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Re: Sweden Geography

Released on 2013-02-13 00:00 GMT

Email-ID 1678644
Date unspecified
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nate Hughes" <>
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 12:03:34 PM GMT -05:00 Colombia
Subject: Sweden Geography

This is obviously just a short start, but wanted to get your thoughts on
this before I went too far in the wrong direction. Is this the basic
expanse, and I just need to flesh this out, or is there a different way we
want to focus this portion of it? Thoughts in general?

This is kind of jumpy... I would start by situating Sweden in Europe as a
whole, rather than with the part of Sweden that matters the least...

As an example of a more general look at Swedish geography (use what you
think is useful):

Sweden is situated in North Europe, without an easy access to the Atlantic
ocean due to the proximity of both Denmark and U.K. to its immediate west,
and no significant land routes to the main Continent. However, it
dominates the access to the Baltic Sea along with Denmark and has a
significant coastline on its eastern seabord that is exposed to the Baltic
region. As such, Sweden is for all intents and purposes a Baltic nation,
one that has throughout history looked to dominate the neighbors it is
most proximate to, the countries in the Baltics and Denmark.

The northern areas of Sweden are known as Norrland. They encompass more
than half the country's territory, but only a small fraction of its
population. The terrain sweeps down from high mountains along the border
with Norway to the coast of the Baltic Sea, into the Gulf of Bothnia that
separates Sweden from Finland. Though there is no major terrain barrier
demarcating the border from Sweden to Finland (only one of the many rivers
that traverses the peninsula to the Baltic Sea), the territory is
extremely sparsely populated, and the winters can be harsh -- it is well
north of the Russian territory from which weather drove back the assaults
of both Napoleon and Hitler. Kind of a random thing to say at this
point... its harsh, we can get that... Nonetheless, despite the harsh
winter, major infrastructure does hug Bothnia Gulf does it not?

Most of this northern region's sparse population lives along this coast.
The many rivers feed into the Baltic (rather than connecting to each
other). Many are used for hydroelectricity, though because essentially the
entire Gulf of Bothnia can freeze in the winter, their utility for
commerce is intermittent (though the extent of the freeze has been more
mild in recent years).

The long, north-south oriented expanse of Sweden, though sheltered to some
extent by the mountains that form its western border, represents a broad
spectrum of climactic conditions. The growing season in the south is
roughly twice as long as it is in the northern extremes of the country. As
such, the country's demographic, commercial and agricultural core has
always been in the more southern reaches of the country.

The more southern areas of Sweden are known as GAP:taland and Svealand.
The latter includes the Stockholm, the capital, and together they account
for the vast majority of Sweden's population and encompass the Swedish
geographic heartland. Much of this land is densely forested, and even in
modern times, only a small portion is cultivated. The geography favored
commerce and communication by sea, and it was no accident that the modern
day heartland of Sweden made its entrance onto the world stage during the
Viking age. This is more than a minor point, as the geography of the
Baltic Sea as a whole, save its northern extremes, is extremely conducive
to commerce. I am not sure I understand this bit that much... The Vikings
are definitely part of Swedish history, but it is the Norweigians and the
Danes who were really the "Atlantic" Vikings... The Swedens concentrated
on the Baltic area... Again, theur geography is what pushes them towards
the East and confrontations with Poland and Russia and southward towards

The Swedish vikings soon established camps on the far side of the Sea, and
the series of major river systems that pour into it gave them access to
territory deep into the Asian continent. Like the VOlga... you should talk
about that... How they ran up and down the Volka... That same geography
makes southern Sweden, along with Denmark, the natural commercial leader
in the Baltic. Its coastline offers numerous ports within short distance
of every other major port and also commands access to the open ocean
through the Kattergat. Yeah but it is not so open... There is the U.K. and
Denmark... which is why once nation states became more crystalized, Sweden
was blocked off from the Atlantic and concentrate further and further on
the Baltic region.

Nathan Hughes
Military Analyst
512.744.4300 ext. 4102