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Chapter One SWEDEN’S GEOGRAPHY & LANDSCAPE

S weden occupies the eastern portion of northern Europe’s Scandinavian Peninsula. Slightly larger than the state of California, and nearly the same shape, Sweden is the largest and most populous nation in Scandinavia. The Swedes call their country Sverige , which means “the land of the Sveas,” after the ancient inhabitants of the region. Stockholm is the country’s capital and biggest city. One of the northernmost nations, Sweden extends nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from north to south, and one-seventh of its territory lies above the Arctic Circle. Thick glaciers of the last ice age shaped the land, rounding mountaintops, carving out deep valleys, and digging long fjords into the coastline. Almost 100,000 lakes created by this glacial activity dot the countryside and cover about one-twelfth of the nation’s total area.

ABOVE: The small island of Rönnskär is situated in the Gulf of Bothnia, north Sweden. 11