Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Scandinavia shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Scandinavia offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Scandinavia at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Scandinavia? Wrong! If the Scandinavia is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Scandinavia then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Scandinavia? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Scandinavia and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Scandinavia wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Scandinavia then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Scandinavia site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Scandinavia, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Scandinavia, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.



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Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion centred on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe which includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Scandinavia. (2006). Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 30, 2007: "Scandinavia (ancient Scandia), name applied collectively to three countries of northern Europe—Norway and Sweden (which together form the Scandinavian Peninsula), and Denmark." Scandinavia. (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: "Scandinavia, historically Scandia, part of northern Europe, generally held to consist of the two countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway and Sweden, with the addition of Denmark." The other Nordic countries, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, are also often included because of their close historic and cultural relations to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark."Scandinavia" (2005). The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition. Ed. Erin McKean. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-517077-6: "a cultural region consisting of the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and sometimes also of Iceland, Finland, and the Faroe Islands". Scandinavia (2001). The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved January 31, 2007: "Scandinavia, region of N Europe. It consists of the kingdoms of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; Finland and Iceland are usually considered part of Scandinavia." Scandinavia. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, 2002. Eds. E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Retrieved January 31 2007: "Scandinavia. The region in northern Europe containing Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and the peninsulas they occupy. Through cultural, historical, and political associations, Finland and Iceland are often considered part of Scandinavia."

In linguistics and cultural studies, the definition of Scandinavia is expanded to include the areas where Old Norse was spoken and where the North Germanic languages are now dominant. As a linguistic and cultural concept, Scandinavia thus also includes Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

As a cultural and historical concept, Scandinavia can include Finland as well (of the larger region Fenno-Scandinavia), often with reference to the nation's long history as a part of Sweden. Although Finland is culturally closely related to the other Scandinavian countries, the majority of Finns form a distinct linguistic and ethnic group, with a Finno-Ugric population that has incorporated features from both Eastern and Western Europe. Peltonen, Arvo (2002). Politics and Society: The Population in Finland, Virtual Finland, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Department for Communication and Culture, 21 November 2002, retrieved 14 Nov. 2006, paragraph 1: "The Finns form a distinct linguistic and ethnic group; the original Finno-Ugric population bearing features from both eastern and western Europe. Finland is an interface between east and west."

Since the Fennoman movement of the 1830s and political Scandinavism of the 1830s- 1850s,Oresundstid (2003). Scandinavism - the students. Retrieved 17 January 2007. the inclusion of Finland and Iceland has divided opinions in the respective states. In response to Scandinavism, some Norwegian scholars of the 19th century resisted the idea that Scandinavia had a shared heritage and stressed the unique aspects that unit Iceland's cultural output exclusively with Norway and make it separate and unique. See for example Bothne, Gisle (1898). "The Language of Modern Norway". PMLA, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1898), p. 350: " it is true that the old Norwegian literature was far behind the contemporaneous Icelandic literature , every Norwegian holds it to be equally true that the language of Norway and that of her colony Iceland were substantially the same. Norroent mál, and the Norroen literature (created by conditions peculiar to Norway and Iceland alone) are the exclusive historical property of Norway and Iceland, while Denmark and Sweden have no part in them." Although it depends on context which countries are considered Scandinavian, the term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for Norway, Sweden, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Finland (including Åland) and Iceland.

Terminology and usage , and the Kola Peninsula.Being a purely historical and cultural region, Scandinavia has no official geopolitical borders. The region is therefore often defined according to the conventions of different disciplines or according to the political and cultural aims of different communities of the area.Olwig, Kenneth R. "Introduction: The Nature of Cultural Heritage, and the Culture of Natural Heritage—Northern Perspectives on a Contested Patrimony". International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 3–7. One example of the Scandinavian region as a political and cultural construct is the unique position of Finland. The creation of a Finnish identity is unique in the region in that it was forged in the decolonization struggles against two different imperial models, the Swedish "Finland and the Swedish Empire". Country Studies. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 Nov. 2006. and the Russian, "Introduction: Reflections on Political Thought in Finland." Editorial. Redescriptions, Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History, 1997, Volume 1, University of Jyväskylä, p. 6-7: "he populist opposition both to Sweden as a former imperial country and especially to Swedish as the language of the narrow Finnish establishment has also been strong, especially in the inter-war years. Finland as a unitary and homogeneous nation-state was constructed in opposition to the imperial models of Sweden and Russia." "The Rise of Finnish Nationalism". Country Studies. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 Nov. 2006: "The eighteenth century had witnessed the appearance of a sense of national identity for the Finnish people, an expression of the Finns' growing doubts about Swedish rule The ethnic self-consciousness of Finnish speakers was given a considerable boost by the Russian conquest of Finland in 1809, because ending the connection with Sweden forced Finns to define themselves with respect to the Russians." as described by the University of Jyväskylä based editorial board of the Finnish journal "Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual history" Editors and Board, Redescriptions, Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History: "The construction of a specific Finnish polity is the result of successful decolonization. The location of Finland is a moving one. It has shifted from being a province in the Swedish Empire to an autonomous unit in Eastern Europe, then to an independent state in Northern Europe or Scandinavia. After joining the European Union, Finland has recently been included in Western Europe."

Usage in geography Physical geography the Scandinavian Peninsula includes what is today mainland Sweden and mainland Norway.Seppälä, Matti, ed. (2005). The Physical Geography of Fennoscandia. Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. XI, 1. ISBN 0199245908. Scandinavian Peninsula. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 1 February 2007.. A small part of north-western Finland is sometimes also considered part of the peninsula.Naval Intelligence Division (1920). A Handbook of Norway & Sweden By Great Britain. Published by H. M. Stationery office. In physiography, Denmark is considered part of the North European Plain, rather than the geologically distinct Scandinavian peninsula mainly occupied by Norway and Sweden. Scandinavia (2001). The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved 2 February 2007. However, Denmark has historically included the region of Skåneland on the Scandinavian Peninsula. For this reason, but even more for cultural and linguistic reasons, Denmark – Jutland on the Jutland peninsula of the European continent, along with Zealand and the other islands in the Danish archipelago – is considered part of the Scandinavian region also by the Scandinavians themselves.

Variations in usage A wider definition of Scandinavia, sometimes used in the English-speaking world, includes Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Scandinavia. MSN Encarta. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.See also EU documents, such as the following , and bulletin in German. However, this larger region is by the concerned countries officially known as the Nordic Countries, a political entity as well as cultural region where the ties between the countries are not merely historical and cultural, but based on official membership.

The use of the name Scandinavia as a convenient general term for the peninsula region is fairly recent and according to some historians, it was adopted and introduced only in the 18th century, at a time when the ideas about a common heritage took root and started to appear as literary and linguistic Scandinavism.Østergård, Uffe (1997). "The Geopolitics of Nordic Identity – From Composite States to Nation States". The Cultural Construction of Norden. Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth (eds.), Oslo: Scandinavian University Press 1997, 25-71. Also published online at Danish Institute for International Studies. For the history of cultural Scandinavism, see Oresundstid's articles The Literary Scandinavism and The Roots of Scandinavism. Retrieved 19 January 2007. Before this time, the term Scandinavia was familiar mainly to classical scholars through Pliny the Elder's writings, and was used vaguely for Scania and the southern region of the peninsula. The popular usage of the term in Sweden, Denmark and Norway as a unifying concept became more firmly established in the 19th century, through poems such Hans Christian Andersen's "I am a Scandinavian" of 1839. After a visit to Sweden, Andersen became a supporter of early political Scandinavism and in a letter describing the poem to a friend, he wrote: "All at once I understood how related the Swedes, the Danes and the Norwegians are, and with this feeling I wrote the poem immediately after my return: 'We are one people, we are called Scandinavians!'". Hans Christian Andersen and Music - I am a Scandinavian. The Royal Library of Denmark, the National Library and Copenhagen University Library. Retrieved 17 January 2007. The historic popular usage is also reflected in the name chosen for the shared, multi-national airline, Scandinavian Airlines System, a carrier originally owned jointly by the governments of the three countries, along with private investors.

