 1715, Charles XII launched
two campaigns against Norway in 1716 and 1718, respectively. During the second attempt, he was shot to death during the
siege of Fredriksten fortress. The Swedes were not militarily defeated at Fredriksten, but the whole structure and organisation of the campaign fell apart with the king's death. Forced to cede large areas of land in the
Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Sweden also lost its place as an empire and as the dominant state on the Baltic Sea. With Sweden's lost influence, Russia emerged as an empire and became one of
Europe's dominant nations. As the war finally ended in 1721, Sweden had lost an estimated 200,000 men, 150,000 of those from the area of present-day Sweden and 50,000 from the
Finnish part of Sweden. Executive power was historically shared between the King and an aristocratic
Privy council until 1680, followed by the King's
autocratic rule initiated by the commoner estates of the
Riksdag. As a reaction to the failed Great Northern War, a parliamentary system was introduced in 1719, followed by three different flavours of constitutional monarchy in 1772, 1789 and 1809,
the latter granting several civil liberties. Already during the first of those three periods, the 'Era of Liberty' (1719–72) the Swedish Riksdag had developed into a very active parliament, and this tradition continued into the nineteenth century, laying the basis for the transition towards modern democracy at the end of that century. In the 18th century, Sweden did not have enough resources to maintain its territories outside Scandinavia, and most of them were lost, culminating with
the loss in 1809 of eastern Sweden to Russia, which became the highly autonomous
Grand Principality of Finland in
Imperial Russia. In interest of re-establishing Swedish dominance in the Baltic Sea, Sweden allied itself against its traditional ally and benefactor, France, in the
Napoleonic Wars. However, in 1810, a French Marshal,
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, was chosen as heir presumptive to
Charles XIII; in 1818, he established the
House of Bernadotte, taking the
regnal name of Charles XIV. Sweden's role in the
Battle of Leipzig gave it the authority to force Denmark–Norway, an ally of France, to cede Norway to the King of Sweden on 14 January 1814 in exchange for the northern German provinces, at the
Treaty of Kiel. The Norwegian attempts to keep their status as a sovereign state were rejected by the Swedish king, Charles XIII. He launched a
military campaign against Norway on 27 July 1814, ending in the
Convention of Moss, which forced Norway into a
personal union with Sweden under the Swedish crown, which lasted until 1905. The 1814 campaign was the last time Sweden was at war.
Modern history in 1905 The
Swedish East India Company began in 1731. The obvious choice of home port was
Gothenburg () at Sweden's west coast, as the mouth of
Göta älv river was very wide and had the county's largest and best harbour for high-seas journeys. The trade continued into the 19th century, and caused the little town to become Sweden's second city. Between 1750 and 1850, the population in Sweden doubled. According to some scholars, mass emigration to America became the only way to prevent famine and rebellion; over 1% of the population emigrated annually during the 1880s. It is thought that between 1850 and 1910 more than one million
Swedes moved to the United States. Nevertheless, Sweden remained poor, retaining a nearly entirely agricultural economy even as Western European countries began to industrialise. Despite the slow rate of industrialisation into the 19th century, many important changes were taking place in the agrarian economy due to constant innovations and a rapid population growth. These innovations included government-sponsored programmes of
enclosure, aggressive exploitation of agricultural lands, and the introduction of new crops such as the potato. Between 1870 and 1914, Sweden began developing the industrialised economy that exists today. Strong grassroots movements sprang up in Sweden during the latter half of the 19th century (trade unions,
temperance groups, and independent religious groups), creating a strong foundation of democratic principles. These movements precipitated Sweden's migration into a modern parliamentary democracy, achieved by the time of World War I. As the
Industrial Revolution progressed during the 20th century, people gradually moved into cities to work in factories and became involved in socialist unions. A communist revolution was avoided in 1917, following the re-introduction of
parliamentarism, and the country was
democratised.
