Sweden

Sweden was a military power in the 17th century. Sweden has not participated in a war in more than two centuries. Sweden remained a neutral country during both World Wars. This allowed Sweden to become known for a safe place to hold money during times of war.

Sweden, which has a rich country side and a fluorescing economy, is located in northern Europe. Sweden was home to many ancient Viking tribes. Vikings did not wear horns on their protective head gear. They only had horns on their ceremonial head gear. The Vikings lived in Sweden starting around 793 A.D., when Europe was at war with one and other. While the Danish Vikings conquered England, and many other countries, the Swedish Vikings settled in what is today Russia. A lot has changed since that time, for one the Swedish people no longer raid towns.

Yes now Sweden is a peaceful place. The Swedish people mostly populate urban areas which make up 83% of the population. One of these urban areas is Stockholm, the nation's capital city. Other major cities are, Goteborg, Malmo, Uppsala, Sundsvall, and Orebro. Sweden has only approximately nine million inhabitants. This is one of the lowest populations in Europe.

An interesting fact about Sweden is that it is home to the Nobel prize. The Nobel Prize is an international award given yearly since 1901 for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for peace. In 1968, the bank of Sweden instated the prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize.

Sweden contains many islands within lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as off the coast. The islands of Sweden are tourist hot spots. Sweden is mostly cold, but some parts of it can be very tropical. Tourist can also visit many villages, full of beauty.

Sweden uses a type of currency called the Krona. The Krona is their dollar and the Ore is their penny. A hundred Ores equal one Krona. They do not utilize the United States currency that you have probably grown a custom to seeing. To make purchases you have to exchange your money and convert it to Swedish money. Converting Dollars to Swedish money is an advantage because Sweden retail's have rarities not commonly found in the United States.

Sweden uses a large variety of languages. Several examples of the living languages are Swedish, Sami, and Finnish. Sweden's main language is the Swedish language. The Swedish language has been Sweden's main language since 1526. Most of the people in Sweden speak the Swedish language and have done so for most of their lives.

The Swedish language is a hard language to learn, but Swedish children learn it as fast as the United States children learn English. Sweden is broken into regions, where most of the people in one area speak the same language. These areas can be compared with areas in Canada, they are still states but they have different languages in different regions. This type of segregation was not done by the government. When certain groups of people come to the country from another country, they would settle and work together.

Sweden's government is called a constitutional monarchy.