Usage by cultural and tourist organizations The use of the term Scandinavian for the culture of the Nordic region is reflected in the name chosen for the various promotional agencies of the Nordic countries in the United States and around the world, such as The American-Scandinavian Foundation, established in 1910 by the Danish-American industrialist Niels Poulsen. Today, the five Nordic Heads of State serve as the organization's patrons and according to the official statement by the organization, its mission is "to promote the Nordic region as a whole while increasing the visibility of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in New York City and the United States." About The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Official site. Retrieved 2 February 2007. The official tourist boards of Scandinavia sometimes cooperate under one umbrella, such as the Scandinavian Tourist Board. Scandinavian Tourist Board. Official site. The cooperation was introduced for the Asian market in 1986, when the Swedish national tourist board joined the Danish national tourist board to coordinate international promotions of the two countries. Norway entered one year later. All five Nordic countries participate in the joint promotional efforts in the United States through the Scandinavian Tourist Boards in North America. The Scandinavian Tourist Boards in North America. Official Website. Retrieved 2 February 2007.

The Nordic Countries vs. Scandinavia .

While the term Scandinavia is most commonly used for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, including their associated territories (Greenland, the Faroes and Åland).

Scandinavia is thus a subset of the Nordic countries. All of the Nordic regions are occasionally listed as part of Scandinavia, especially outside the Nordic countries. More precisely, in addition to mainland Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the Nordic countries consist of



and



Estonia has applied for membership in the Nordic Council, referring to its cultural heritage and close linguistic links to Finland, although normally Estonia is regarded as one of the Baltic countries. All Baltic states have shared historical events with the Nordic countries, including Scandinavia, during the centuries.

The terms Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are used to include the Scandinavian peninsula, the Kola peninsula, Karelia, Finland and (seldom) Denmark under the same term, alluding to the Baltic Shield, even though Denmark is on the North European Plain.

Etymology , February 2003, with political boundaries addedScandinavia and Scania (Skåne) are considered to have the same etymology. The earliest identified source for the name Scandinavia is Pliny the Elder's Natural History (Pliny), dated to the 1st century AD. Various references to the region can also be found in Pytheas, Pomponius Mela, Tacitus, Ptolemy, Procopius and Jordanes. It is believed that the name used by Pliny may be of West Germanic languages origin, originally denoting Scania.Haugen, Einar (1976). The Scandinavian Languages: An Introduction to Their History. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1976. According to some leading scholars in the field, the Germanic stem can be reconstructed as *Skaðan- meaning "danger" or "damage" (English scathing, German Schaden).Helle, Knut (2003). "Introduction". The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. Ed. E. I. Kouri et al. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-47299-7. The second segment of the name has been reconstructed as *awjo, meaning "land on the water" or "island". The name Scandinavia would then mean "dangerous island", which is considered to be a reference to the treacherous sandbanks surrounding Scania. Skanör-Falsterbo in Scania, with its long Falsterbo reef, has the same stem (skan) combined with -ör, which means "sandbanks".

The belief that Scandinavia was an island became widespread among classical authors during the first century. This idea, along with the name "Scandia" which was used by Pliny for a group of Northern European islands located north of Britannia, dominated descriptions of Scandinavia in classical texts during the centuries that followed. The idea that Pliny's "Scadinavia" may have been one of the "Scandiae" islands was introduced by Ptolemy (c.90 – c.168 AD), a mathematician, geographer and astrologer of Roman Egypt. He used the name "Skandia" for the biggest, most easterly of the three "Scandiai" islands, which according to him were all located east of Jutland. Scandia as used by Ptolemy, likely included areas north of today's Scania, but neither Pliny's nor Ptolemy's lists of Scandinavian tribes include the Suiones mentioned by Tacitus. Some early Swedish scholars of the Swedish Hyperborean schoolLundgreen-Nielsen, Flemming (2002). "Nordic language history and the history of ideas I: Humanism". In The Nordic Languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages. Eds. Oskar Bandle et al., Vol I. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2002. ISBN 3110148765, p. 358: "The term 'hyperborean' has been taken from odes by Pindar and Horace, literally meaning 'people living north of the north wind (Boreas). Verelius, the founder perpetuated Johannes Magnus' viewpoint that human culture began in Sweden with the Goths; The height of the nationalistic theory of Gothic origins can be found in the work of Olof Rudbeck". and of the 19th-century romantic nationalism period proceeded to synthesize the different versions by inserting references to the Suiones, arguing that they must have been referred to in the original texts and obscured over time by spelling mistakes or various alterations.Malone,Kemp (1924). "Ptolemy's Skandia". The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 45, No. 4. (1924), pp. 362-370.Stadius, Peter (2001). "Southern Perspectives on the North: Legends, Stereotypes, Images and Models". BaltSeaNet Working Paper 3, The Baltic Sea Area Studies, Gdansk/Berlin, 2001. Online version retrieved 2 October 2007.

Pliny the Elder's descriptions Pliny descriptions of Scatinavia and surrounding areas are not always easy to decipher, even though his writing of geography was what he considered a "clarior fama", "a clearer story." He begins his description of the route to Scatinavia by referring to the mountain of Saevo (mons Saevo ibi), the Codanus Bay (Codanus sinus) and the Cimbrian promontory.Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia. Book IV, chapter XXXIX. Ed. Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff. Online version at Persus. Retrieved 2 October 2007. As described, Saevo and Scatinavia can also be the same place. The geographical features have been identified in various ways; by some scholars Saevo is thought to be the mountainous Norway coast at the entrance to Skagerrak and the Cimbrian peninsula is thought to be Skagen, the north tip of of Jutland, Denmark.

Pomponius Mela used Codanovia for the region. The "Cod-" in Codanus has been identified as a form of the second element in Kattegat, (Latin coda, "the tail of animals", Latin ănus, "anus" or "old wife, also of feminine animals"). Danish katte (cat) is possibly a reference to the group Felis, especially Lynx; and Danish gat as in gatfinn ("analfin of a fish"). Thus Kattegat is "tail of a cat" or a "cat's hole". This may be related to the myth about Freyja, Norse mythology List of Norse gods of love, fertility and beauty, who travelled in a chariot drawn by huge cats). Pliny, who was an admiral, wrote that there were 23 islands "Romanis armis cognitae", "known to Roman arms", in this sea. According to Pliny, the most famous (clarissima) of the islands is Scatinavia, of unknown size. There live the Hilleviones.

Pliny mentions Scandinavia one more time: in Book VIII he says that the animal called achlis (given in the accusative, achlin, which is not Latin), was born on the island of Scandinavia.Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia. Book VIII, chapter XVII. Ed. Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff. Online version at Persus. Retrieved 2 October 2007. The animal grazes, has a big upper lip and some mythical attributes.

Germanic reconstruction The Latin names in Pliny's text gave rise to different forms in Germanic languages, often transliterated by non-Germanic scribes. In Beowulf the forms Scedenigge and Scedeland are used.