World War I and World War II Sweden was officially neutral during
World War I. However, under pressure from the
German Empire, they did take steps which were detrimental to the
Allied powers – most notably, mining the
Öresund channel, thus closing it to Allied shipping, and allowing the Germans to use Swedish facilities and the Swedish
cipher to transmit secret messages to their overseas embassies. Sweden also allowed volunteers to fight alongside the Germans for the
White Guards against the
Red Guards and Russians in the
Finnish Civil War, and briefly occupied
Åland in cooperation with the German Empire. As in the First World War, Sweden remained officially neutral during
World War II, although its neutrality has been disputed. Sweden was under German influence for much of the war, as ties to the rest of the world were cut off through blockades. Nevertheless, both Swedes and others have argued that Sweden could have done more to oppose the Nazis' war efforts.
Post-war era (left), Prime Minister under the ruling
Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1946 to 1969 Sweden was officially a neutral country and remained outside
NATO and
Warsaw Pact membership during the
Cold War, but privately Sweden's leadership had strong ties with the United States and other western governments. Following the war, Sweden took advantage of an intact industrial base, social stability and its natural resources to expand its industry to supply the rebuilding of Europe. Sweden received aid under the
Marshall Plan and participated in the OECD. During most of the post-war era, the country was governed by the
Swedish Social Democratic Party largely in co-operation with
trade unions and industry. The government actively pursued an internationally competitive manufacturing sector of primarily large corporations. Like many industrialised countries, Sweden entered a period of economic decline and upheaval following the oil embargoes of 1973–74 and 1978–79. In the 1980s several key Swedish industries were significantly restructured. Shipbuilding was discontinued, wood pulp was integrated into modernised paper production, the steel industry was concentrated and specialised, and mechanical engineering was robotised. Swedish GDP per capita ranking declined during this time.
Recent history A bursting real estate bubble caused by inadequate controls on lending combined with an international recession and a policy switch from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies resulted in a
fiscal crisis in the early 1990s. Sweden's GDP declined by around 5%. In 1992, a run on the currency caused the central bank to briefly increase interest rates to 500%. in 2007. The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness, among them reducing the
welfare state and
privatising public services and goods.
A referendum passed with 52.3% in favour of joining the EU on 13 November 1994. Sweden joined the
European Union on 1 January 1995. In a 2003 referendum the Swedish electorate
voted against joining the
Euro currency. Sweden held the chair of the European Union from 1 July to 31 December 2009. On 28 September 1994, the
MS Estonia sank as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn, Estonia, to Stockholm, Sweden. The disaster claimed the lives of 852 people (501 of them were Swedes), being one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century. Until 2022, Sweden generally remained non-aligned militarily, although it participated in some joint military exercises with the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and some other countries, stationed its troops under NATO command in
Afghanistan, took part in EU-sponsored
peacekeeping operations in
Kosovo,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Cyprus, and
helped enforce a
UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya during the
Arab Spring. In addition, there was extensive cooperation with other European countries in the area of defence technology and defence industry; some Swedish-made weaponry was used by
Coalition militaries in Iraq. In response to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden moved to formally join NATO, alongside Finland. After many months of delays caused by the objections of Turkey and Hungary, Sweden became a NATO member on 7 March 2024. including the
2013 Stockholm riots. In response to these violent events, the
anti-immigration opposition party, the
Sweden Democrats, promoted their anti-immigration policies, while the
left-wing opposition blamed growing inequality caused by the
centre-right government's socioeconomic policies. Since the postwar period,
LGBTQ rights in Sweden have gradually expanded through the steady extension of legal and social protections for LGBTQ+ people. Over subsequent decades, anti-discrimination laws, adoption rights, and the ability to change legal gender were progressively strengthened, contributing to high levels of public support for LGBTQ+ equality. In the mid-2010s, however, Sweden also saw the rise of
anti-gender mobilizations, which gender studies scholars situate within a broader process of
democratic backsliding. Sweden was heavily affected by the
2015 European migrant crisis, eventually forcing the government to tighten regulations of entry to the country. Some of the asylum restrictions were relaxed again later. On 30 November 2021,
Magdalena Andersson became Sweden's first female prime minister. The September 2022 general
election ended in a narrow win to a bloc of right-wing parties. On 18 October 2022,
Ulf Kristersson of the Moderate Party became the new Prime Minister. ==Geography==