About Scandinavia
Frommer's® Scandinavia
You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go?
Merchant: eBooks
Garmin Travel Guide for Denmark Finland
Explore everything Scandinavia has to offer with the Garmin(r) Travel Guide(tm) for Northern Europe. You can look up specific points of interest in five different languages, sorted by defining category.
Merchant: Dick's Sporting Goods
Terminology and usage
In English usage, the term Scandinavia is often used as a synonym for the Nordic Countries. Within each of the Nordic societies themselves, however, no such ambiguity exists, as each term has its specific meaning. From the 1850's, Scandinavia came to include, politically and culturally, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Geographically the Scandinavian peninsula includes mainland Sweden and mainland Norway, and also a smaller part of Finland, while the Jutland Peninsula includes mainland Denmark and a small part of Germany (Denmark proper has not included any territory on the Scandinavian Peninsula since the middle of the 17th century).
The three countries that form the core of Scandinavia came to be viewed as a single political and cultural region during the height of the nationalist movements in these countries in the middle of the 19th century (Scandinavism). The region takes its name from the peninsula, which in turn is thought to be named after the historical province of Skåne (Scania in southernmost part of Scandinavian Peninsula, in Sweden). Before the mid-19th century, the term covered a larger area of Northern Europe including adjacent parts of Germany, parts of Russia bordering Finland and Estonia.
The label Scandinavia today reflects linguistic similarities (Scandinavian or North Germanic languages), historical and cultural ties as well as similar societal developments. These similarities have persisted despite past enmity and competition, opposite policies during the two World Wars and the Cold War, and differing stances on membership in international organizations (e.g. NATO and the European Union).
Geography
The region consists of the greater part of the Scandinavian and Jutland peninsulas and the islands in between. Smaller portions of the peninsulas belong to Finland and Germany.
History
The Scandinavians were Christianized in the 10th-13th centuries, resulting in three consolidated kingdoms.
- Denmark forged from the Lands of Denmark (including Blekinge, Gotland, Halland and Skåne in modern-day Sweden)
- Sweden forged from the Lands of Sweden
- Norway (including Bohuslän, Härjedalen, Jämtland and Idre & Särna in modern-day Sweden. Also Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland, the Orkneys and the Hebrides.)
The three kingdoms then united in the Kalmar UnionÖrjan Martinsson
, The Kalmar Union (external) lasting all of the 15th century when the Union was split into two halves:
- "Denmark-Norway" (including overseas possessions in the North Atlantic)
- "Sweden" (including Finland and other trans-Baltic possessions)
In the mid 17th century, the Treaty of Brömsebro and Treaty of Roskilde permanently transferred some provinces and islands from Norway and Denmark to Sweden.
After the Napoleonic Wars, Scandinavia was reorganized into three personal unions:
- Denmark with Schleswig-Holstein (dissolved in 1864; included former overseas provinces of Norway)
- Sweden and Norway (dissolved in 1905)
- Russia with the Grand Duchy of Finland (terminated in 1917)