In the reconstruction *Skaðin-awjo (without the n, which can be seen as a later assimilation to the second n, and with the thorn, which might be represented in Latin by t or d), the first segment is sometimes considered more uncertain than the second segment, which is thought to be "watery land" or "island". The American Heritage Dictionary "Island". Bartleby, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000. derives the second segment from Proto-Indo-European language *akwa-, "water", in the sense of "watery land". Gothic saiws, "lake" is one of the Germanic groups which include English sea and German See. Old Frisian "se". "Comments on Indo-European reconstruction". In The Indo-European Dictionary (IEED). Retrieved 2 October 2007. According to The Indo-European Dictionary (IEED), a research project of the Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics at Leiden University, the word does not have an Indo-European etymology. The IEED states that Uralic languages evidence has long been recognized: "Finnic saivo 'transparant place in the sea', Norwegian-Lappish saivvƒ '(holy) lake, idol'". IEED further mentions a possible inner-Germanic connection *saiwa-l¡ ("soul"), Gothic saiwala, Old Frisian sŒle. Some scholars have found a mythological parallel, expressed in ideas from old belief systems stressing that the souls of mankind dwell in the water until birth and return there after death. In Latin, the word saevo means "raging, mad, furious, fell, fierce, savage, ferocious". Lewis, Charlton T. and Charles Short (1879). A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879. ISBN 0-19-864201-6. Available online through The Perseus Digital Library

The form Scadinavia as the original home of the Lombards appears in Paulus Diaconus' Historia LangobardorumPaulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum, BIBLIOTHECA AUGUSTANA, but in other versions of Historia Langobardorum appear the forms Scadan, Scandanan, Scadanan and Scatenauge History of the Langobards, Northvegr Foundation. In Jordanes' history of the Goths (AD 551) the form Scandza is used for their original home, separated by sea from the land of Europe (chapter 1, 4).Jordanes (translated by Charles C. Mierow), THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS, April 22, 1997

Other etymologies Scadin- can be segmented various ways to obtain various Indo-European meanings: scand- or scad-in-, scan- or sca-din, scandin or scadin-. These segmentations have resulted in a number of possible etymologies, such as "climbing island" (*scand-), "island of the Scythian people", "island of the woodland of *sca-". Another possibility is that all or part of scadin- came from the indigenes along with achlis and sea.

The designation of Scandinavia as an island may have preceded the Indo-Europeans there, and the words for island and sea may come from the indigenes in the region. Today Scandinavia is not an island, but the indigenous Mesolithic people inhabiting the region may have remembered Ancylus Lake and preceding times, when water exited the Baltic through what is now Stockholm and the lakes called saiws by the Goths.

Alternatively, the first element is sometimes attributed to the Giantess#Norse mythology Skaði from Norse mythology. If it is she, it is even less likely to be Indo-European, as a people moving in among another people typically take on their gods and goddesses (not quite daring to reject them).

Some Basque language scholars thought the sk was connected to Euzko peoples, akin to Basques, that populated Paleolithic Europe. According to some of these intellectuals, the Scandinavians share some genetic markers with the Basques.J. F. del Giorgio (2006). The Oldest Europeans: Who Are We? Where Do We Come From? What Made European Women Different?. A. J. Place, 2006. ISBN 980-6898-00-1.

The name of the Scandinavian mountain range, Skanderna in Swedish, was artificially derived from Skandinavien in the 19th century, in analogy with Alperna for the Alps. The commonly used names are bergen or fjällen; both names meaning "the mountains".

Geography in the Nordic region (excluding Svalbard).

The geography of Scandinavia is extremely varied. Notable are the List of Norwegian fjords, the Scandinavian Mountains, the flat, low areas in Denmark, and the archipelagos of Sweden and Norway. When Finland is included, the moraines (ice age remnants) and lake areas are also notable.

The climate varies from north to south and from west to east; a marine west coast climate (Köppen climate classification#Group C: Temperate/Mesothermal climates) typical of western Europe dominates in Denmark, southernmost part of Sweden and along the west coast of Norway reaching north to 65°N, with orographic lift giving more than 2000 mm/year Precipitation (meteorology) (max 3500 mm) in some areas in western Norway. The central part - from Oslo to Stockholm - has a humid continental climate (Dfb), which gradually gives way to subarctic climate (Dfc) further north and cool marine west coast climate (Cfc) along the northwestern coast. A small area along the northern coast east of North Cape has tundra climate (Et) due to lack of summer warmth. The Scandinavian Mountains block the mild and moist air coming from the southwest, thus northern Sweden and Finnmarksvidda plateau in Norway receive little precipitation and have cold winters. Large areas in the Scandinavian mountains have alpine tundra climate.

Scandinavian languages Main articles: North Germanic languages

The codification (linguistics) standard Scandinavian languages of Scandinavia are often classified as belonging to either an East Scandinavian branch (Danish and Swedish) or a West Scandinavian branch (Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese). Henriksen, Petter (ed.); Aschehoug og Gyldendals Store norske leksikon, 11 Nar-Pd; Kunnskapsforlaget; Oslo; 1998; ISBN 82-573-0703-3

Most dialects of Danish language, Norwegian language and Swedish language, are mutually intelligible, and Scandinavians can easily understand each other's standard languages as they appear in print and are heard on radio and television. The reason why Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are traditionally viewed as different languages, rather than dialects of one common language, is that they each are well established standard languages in their respective countries. They are related to, but not mutually intelligible with, the other North Germanic languages, Icelandic language and Faroese language, which are descended from Old Norse language. Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have, since medieval times, been influenced to varying degrees by Middle Low German and German language. A substantial amount of that influence was a by-product of the economic activity generated by the Hanseatic League.

Norwegians are accustomed to variation, and may perceive Danish and Swedish only as slightly more distant dialects. This is because they have two official written standards, in addition to the habit of strongly holding on to local dialects. The people of Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark, have the greatest difficulty in understanding other Nordic languages."Urban misunderstandings". Norden This Week - Monday 01.17.2005, Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen. In the Faroe Islands Danish language is mandatory, and since Faroese people this way become bilingual in two very distinct Nordic languages, they find it relatively easy to understand the other two Mainland Scandinavian languages. Internordisk språkförståelse, Nordisk Sprogråd, November 2002.

For foreign people, who are studying Scandinavian languages, it's often common that they learn the basic Norwegian first. This is because Norwegian as a language, is very similar to written Danish, and also very similar to oral Swedish. They can thus easily expand their knowledge further .

The Scandinavian languages are (as a language family) entirely unrelated to Finnish language, Estonian language and Sami languages which as Finno-Ugric languages are distantly related to Hungarian language. Due to the close proximity, there is still a great deal of borrowing from the Swedish and Norwegian languages in the Finnish, Estonian and Sami languages.

Finland and Scandinavia In Finland, native Swedish speakers constitute a small, but influential, minority. All children are nonetheless Mandatory Swedish at school. The ethnic nationalism Fennoman movement in Finland began to fight for equal language rights for Finnish-speakers from the Swedish-speaking elite in the 1830s. Its motto, "Swedes we are no longer/not, Russians we will never become, so let us be/become Finns" was popular among Finns. The movement's goal was to promote the equal legal status of the Finnish language in a country where the official language of government was Swedish or Russian, despite the large majority of the population being Finnish-speakers.See "Introduction: Reflections on Political Thought in Finland", p. 9: "Fennoman cultural nationalism put an emphasis on the education and elevation of the people, and it became the leading force in the university sphere and in the bureaucracy. In the late 19th century Fennoman politics were more exclusively concentrated on the language question, trying to replace Swedish with Finnish." The revival of the language spoken by the majority was symbolized by the creation of the national epos Kalevala and by a new reverence for the Finno-Ugric folk culture. The Fennomans protested against Finnish participation in the Scandinavian exhibition in Stockholm 1866, arguing that it would "enforce the impression that Finland belonged culturally to the Scandinavian realm" and imply that Finland did not have its own history before 1809 but was "first and foremost a periphery of western civilisation". The Fennoman movement met with resistance from the Svecoman movement and the Swedish elite.Kolehmainen, John Ilmari (1943). "Antti Jalava and Hungarian-Finnish Rapprochement". Slavonic and East European Review. American Series, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Nov. 1943), pp. 167-174. Finland Swedish author Zacharias Topelius joined in the criticism of the Fennoman movement in 1872, when a rhetorical question was posed by a peasant member of the Finnish parliament. The peasant parliamentarian referred to the often-mentioned claim that Finland was in debt to Sweden for its western civilization and he asked if anyone could show him the original promissory note of this debt. According to Dr. Henrik Meinander, Professor, Department of History, University of Helsinki, Finland, the rhetorical question was meant to emphasize that "Finns already stood on their own two feet and had bowed enough to the domestic Swedish-speaking elite." In response, Topelius wrote a poem arguing that the entire Finnish society was part of this promissory note.Meinander, Henrik. (2002). "On the Brink or Between? The conception of Europe in Finnish identity". The Meaning of Europe. Ed. Mikael af Malmborg and Bo Stråth. Oxford: Berg, 2002. ISBN 1-85973-576-2 Finland's struggles and success in establishing a unique identity has been followed by scholars and journalists around the world.See for example: Agrawal, Subhash. Finland: A Turnaround Success Story, The Financial Express, net edition, Mumbai, India, 1 Jul. 2004.

