Editing Language/Swedish/Culture/Sweden-History

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= Swedish history - from the Ice Age to modern times =

== Prehistory ==
Prehistory is a very distant time. 15,000 years ago, Sweden was completely covered with ice. It's called the Ice Age. 3000 years later the ice had disappeared from the southern part of Sweden and appeared plants, animals and humans. The men lived by hunting, fishing, harvesting edible plants.

About 6000 years ago humans in Sweden began to learn how to grow plants and raise animals. They began to use tools made of stone and wood. This is why this era is called the Stone Age.

Around 1500 years BC humans in Sweden began to make objects out of metal and bronze. This era is called the Bronze Period. Now humans have started buying and selling things in Europe.

Around 500 years BC humans in Sweden began to use iron objects. This era is called the Iron Age.

== Age of the Vikings ==
The period between the 9th century and the middle of the 11th century is called the Viking Age. The Vikings were very good at building ships and navigating the sea. They fought and traded with many countries in northern Europe. The Vikings have seized power in many countries in northern Europe.

== The Middle Age ==
In Swedish history the period from the Middle Ages has been fixed at around the year 1000 until the 1520s.

Before the Christian era reached Sweden people believed in the existence of several gods. The most famous gods are Odin, Thor and Freyja. This is called the cult of the Aesir.

When Christianity arrived in Sweden society changed. Sweden got its first Christian king, Olof Skötkonung around the year 1000. The 13th century was an eventful century. Agriculture and commerce became more organized. New towns were built. Sweden was divided into provinces. Each province had its laws. In the beginning, there were only oral, unwritten laws. The first written laws appeared in the 13th century.

During the Middle Ages, the Swedish parliament grew and began to enact the laws of the country. The Parliament, or Riksdag, was divided into four orders: the nobility, the clergy, the bourgeoisie and the peasants. The nobility was a group of people who had obtained their power and rights by inheritance.

The priests had gained a lot of power over the people and then owned 20% of the best land in Sweden. In the towns, the bourgeoisie controlled trade and crafts. The big peasants ruled the life of the countryside. The peasants drew their subsistence from the culture of the land and the breeding.


== Nordic Union ==
Towards the end of the Middle Ages Denmark, Norway and Sweden clashed for power in Scandinavia. In 1397, the Scandinavian countries signed an agreement called the Kalmar Union. With the Kalmar agreement, the three countries became one.

== The time of greatness ==
In the 16th century important events took place in the world. Christopher Columbus discovered America. Gutenberg invented the printing press. The Pope, head of the Catholic Church in Rome, lost control of much of his clergy.

Many people in Sweden were not happy with the way the Union was run by the Danish King. The “Stockholm bloodbath” is a landmark event in which the Danish king had 100 nobles beheaded in Stockholm. After this massacre, the Swedes revolted. It was Gustav Vasa who assembled a Swedish army and seized power from the Danish king. Then Gustav Vasa was crowned on June 6 of the year 1523. Peace returned to Sweden and the king succeeded in uniting the country. June 6 is also the Swedish national holiday.

During the reign of Gustav Vasa the church changed. The German pastor Martin Luther had a great influence on the Swedish church. Martin Luther had many innovative ideas about how the church should operate. The church which until then had been Catholic then became Protestant. The church had to return vast land and was forced to pay taxes to the increasingly powerful state. During this time the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament, gained in power.

From the middle of the 16th to the beginning of the 18th century, Sweden was involved in several wars around the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea was an important sea for trade. These wars were aimed at gaining control of the Baltic Sea. From 1618 to 1648, Sweden was also embroiled in a thirty year religious war. Sweden was in conflict with Denmark, Russia, Poland and Germany and took control of much of the Baltic Sea. In the middle of the 17th century, Sweden seized vast territories in the north of Germany and Poland. Sweden then became a great power.

In addition to the territory which today constitutes Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of Russia and Germany then also belonged to Sweden. Later, having lost several wars, the Swedish King Charles XII was forced to relinquish the conquered territories outside what is now Sweden. In 1721 peace returned to Sweden and the era of Swedish great power on the Baltic Sea came to an end.


== The era of freedom, the enlightenment and the revolutions ==
At the end of the time when Sweden was a great power a new system of governance was established in Sweden. Power was distributed in society and it was the beginning of a period of greater freedom which was called the era of freedom. The highest power then belonged to four social orders: the nobility, the clergy, the bourgeoisie and the peasants. Each social order had a vote with regard to laws and taxes. The new Swedish parliament was not democratically elected but nevertheless had great influence for its time.

During the Age of Freedom, Sweden tried to improve the country's economy through research and science. By acquiring knowledge about natural resources, Sweden wanted to avoid having to import and thus become self-sufficient. In 1740 the Academy of Sciences was founded for this purpose.

In the 18th century was what we call the Age of Enlightenment. Many European countries saw their prosperity increase. During the 18th century great changes took place in Europe. Much of the population learned to read. As a result, the power of the clergy and the nobility in society was called into question. The ideas of the Enlightenment as well as great economic and social advancements helped reform and revolutions to spread through old society in both Europe and the United States. The most famous revolution was that of the French Revolution in 1789.

In 1771 King Gustav III became King of Sweden. In 1772, during a moment of great discord between the different political parties, he was the author of a coup d'état. He tried to increase his power so that he could rule the country alone. It was the end of the era of freedom. This aroused much animosity and in March 1792, Gustave III was assassinated during a masked ball.

== Sweden in the 19th century ==
Gustav IV was King of Sweden from 1796 to 1809. During his reign Sweden was at war with Russia. Gustav IV Adolf lost the war and Sweden was forced to cede Finland as well as Russia. From then on, from the year 1815, peace reigned in Sweden. The discontent aroused by the reign of Gustav IV Adolf and his ineptitude for the policy of war led to his forced abdication in 1809 for the benefit of his uncle Charles XIII. At that time the parliament instituted four constitutional laws and instituted a form of government which diminished the power of the king. The four constitutional laws of the year 1809 were:
* A     form of government which included rules regarding the organization of the Swedish state.
* The     order of succession which determines the mode of succession of the throne.
* Freedom     of the press which protects freedom of expression in written form.
* The     law on the parliament which was what determined that the parliament should include the four orders the nobility, the clergy, the bourgeoisie and the     peasants.
Charles XIII had no suitable child to inherit the throne. He therefore decided to adopt the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte so that he would become king of Sweden. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte built a union between Sweden and Norway that lasted almost 100 years. In 1865, the four orders of parliament (the nobility, the clergy, the bourgeoisie and the peasants) disappeared. In its place, the parliament was divided into two sections called chambers.

The 19th century saw the Swedish population increase. At the beginning of the century the country had 2.4 million inhabitants, in 1900 it had 5.1. This increase forced many people to seek work outside of their place of residence. Many people moved to cities and went to America. Between 1865 and 1914, almost a million Swedes emigrated to America.


== Industrialization ==
Industries arrived later in the Nordic countries than in many other European countries. 
In the middle of the 19th century most of the Swedish population still made a living from agriculture. 
In the mid-1860s Sweden built railways. The railways allowed the Swedes to sell timber and iron to other countries. 
Large industries arose and work new machinery made work more efficient.

==Sources==
https://www.informationsverige.se/fr/jag-har-fatt-uppehallstillstand/samhallsorientering/boken-om-sverige/att-komma-till-sverige/sveriges-historia---fran-istid-till-modern-tid/

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