Northumbrian Gunner: Stockholm

Monday 10 December 2018

Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and the biggest city in Scandinavia. The city stretches across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea.

The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age. The Vikings built the first major settlement in 1000 AD and it became a major trading location.

Viking Settlement

The city was established in 1252. Between 1397 and 1523 the Kingdom of Sweden was part of the Klamar Union, a confederation of the monarchs of Denmark (including Greenland, Iceland and Faroe Islands) , Norway (including Northern Islands [Orkney and Shetland] and Sweden (which included most of which is now Finland). It left the Union in 1523 and became an independent sovereign state.
From 1348 till 1700, Sweden was part of the Hanseatic League, a trading community amongst the nations of Northern Europe during with Stockholm being a major trading location.
During the Thirty years War (1618 to 1648), Sweden expanded annexing territories around the Baltic. In 1634 Stockholm became the capital of the Swedish Empire. The Swedes were unable to sustain a large empire and ceded territory to Russia (including Finland) and other Nordic nations. The last time Sweden went to war was 1814.