The Russian Emperor Alexander II, Grand Duke of Finland, had issued a decree already in 1863 that would secure equal status for Finnish in public affairs within the following two decades, but only in 1902 did Finnish language finally receive an equal official status with Swedish and Russian. In Finland today, the only exception to the equality between Finnish and Swedish languages is made on the Åland islands, in favour of the Swedish language. According to the county legislation Act on the Autonomy of Åland. Published by the Parliament of Åland., the region is unilingually Swedish-speaking.

Finnish speakers constitute a minority in Sweden and Norway of similar relative size to the minority of Swedish speakers in Finland. There are also Baltic-Finnic languages languages different from standard Finnish, known as Meänkieli in Sweden and Kven in Norway. The linguistic distance between the language families has often been seen by native speakers of each of these languages as indicative of a cultural distance, as well as a reason to consider the native Finnish speakers as a people separate from the Scandinavian culture group.

History During a period of Christianization and state formation in the 10th century-13th century centuries, three consolidated kingdoms emerged in Scandinavia:

In the 1645 Treaty of Brömsebro, Denmark-Norway ceded the Norwegian provinces of Jämtland, Härjedalen and Idre & Särna, as well as the Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel (in Estonia) to Sweden. The Treaty of Roskilde, signed in 1658, forced Denmark-Norway to cede the Danish provinces Scania, Blekinge, Halland, Bornholm and the Norwegian provinces of Båhuslen and Trøndelag to Sweden. The 1660 Treaty of Copenhagen forced Sweden to return Bornholm and Trøndelag to Denmark-Norway, and to give up its recent claims to the island Funen."Treaty of Copenhagen" (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 9, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Scandinavian unions The three Scandinavian kingdoms were united in 1397 in the Kalmar Union by Queen Margrete I of Denmark. Sweden left the union in 1523 under King Gustav Vasa. In the aftermath of Sweden's secession from the Kalmar Union, civil war broke out in Denmark and Norway. The Protestant Reformation followed. When things had settled down, the Norwegian Privy Council was abolished—it assembled for the last time in 1537. A personal union, entered into by the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway in 1536, lasted until 1814. Three sovereign successor states have subsequently emerged from this unequal union: Denmark, Norway and Iceland.

Denmark-Norway is the historiographical name for the former political union consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The corresponding adjective and demonym is Dano-Norwegian (disambiguation). During Danish rule, Norway kept its separate laws, coinage and army, as well as some institutions such as a royal chancellor. Norway's old royal line had died out with the death of Olav IV, The Monarchy: Historical Background. The Royal House of Norway. Official site, retrieved 9 Nov. 2006. but Norway's remaining a Hereditary Kingdom of Norway was an important factor to the Oldenburg dynasty of Denmark-Norway in its struggles to win elections as kings of Denmark.

The Dano-Norwegian union was formally dissolved at the 1814 Treaty of Kiel. The territory of Norway proper was ceded to the King of Sweden, but Norway's overseas possessions were kept by Denmark. However, widespread Norwegian resistance to the prospect of a union with Sweden induced the governor of Norway, crown prince Christian Frederick (later Christian VIII of Denmark), to call a constituent assembly at Eidsvoll in April of 1814. The assembly drew up a liberal constitution and elected him to the throne of Norway. Following a Swedish invasion during the summer, the peace conditions specified that king Christian Frederik had to resign, but Norway was to keep its independence and its constitution within a personal union with Sweden. Christian Frederik formally abdicated on August 10 1814 and returned to Denmark. The parliament Storting elected king Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway on November 4.

The union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, after which Prince Charles of Denmark was elected king of Norway under the name of Haakon VII.

Politics: Scandinavism ) See also Politics of Denmark, Politics of Norway and Politics of Sweden. The modern usage of the term Scandinavia has been influenced by Scandinavism (the Scandinavist political movement), which was active in the middle of the 19th century, mainly between the First war of Schleswig (1848-1850), in which Sweden and Norway contributed with considerable military force, and the Second war of Schleswig (1864). In 1864, the Swedish parliament denounced the promises of military support made to Denmark by Charles XV of Sweden. The members of the Swedish parliament were wary of joining an alliance against the rising German power.

The Swedish king also proposed a unification of Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a single United Kingdom. The background for the proposal was the tumultuous events during the Napoleonic wars in the beginning of the century. This war resulted in Finland (formerly the eastern third of Sweden) becoming the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and Norway (de jure in union with Denmark since 1387, although de facto treated as a province) becoming independent in 1814, but thereafter swiftly forced to accept a personal union with Sweden. The dependent territories Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, historically part of Norway, remained with Denmark in accordance with the Treaty of Kiel. Sweden and Norway were thus united under the Swedish monarch, but Finland's inclusion in the Russian Empire excluded any possibility for a political union between Finland and any of the other Nordic countries.

The end of the Scandinavian political movement came when Denmark was denied the military support promised from Sweden and Norway to annex the (Danish) Duchy of Schleswig, which together with the (German) Duchy of Holstein had been in personal union with Denmark. The Second war of Schleswig followed in 1864, a brief but disastrous war between Denmark and Prussia (supported by Austria). Schleswig-Holstein was conquered by Prussia, and after Prussia's success in the Franco-Prussian War a Prussian-led German Empire was created, and a new Power (international) of the Baltic sea countries was established.

Even if a Scandinavian political union never came about at this point, there was a Scandinavian Monetary Union established in 1873, lasting until World War I, with the Swedish krona/Krone as the common currency.

Historical political structure {| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center|Century||colspan=6|Scandinavia and the Nordic Countries|-| width=10% bgcolor=#f6faff align=center | 21th century| width=14% colspan=1 bgcolor=gold align=center|Denmark (EU)]| width=14% colspan=1 rowspan=2 bgcolor=#fafaff align=center|Iceland| width=14% colspan=1 bgcolor=gold align=center|[Sweden (EU)] (EU)]| bgcolor=#ffc0c0 align=center|Denmark| bgcolor=#efffef align=center|[Finland| colspan=3 bgcolor=#ffc0c0|[Denmark and [Sweden|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| [18th century| rowspan=3 colspan=4 bgcolor=#ffc0c0|Denmark-Norway|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| [17th century|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| 16th century|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| 15th century|colspan=6 bgcolor=#fff8f8|Kalmar Union| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#ffc0c0|[Denmark| rowspan=3 colspan=2 bgcolor=#ffff80|[Sweden|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| [12th century| bgcolor=#fafaff|Faroes| bgcolor=#ccccff|[Norway||[Faroese¹]¹||Norwegians||[Finns and [Iceland were of Nordic (mainly Norwegian) origin, with a considerable element of Celtic or Picts origin (from Scotland and Ireland) .

