"stockholm, sweden" a Stockholm Travel Page by doug48

stockholm is the capital and largest city in sweden. sweden was first inhabited by humans around 6,000 BC just after the last ice age. the swedes were part of the viking culture during the period between 800 AD and 1100 AD. swedish viking were responsible for forming the russian trade routes. the russian tribe of the rus were decendants of these early vikings.

in the 11 th century the swedes built the fortress of gama stan in central modern day stockholm. in 1250 AD stockholm joined the german hanseatic league. this trading union with the germans made sweden a regional economic power during the middle ages. in 1350 the black death ravaged sweden killing about 30% of the population. this plague destroyed their economic base and sweden went into a period of decline. stockholm was besieged by danish queen margrete between 1391 and 1395. in 1397 sweden was forced to join the kalmar union with denmark and norway. the swedes were never happy with danish rule and in 1520 swedish nobles met with danish king christian II to discuss their grievences. king christain had them arrested and all were beheaded at the stortorget. this event is known as the stockholm blood bath. gustav vasa gathered a peasant army and after a two year seige of the city he drove the danes out of sweden. vasa was crowned the king of sweden in 1523.

during the thirty years war sweden gained territory in germany and norway and transcended denmark as the prinmary power in northern europe. sweden was to enjoy regional economic dominance until 1711 when another plague hit the country. the 1711 plague killed 25 % of the population of sweden. in 1792 the swedes inspired by the french revolution assassinated king gustav III. this marked the end of royal rule in sweden. during the post royal period two famous swedes emerged. the swedish scientist anders celsius who invented the centigrade temperature scale and carl von linne (linnaeus) who classified plants and animals. linnaeus worked closely with charles darwin on his work "the origin of the species".

in modern times sweden was neutral during WW I and prospered selling raw materials to both the germans and the british. in the 1930's the social democrats gained control of the government and sweden became a socialist state. sweden was also neutral during WW II and became a sanctuary for jews from denmark and norway. today stockholm has the largest jewish population in northern europe.

stockholm is a beautiful scandinavian city and has a number is historic and cultural attractions for the tourist. stockholm is home to the vasa museum and the medieval gama stan quarter is an interesting place to visit.