Thursday, March 14, 2013

SWEDEN

Oresund Bridge
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. Sweden borders Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund. People who live in Sweden are called Swedes or Swedish people.

 There, they speak Swedish and English, but other minority languages are also recognized:  Finnish, MeänkieliSamiRomani and Yiddish
Its political system is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy form of government.
The total population of Sweden was estimated to be 9.5 million. However, the population density is really low (20.6 people per km² ). 
Sweden has its own currency, the Swedish krona, because they have rejected the Euro.
It's the third largest country at the European Union, at 450 295 km² by area.
Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city. Other important cities are Gothenburg, Malmo, Helsingborg or Lund. 
Some important historic facts about this country are that the Swedish Empire was an European great power during the 17th century while the king Gustavus Adolphus was in the power, and in the Thirty Year's War Sweden conquered a lot of territories. Since then, Sweden has been growing and it had stopped being the poor and scarcely populated country with no power or reputation which was before. Sweden remained neutral during the World War I and the World War II.
There are a lot of famous Swedish people. There are seven Nobel Prizes in Literature winners like Selma Lagerlöf or Harry Mantirson and authors such as August Strindberg or Astrid Lindgren. 
The nation most well-known artists are painters like Carl Larsson or Andres Zorn and the sculptors Tobias Sergel and Carl Milles. The famous music band ABBA is Swedish as well, just like Roxette, Ace of Base, Europe, A-Teens or The Cardigans. Sweden is known because of its heavy metal bands: In Flames, Amon, Amarth, Pain of Salvation, so on.
Swedish typical dishes are Swedish meatballs, pancakes, luttfisk and  Smörgåsbord.



1 comment:

  1. Now you know something interesting and useful about the country you are going to visit with the school Exchange Programme next May. I am sure it will be a great experience and you'll have a great time there!

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