See also

Footnotes

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Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion centred on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe which includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Scandinavia. (2006). Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 30, 2007: "Scandinavia (ancient Scandia), name applied collectively to three countries of northern Europe—Norway and Sweden (which together form the Scandinavian Peninsula), and Denmark." Scandinavia. (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: "Scandinavia, historically Scandia, part of northern Europe, generally held to consist of the two countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway and Sweden, with the addition of Denmark." The other Nordic countries, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, are also often included because of their close historic and cultural relations to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark."Scandinavia" (2005). The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition. Ed. Erin McKean. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-517077-6: "a cultural region consisting of the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and sometimes also of Iceland, Finland, and the Faroe Islands". Scandinavia (2001). The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved January 31, 2007: "Scandinavia, region of N Europe. It consists of the kingdoms of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; Finland and Iceland are usually considered part of Scandinavia." Scandinavia. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, 2002. Eds. E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Retrieved January 31 2007: "Scandinavia. The region in northern Europe containing Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and the peninsulas they occupy. Through cultural, historical, and political associations, Finland and Iceland are often considered part of Scandinavia."

In linguistics and cultural studies, the definition of Scandinavia is expanded to include the areas where Old Norse was spoken and where the North Germanic languages are now dominant. As a linguistic and cultural concept, Scandinavia thus also includes Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

As a cultural and historical concept, Scandinavia can include Finland as well (of the larger region Fenno-Scandinavia), often with reference to the nation's long history as a part of Sweden. Although Finland is culturally closely related to the other Scandinavian countries, the majority of Finns form a distinct linguistic and ethnic group, with a Finno-Ugric population that has incorporated features from both Eastern and Western Europe. Peltonen, Arvo (2002). Politics and Society: The Population in Finland, Virtual Finland, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Department for Communication and Culture, 21 November 2002, retrieved 14 Nov. 2006, paragraph 1: "The Finns form a distinct linguistic and ethnic group; the original Finno-Ugric population bearing features from both eastern and western Europe. Finland is an interface between east and west."

Since the Fennoman movement of the 1830s and political Scandinavism of the 1830s- 1850s,Oresundstid (2003). Scandinavism - the students. Retrieved 17 January 2007. the inclusion of Finland and Iceland has divided opinions in the respective states. In response to Scandinavism, some Norwegian scholars of the 19th century resisted the idea that Scandinavia had a shared heritage and stressed the unique aspects that unit Iceland's cultural output exclusively with Norway and make it separate and unique. See for example Bothne, Gisle (1898). "The Language of Modern Norway". PMLA, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1898), p. 350: " it is true that the old Norwegian literature was far behind the contemporaneous Icelandic literature , every Norwegian holds it to be equally true that the language of Norway and that of her colony Iceland were substantially the same. Norroent mál, and the Norroen literature (created by conditions peculiar to Norway and Iceland alone) are the exclusive historical property of Norway and Iceland, while Denmark and Sweden have no part in them." Although it depends on context which countries are considered Scandinavian, the term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for Norway, Sweden, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Finland (including Åland) and Iceland.

Terminology and usage , and the Kola Peninsula.Being a purely historical and cultural region, Scandinavia has no official geopolitical borders. The region is therefore often defined according to the conventions of different disciplines or according to the political and cultural aims of different communities of the area.Olwig, Kenneth R. "Introduction: The Nature of Cultural Heritage, and the Culture of Natural Heritage—Northern Perspectives on a Contested Patrimony". International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 3–7. One example of the Scandinavian region as a political and cultural construct is the unique position of Finland. The creation of a Finnish identity is unique in the region in that it was forged in the decolonization struggles against two different imperial models, the Swedish "Finland and the Swedish Empire". Country Studies. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 Nov. 2006. and the Russian, "Introduction: Reflections on Political Thought in Finland." Editorial. Redescriptions, Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History, 1997, Volume 1, University of Jyväskylä, p. 6-7: "he populist opposition both to Sweden as a former imperial country and especially to Swedish as the language of the narrow Finnish establishment has also been strong, especially in the inter-war years. Finland as a unitary and homogeneous nation-state was constructed in opposition to the imperial models of Sweden and Russia." "The Rise of Finnish Nationalism". Country Studies. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 Nov. 2006: "The eighteenth century had witnessed the appearance of a sense of national identity for the Finnish people, an expression of the Finns' growing doubts about Swedish rule The ethnic self-consciousness of Finnish speakers was given a considerable boost by the Russian conquest of Finland in 1809, because ending the connection with Sweden forced Finns to define themselves with respect to the Russians." as described by the University of Jyväskylä based editorial board of the Finnish journal "Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual history" Editors and Board, Redescriptions, Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History: "The construction of a specific Finnish polity is the result of successful decolonization. The location of Finland is a moving one. It has shifted from being a province in the Swedish Empire to an autonomous unit in Eastern Europe, then to an independent state in Northern Europe or Scandinavia. After joining the European Union, Finland has recently been included in Western Europe."

Usage in geography Physical geography the Scandinavian Peninsula includes what is today mainland Sweden and mainland Norway.Seppälä, Matti, ed. (2005). The Physical Geography of Fennoscandia. Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. XI, 1. ISBN 0199245908. Scandinavian Peninsula. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 1 February 2007.. A small part of north-western Finland is sometimes also considered part of the peninsula.Naval Intelligence Division (1920). A Handbook of Norway & Sweden By Great Britain. Published by H. M. Stationery office. In physiography, Denmark is considered part of the North European Plain, rather than the geologically distinct Scandinavian peninsula mainly occupied by Norway and Sweden. Scandinavia (2001). The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved 2 February 2007. However, Denmark has historically included the region of Skåneland on the Scandinavian Peninsula. For this reason, but even more for cultural and linguistic reasons, Denmark – Jutland on the Jutland peninsula of the European continent, along with Zealand and the other islands in the Danish archipelago – is considered part of the Scandinavian region also by the Scandinavians themselves.

Variations in usage A wider definition of Scandinavia, sometimes used in the English-speaking world, includes Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Scandinavia. MSN Encarta. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.See also EU documents, such as the following , and bulletin in German. However, this larger region is by the concerned countries officially known as the Nordic Countries, a political entity as well as cultural region where the ties between the countries are not merely historical and cultural, but based on official membership.

The use of the name Scandinavia as a convenient general term for the peninsula region is fairly recent and according to some historians, it was adopted and introduced only in the 18th century, at a time when the ideas about a common heritage took root and started to appear as literary and linguistic Scandinavism.Østergård, Uffe (1997). "The Geopolitics of Nordic Identity – From Composite States to Nation States". The Cultural Construction of Norden. Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth (eds.), Oslo: Scandinavian University Press 1997, 25-71. Also published online at Danish Institute for International Studies. For the history of cultural Scandinavism, see Oresundstid's articles The Literary Scandinavism and The Roots of Scandinavism. Retrieved 19 January 2007. Before this time, the term Scandinavia was familiar mainly to classical scholars through Pliny the Elder's writings, and was used vaguely for Scania and the southern region of the peninsula. The popular usage of the term in Sweden, Denmark and Norway as a unifying concept became more firmly established in the 19th century, through poems such Hans Christian Andersen's "I am a Scandinavian" of 1839. After a visit to Sweden, Andersen became a supporter of early political Scandinavism and in a letter describing the poem to a friend, he wrote: "All at once I understood how related the Swedes, the Danes and the Norwegians are, and with this feeling I wrote the poem immediately after my return: 'We are one people, we are called Scandinavians!'". Hans Christian Andersen and Music - I am a Scandinavian. The Royal Library of Denmark, the National Library and Copenhagen University Library. Retrieved 17 January 2007. The historic popular usage is also reflected in the name chosen for the shared, multi-national airline, Scandinavian Airlines System, a carrier originally owned jointly by the governments of the three countries, along with private investors.

