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Scandinavia is a historical and geographical , 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 '' 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,[http://www.jyu.fi/yhtfil/redescriptions/articles_1997.htm "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: " 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."[http://countrystudies.us/finland/11.htm "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"[http://www.jyu.fi/yhtfil/redescriptions/boardeditors.htm 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 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 , 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 . The Scandinavian Tourist Boards in North America . Official Website. Retrieved 2 February 2007. THE NORDIC COUNTRIES VS. SCANDINAVIA See Also: Nordic countries 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 Fennoscandian Shield , even though Denmark is on the North European Plain . ETYMOLOGY , February 2003, with political boundaries added]] Scandinavia and 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 "''Scandiae''" which was used by Pliny for a group of Nordic islands, dominated descriptions of Scandinavia in classical texts during the centuries that followed. Pliny's "''Scadinavia''" may have been one of the "''Scandiae''" islands. This idea was picked up 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 was used for the entire "island" of Scandinavia by Ptolemy, including areas far 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 proceeded to insert them, arguing that they must have been referred to in the original texts and obscured over time by mistake.Malone,Kemp (1924). "Ptolemy's Skandia". ''The American Journal of Philology'', Vol. 45, No. 4. (1924), pp. 362-370. Pliny the Elder's descriptions Pliny the Elder, who was an admiral, wrote that there were 23 islands "Romanis armis cognitae", "''known to Roman arms''", in the Kattegat . His descriptions were not always easy to decipher, even though his writing of geography was what he considered a "clarior fama", "''a clearer story.''" Pliny begins (4.96) with the mountain of Saevo (mons Saevo ibi), which forms the Codanian Bay (Codanus sinus) surrounding the Cimbrian promontory. These features are thought to be the mountainous coasts of Norway and Sweden, the Skagerrak and Skagen . Saevo is most likely an early form of Zealand , which Pliny applied to southern Scandinavia. The "Cod-" in ''Codanus'' is 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 Goddess of love, fertility and beauty, who travelled in a chariot drawn by huge cats). According to Pliny, the most famous (clarissima) of the islands in the Codanian Bay is Scatinavia, of unknown size. There live the Hilleviones , who can possibly be identified with what is now Halland. As described, Saevo and Scatinavia appear to be the same place. Pliny mentions Scandinavia one more time: in 8.39 he says that the animal called achlis (given in the accusative, achlin), was born on the island of Scandinavia. Achlis is not Latin. As well as having some mythical attributes, the animal grazes and has a big upper lip. Pliny also uses the name Scandiae, presumably to mean the Danish islands, but perhaps some islands of Britain. Germanic reconstruction
Other etymologies
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 Scandinavian Giantess 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 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 ).]] See Also: Geography of Denmark Geography of Norway Geography of Sweden The geography of Scandinavia is extremely varied. Notable are the Norwegian Fjords , the Scandinavian Mountains , the flat, low areas in Denmark, and the Archipelago s 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 () 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 (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 Codified standard 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 , Norwegian and Swedish , are mutually intelligible, and Scandinavians can easily understand each other's Standard Language s 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 and Faroese , which are descended from Old West Norse . Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have, since medieval times, been influenced to varying degrees by Middle Low German and Standard German . 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 Danish 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 {Link without Title} {Link without Title} . The Scandinavian languages are (as a language family) entirely unrelated to Finnish , Estonian and Sami Languages which as Finno-Ugric Languages are distantly related to Hungarian . 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 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 Finnic 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 See Also: History of Scandinavia During a period of Christianization and state formation in the 10th - 13th 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 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 Russia n 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-balance 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 Krona / Krone as the common currency. Historical political structure 1/ The original settlers of the Faroes and Iceland were of Nordic (mainly Norwegian) origin, with a considerable element of Celt ic or Pictish origin (from Scotland and Ireland ) . SEE ALSO
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