Swedish Americans
Overview
The Kingdom of Sweden is a constitutional monarchy that is located on the eastern half of the Scandinavian peninsula in Northern Europe. It measures 173,648 square miles (449,750 square kilometers), sharing the Scandinavian peninsula with Norway to the west and north. Across the Baltic Sea, Sweden borders Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the East, Poland, Germany, and Denmark to the south.
As of 1992, Sweden had a population of 8,602,000. The vast majority are ethnic Swedes, with minorities of Laplanders (Sami), Finns, Estonians, Latvians, Norwegians, and Danes, and, in the late twentieth century, immigrants from southeastern Europe and the Middle East. Virtually all Swedes officially belong to the Lutheran State Church of Sweden; there are smaller groups of Pentecostalists, Methodists, Covenant, Baptists, and Roman Catholics. The country's official language is Swedish, and the capital is Stockholm. The Swedish flag is a yellow cross on a medium blue field.
History
The Swedes are descended from the Gothic tribes that moved into Sweden following the melting glaciers, probably during the Neolithic period. The various Gothic settlements were centered in eastern Sweden and the island of Gotland in the Baltic. During the Viking period (800-1050 A.D.) the Swedes pushed eastward into Russia, and were trading as far south as the Black Sea.
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