Usage by cultural and tourist organizations The use of the term Scandinavian for the culture of the Nordic region is reflected in the name chosen for the various promotional agencies of the Nordic countries in the United States and around the world, such as The American-Scandinavian Foundation, established in 1910 by the Danish-American industrialist Niels Poulsen. Today, the five Nordic Heads of State serve as the organization's patrons and according to the official statement by the organization, its mission is "to promote the Nordic region as a whole while increasing the visibility of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in New York City and the United States." About The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Official site. Retrieved 2 February 2007. The official tourist boards of Scandinavia sometimes cooperate under one umbrella, such as the Scandinavian Tourist Board. Scandinavian Tourist Board. Official site. The cooperation was introduced for the Asian market in 1986, when the Swedish national tourist board joined the Danish national tourist board to coordinate international promotions of the two countries. Norway entered one year later. All five Nordic countries participate in the joint promotional efforts in the United States through the Scandinavian Tourist Boards in North America. The Scandinavian Tourist Boards in North America. Official Website. Retrieved 2 February 2007.

The Nordic Countries vs. Scandinavia .

While the term Scandinavia is most commonly used for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, including their associated territories (Greenland, the Faroes and Åland).

Scandinavia is thus a subset of the Nordic countries. All of the Nordic regions are occasionally listed as part of Scandinavia, especially outside the Nordic countries. More precisely, in addition to mainland Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the Nordic countries consist of



and



Estonia has applied for membership in the Nordic Council, referring to its cultural heritage and close linguistic links to Finland, although normally Estonia is regarded as one of the Baltic countries. All Baltic states have shared historical events with the Nordic countries, including Scandinavia, during the centuries.

The terms Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are used to include the Scandinavian peninsula, the Kola peninsula, Karelia, Finland and (seldom) Denmark under the same term, alluding to the Baltic Shield, even though Denmark is on the North European Plain.

Etymology , February 2003, with political boundaries addedScandinavia and Scania (Skåne) are considered to have the same etymology. The earliest identified source for the name Scandinavia is Pliny the Elder's Natural History (Pliny), dated to the 1st century AD. Various references to the region can also be found in Pytheas, Pomponius Mela, Tacitus, Ptolemy, Procopius and Jordanes. It is believed that the name used by Pliny may be of West Germanic languages origin, originally denoting Scania.Haugen, Einar (1976). The Scandinavian Languages: An Introduction to Their History. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1976. According to some leading scholars in the field, the Germanic stem can be reconstructed as *Skaðan- meaning "danger" or "damage" (English scathing, German Schaden).Helle, Knut (2003). "Introduction". The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. Ed. E. I. Kouri et al. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-47299-7. The second segment of the name has been reconstructed as *awjo, meaning "land on the water" or "island". The name Scandinavia would then mean "dangerous island", which is considered to be a reference to the treacherous sandbanks surrounding Scania. Skanör-Falsterbo in Scania, with its long Falsterbo reef, has the same stem (skan) combined with -ör, which means "sandbanks".

The belief that Scandinavia was an island became widespread among classical authors during the first century. This idea, along with the name "Scandia" which was used by Pliny for a group of Northern European islands located north of Britannia, dominated descriptions of Scandinavia in classical texts during the centuries that followed. The idea that Pliny's "Scadinavia" may have been one of the "Scandiae" islands was introduced by Ptolemy (c.90 – c.168 AD), a mathematician, geographer and astrologer of Roman Egypt. He used the name "Skandia" for the biggest, most easterly of the three "Scandiai" islands, which according to him were all located east of Jutland. Scandia as used by Ptolemy, likely included areas north of today's Scania, but neither Pliny's nor Ptolemy's lists of Scandinavian tribes include the Suiones mentioned by Tacitus. Some early Swedish scholars of the Swedish Hyperborean schoolLundgreen-Nielsen, Flemming (2002). "Nordic language history and the history of ideas I: Humanism". In The Nordic Languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages. Eds. Oskar Bandle et al., Vol I. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2002. ISBN 3110148765, p. 358: "The term 'hyperborean' has been taken from odes by Pindar and Horace, literally meaning 'people living north of the north wind (Boreas). Verelius, the founder perpetuated Johannes Magnus' viewpoint that human culture began in Sweden with the Goths; The height of the nationalistic theory of Gothic origins can be found in the work of Olof Rudbeck". and of the 19th-century romantic nationalism period proceeded to synthesize the different versions by inserting references to the Suiones, arguing that they must have been referred to in the original texts and obscured over time by spelling mistakes or various alterations.Malone,Kemp (1924). "Ptolemy's Skandia". The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 45, No. 4. (1924), pp. 362-370.Stadius, Peter (2001). "Southern Perspectives on the North: Legends, Stereotypes, Images and Models". BaltSeaNet Working Paper 3, The Baltic Sea Area Studies, Gdansk/Berlin, 2001. Online version retrieved 2 October 2007.

Pliny the Elder's descriptions Pliny descriptions of Scatinavia and surrounding areas are not always easy to decipher, even though his writing of geography was what he considered a "clarior fama", "a clearer story." He begins his description of the route to Scatinavia by referring to the mountain of Saevo (mons Saevo ibi), the Codanus Bay (Codanus sinus) and the Cimbrian promontory.Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia. Book IV, chapter XXXIX. Ed. Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff. Online version at Persus. Retrieved 2 October 2007. As described, Saevo and Scatinavia can also be the same place. The geographical features have been identified in various ways; by some scholars Saevo is thought to be the mountainous Norway coast at the entrance to Skagerrak and the Cimbrian peninsula is thought to be Skagen, the north tip of of Jutland, Denmark.

Pomponius Mela used Codanovia for the region. The "Cod-" in Codanus has been identified as a form of the second element in Kattegat, (Latin coda, "the tail of animals", Latin ănus, "anus" or "old wife, also of feminine animals"). Danish katte (cat) is possibly a reference to the group Felis, especially Lynx; and Danish gat as in gatfinn ("analfin of a fish"). Thus Kattegat is "tail of a cat" or a "cat's hole". This may be related to the myth about Freyja, Norse mythology List of Norse gods of love, fertility and beauty, who travelled in a chariot drawn by huge cats). Pliny, who was an admiral, wrote that there were 23 islands "Romanis armis cognitae", "known to Roman arms", in this sea. According to Pliny, the most famous (clarissima) of the islands is Scatinavia, of unknown size. There live the Hilleviones.

Pliny mentions Scandinavia one more time: in Book VIII he says that the animal called achlis (given in the accusative, achlin, which is not Latin), was born on the island of Scandinavia.Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia. Book VIII, chapter XVII. Ed. Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff. Online version at Persus. Retrieved 2 October 2007. The animal grazes, has a big upper lip and some mythical attributes.

Germanic reconstruction The Latin names in Pliny's text gave rise to different forms in Germanic languages, often transliterated by non-Germanic scribes. In Beowulf the forms Scedenigge and Scedeland are used.

In the reconstruction *Skaðin-awjo (without the n, which can be seen as a later assimilation to the second n, and with the thorn, which might be represented in Latin by t or d), the first segment is sometimes considered more uncertain than the second segment, which is thought to be "watery land" or "island". The American Heritage Dictionary "Island". Bartleby, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000. derives the second segment from Proto-Indo-European language *akwa-, "water", in the sense of "watery land". Gothic saiws, "lake" is one of the Germanic groups which include English sea and German See. Old Frisian "se". "Comments on Indo-European reconstruction". In The Indo-European Dictionary (IEED). Retrieved 2 October 2007. According to The Indo-European Dictionary (IEED), a research project of the Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics at Leiden University, the word does not have an Indo-European etymology. The IEED states that Uralic languages evidence has long been recognized: "Finnic saivo 'transparant place in the sea', Norwegian-Lappish saivvƒ '(holy) lake, idol'". IEED further mentions a possible inner-Germanic connection *saiwa-l¡ ("soul"), Gothic saiwala, Old Frisian sŒle. Some scholars have found a mythological parallel, expressed in ideas from old belief systems stressing that the souls of mankind dwell in the water until birth and return there after death. In Latin, the word saevo means "raging, mad, furious, fell, fierce, savage, ferocious". Lewis, Charlton T. and Charles Short (1879). A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879. ISBN 0-19-864201-6. Available online through The Perseus Digital Library

The form Scadinavia as the original home of the Lombards appears in Paulus Diaconus' Historia LangobardorumPaulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum, BIBLIOTHECA AUGUSTANA, but in other versions of Historia Langobardorum appear the forms Scadan, Scandanan, Scadanan and Scatenauge History of the Langobards, Northvegr Foundation. In Jordanes' history of the Goths (AD 551) the form Scandza is used for their original home, separated by sea from the land of Europe (chapter 1, 4).Jordanes (translated by Charles C. Mierow), THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS, April 22, 1997

Other etymologies Scadin- can be segmented various ways to obtain various Indo-European meanings: scand- or scad-in-, scan- or sca-din, scandin or scadin-. These segmentations have resulted in a number of possible etymologies, such as "climbing island" (*scand-), "island of the Scythian people", "island of the woodland of *sca-". Another possibility is that all or part of scadin- came from the indigenes along with achlis and sea.

The designation of Scandinavia as an island may have preceded the Indo-Europeans there, and the words for island and sea may come from the indigenes in the region. Today Scandinavia is not an island, but the indigenous Mesolithic people inhabiting the region may have remembered Ancylus Lake and preceding times, when water exited the Baltic through what is now Stockholm and the lakes called saiws by the Goths.

Alternatively, the first element is sometimes attributed to the Giantess#Norse mythology Skaði from Norse mythology. If it is she, it is even less likely to be Indo-European, as a people moving in among another people typically take on their gods and goddesses (not quite daring to reject them).

Some Basque language scholars thought the sk was connected to Euzko peoples, akin to Basques, that populated Paleolithic Europe. According to some of these intellectuals, the Scandinavians share some genetic markers with the Basques.J. F. del Giorgio (2006). The Oldest Europeans: Who Are We? Where Do We Come From? What Made European Women Different?. A. J. Place, 2006. ISBN 980-6898-00-1.

The name of the Scandinavian mountain range, Skanderna in Swedish, was artificially derived from Skandinavien in the 19th century, in analogy with Alperna for the Alps. The commonly used names are bergen or fjällen; both names meaning "the mountains".

Geography in the Nordic region (excluding Svalbard).

The geography of Scandinavia is extremely varied. Notable are the List of Norwegian fjords, the Scandinavian Mountains, the flat, low areas in Denmark, and the archipelagos of Sweden and Norway. When Finland is included, the moraines (ice age remnants) and lake areas are also notable.

The climate varies from north to south and from west to east; a marine west coast climate (Köppen climate classification#Group C: Temperate/Mesothermal climates) typical of western Europe dominates in Denmark, southernmost part of Sweden and along the west coast of Norway reaching north to 65°N, with orographic lift giving more than 2000 mm/year Precipitation (meteorology) (max 3500 mm) in some areas in western Norway. The central part - from Oslo to Stockholm - has a humid continental climate (Dfb), which gradually gives way to subarctic climate (Dfc) further north and cool marine west coast climate (Cfc) along the northwestern coast. A small area along the northern coast east of North Cape has tundra climate (Et) due to lack of summer warmth. The Scandinavian Mountains block the mild and moist air coming from the southwest, thus northern Sweden and Finnmarksvidda plateau in Norway receive little precipitation and have cold winters. Large areas in the Scandinavian mountains have alpine tundra climate.

Scandinavian languages Main articles: North Germanic languages

The codification (linguistics) standard Scandinavian languages of Scandinavia are often classified as belonging to either an East Scandinavian branch (Danish and Swedish) or a West Scandinavian branch (Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese). Henriksen, Petter (ed.); Aschehoug og Gyldendals Store norske leksikon, 11 Nar-Pd; Kunnskapsforlaget; Oslo; 1998; ISBN 82-573-0703-3

Most dialects of Danish language, Norwegian language and Swedish language, are mutually intelligible, and Scandinavians can easily understand each other's standard languages as they appear in print and are heard on radio and television. The reason why Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are traditionally viewed as different languages, rather than dialects of one common language, is that they each are well established standard languages in their respective countries. They are related to, but not mutually intelligible with, the other North Germanic languages, Icelandic language and Faroese language, which are descended from Old Norse language. Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have, since medieval times, been influenced to varying degrees by Middle Low German and German language. A substantial amount of that influence was a by-product of the economic activity generated by the Hanseatic League.

Norwegians are accustomed to variation, and may perceive Danish and Swedish only as slightly more distant dialects. This is because they have two official written standards, in addition to the habit of strongly holding on to local dialects. The people of Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark, have the greatest difficulty in understanding other Nordic languages."Urban misunderstandings". Norden This Week - Monday 01.17.2005, Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen. In the Faroe Islands Danish language is mandatory, and since Faroese people this way become bilingual in two very distinct Nordic languages, they find it relatively easy to understand the other two Mainland Scandinavian languages. Internordisk språkförståelse, Nordisk Sprogråd, November 2002.

For foreign people, who are studying Scandinavian languages, it's often common that they learn the basic Norwegian first. This is because Norwegian as a language, is very similar to written Danish, and also very similar to oral Swedish. They can thus easily expand their knowledge further .

The Scandinavian languages are (as a language family) entirely unrelated to Finnish language, Estonian language and Sami languages which as Finno-Ugric languages are distantly related to Hungarian language. Due to the close proximity, there is still a great deal of borrowing from the Swedish and Norwegian languages in the Finnish, Estonian and Sami languages.

Finland and Scandinavia In Finland, native Swedish speakers constitute a small, but influential, minority. All children are nonetheless Mandatory Swedish at school. The ethnic nationalism Fennoman movement in Finland began to fight for equal language rights for Finnish-speakers from the Swedish-speaking elite in the 1830s. Its motto, "Swedes we are no longer/not, Russians we will never become, so let us be/become Finns" was popular among Finns. The movement's goal was to promote the equal legal status of the Finnish language in a country where the official language of government was Swedish or Russian, despite the large majority of the population being Finnish-speakers.See "Introduction: Reflections on Political Thought in Finland", p. 9: "Fennoman cultural nationalism put an emphasis on the education and elevation of the people, and it became the leading force in the university sphere and in the bureaucracy. In the late 19th century Fennoman politics were more exclusively concentrated on the language question, trying to replace Swedish with Finnish." The revival of the language spoken by the majority was symbolized by the creation of the national epos Kalevala and by a new reverence for the Finno-Ugric folk culture. The Fennomans protested against Finnish participation in the Scandinavian exhibition in Stockholm 1866, arguing that it would "enforce the impression that Finland belonged culturally to the Scandinavian realm" and imply that Finland did not have its own history before 1809 but was "first and foremost a periphery of western civilisation". The Fennoman movement met with resistance from the Svecoman movement and the Swedish elite.Kolehmainen, John Ilmari (1943). "Antti Jalava and Hungarian-Finnish Rapprochement". Slavonic and East European Review. American Series, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Nov. 1943), pp. 167-174. Finland Swedish author Zacharias Topelius joined in the criticism of the Fennoman movement in 1872, when a rhetorical question was posed by a peasant member of the Finnish parliament. The peasant parliamentarian referred to the often-mentioned claim that Finland was in debt to Sweden for its western civilization and he asked if anyone could show him the original promissory note of this debt. According to Dr. Henrik Meinander, Professor, Department of History, University of Helsinki, Finland, the rhetorical question was meant to emphasize that "Finns already stood on their own two feet and had bowed enough to the domestic Swedish-speaking elite." In response, Topelius wrote a poem arguing that the entire Finnish society was part of this promissory note.Meinander, Henrik. (2002). "On the Brink or Between? The conception of Europe in Finnish identity". The Meaning of Europe. Ed. Mikael af Malmborg and Bo Stråth. Oxford: Berg, 2002. ISBN 1-85973-576-2 Finland's struggles and success in establishing a unique identity has been followed by scholars and journalists around the world.See for example: Agrawal, Subhash. Finland: A Turnaround Success Story, The Financial Express, net edition, Mumbai, India, 1 Jul. 2004.

The Russian Emperor Alexander II, Grand Duke of Finland, had issued a decree already in 1863 that would secure equal status for Finnish in public affairs within the following two decades, but only in 1902 did Finnish language finally receive an equal official status with Swedish and Russian. In Finland today, the only exception to the equality between Finnish and Swedish languages is made on the Åland islands, in favour of the Swedish language. According to the county legislation Act on the Autonomy of Åland. Published by the Parliament of Åland., the region is unilingually Swedish-speaking.

Finnish speakers constitute a minority in Sweden and Norway of similar relative size to the minority of Swedish speakers in Finland. There are also Baltic-Finnic languages languages different from standard Finnish, known as Meänkieli in Sweden and Kven in Norway. The linguistic distance between the language families has often been seen by native speakers of each of these languages as indicative of a cultural distance, as well as a reason to consider the native Finnish speakers as a people separate from the Scandinavian culture group.

History During a period of Christianization and state formation in the 10th century-13th century centuries, three consolidated kingdoms emerged in Scandinavia:

In the 1645 Treaty of Brömsebro, Denmark-Norway ceded the Norwegian provinces of Jämtland, Härjedalen and Idre & Särna, as well as the Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel (in Estonia) to Sweden. The Treaty of Roskilde, signed in 1658, forced Denmark-Norway to cede the Danish provinces Scania, Blekinge, Halland, Bornholm and the Norwegian provinces of Båhuslen and Trøndelag to Sweden. The 1660 Treaty of Copenhagen forced Sweden to return Bornholm and Trøndelag to Denmark-Norway, and to give up its recent claims to the island Funen."Treaty of Copenhagen" (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 9, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Scandinavian unions The three Scandinavian kingdoms were united in 1397 in the Kalmar Union by Queen Margrete I of Denmark. Sweden left the union in 1523 under King Gustav Vasa. In the aftermath of Sweden's secession from the Kalmar Union, civil war broke out in Denmark and Norway. The Protestant Reformation followed. When things had settled down, the Norwegian Privy Council was abolished—it assembled for the last time in 1537. A personal union, entered into by the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway in 1536, lasted until 1814. Three sovereign successor states have subsequently emerged from this unequal union: Denmark, Norway and Iceland.

Denmark-Norway is the historiographical name for the former political union consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The corresponding adjective and demonym is Dano-Norwegian (disambiguation). During Danish rule, Norway kept its separate laws, coinage and army, as well as some institutions such as a royal chancellor. Norway's old royal line had died out with the death of Olav IV, The Monarchy: Historical Background. The Royal House of Norway. Official site, retrieved 9 Nov. 2006. but Norway's remaining a Hereditary Kingdom of Norway was an important factor to the Oldenburg dynasty of Denmark-Norway in its struggles to win elections as kings of Denmark.

The Dano-Norwegian union was formally dissolved at the 1814 Treaty of Kiel. The territory of Norway proper was ceded to the King of Sweden, but Norway's overseas possessions were kept by Denmark. However, widespread Norwegian resistance to the prospect of a union with Sweden induced the governor of Norway, crown prince Christian Frederick (later Christian VIII of Denmark), to call a constituent assembly at Eidsvoll in April of 1814. The assembly drew up a liberal constitution and elected him to the throne of Norway. Following a Swedish invasion during the summer, the peace conditions specified that king Christian Frederik had to resign, but Norway was to keep its independence and its constitution within a personal union with Sweden. Christian Frederik formally abdicated on August 10 1814 and returned to Denmark. The parliament Storting elected king Charles XIII of Sweden as king of Norway on November 4.

The union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, after which Prince Charles of Denmark was elected king of Norway under the name of Haakon VII.

Politics: Scandinavism ) See also Politics of Denmark, Politics of Norway and Politics of Sweden. The modern usage of the term Scandinavia has been influenced by Scandinavism (the Scandinavist political movement), which was active in the middle of the 19th century, mainly between the First war of Schleswig (1848-1850), in which Sweden and Norway contributed with considerable military force, and the Second war of Schleswig (1864). In 1864, the Swedish parliament denounced the promises of military support made to Denmark by Charles XV of Sweden. The members of the Swedish parliament were wary of joining an alliance against the rising German power.

The Swedish king also proposed a unification of Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a single United Kingdom. The background for the proposal was the tumultuous events during the Napoleonic wars in the beginning of the century. This war resulted in Finland (formerly the eastern third of Sweden) becoming the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and Norway (de jure in union with Denmark since 1387, although de facto treated as a province) becoming independent in 1814, but thereafter swiftly forced to accept a personal union with Sweden. The dependent territories Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, historically part of Norway, remained with Denmark in accordance with the Treaty of Kiel. Sweden and Norway were thus united under the Swedish monarch, but Finland's inclusion in the Russian Empire excluded any possibility for a political union between Finland and any of the other Nordic countries.

The end of the Scandinavian political movement came when Denmark was denied the military support promised from Sweden and Norway to annex the (Danish) Duchy of Schleswig, which together with the (German) Duchy of Holstein had been in personal union with Denmark. The Second war of Schleswig followed in 1864, a brief but disastrous war between Denmark and Prussia (supported by Austria). Schleswig-Holstein was conquered by Prussia, and after Prussia's success in the Franco-Prussian War a Prussian-led German Empire was created, and a new Power (international) of the Baltic sea countries was established.

Even if a Scandinavian political union never came about at this point, there was a Scandinavian Monetary Union established in 1873, lasting until World War I, with the Swedish krona/Krone as the common currency.

Historical political structure {| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center|Century||colspan=6|Scandinavia and the Nordic Countries|-| width=10% bgcolor=#f6faff align=center | 21th century| width=14% colspan=1 bgcolor=gold align=center|Denmark (EU)]| width=14% colspan=1 rowspan=2 bgcolor=#fafaff align=center|Iceland| width=14% colspan=1 bgcolor=gold align=center|[Sweden (EU)] (EU)]| bgcolor=#ffc0c0 align=center|Denmark| bgcolor=#efffef align=center|[Finland| colspan=3 bgcolor=#ffc0c0|[Denmark and [Sweden|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| [18th century| rowspan=3 colspan=4 bgcolor=#ffc0c0|Denmark-Norway|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| [17th century|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| 16th century|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| 15th century|colspan=6 bgcolor=#fff8f8|Kalmar Union| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#ffc0c0|[Denmark| rowspan=3 colspan=2 bgcolor=#ffff80|[Sweden|- bgcolor=#f6faff align=center| [12th century| bgcolor=#fafaff|Faroes| bgcolor=#ccccff|[Norway||[Faroese¹]¹||Norwegians||[Finns and [Iceland were of Nordic (mainly Norwegian) origin, with a considerable element of Celtic or Picts origin (from Scotland and Ireland) .

See also

Footnotes

External links



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