

	History
	Culture
	Traditions and Festivities
	Language
	Gastronomy

History


	The area which nowadays is Sweden, was began to be occupied on the Stone Age, at the same time that the ice of the last Ice Age started to disappear. There are some theories which say that the first inhabitants lived from hunting and fruit. There is a supposition that says that southern Sweden was really inhabited during the Bronze Age, as it has been found some rests of big commercial comunities from that time.
	During the 9^th and 10^th centuries, the viking culture got expanded in Sweden with commerce, invasions and colonizations, in direction to the East, to Russia. In 1389, Norway, Denmark and Sweden got joined under the same king. The Kalmar Union was received as a personal union, not a political one; and during the 15^th century, Sweden resisted to the attempts of centralizing power in the Danish king.
	Suecia got divided from the Kalmar Union in 1521 by Gustav Eriksson Vasa, the Swedish monarch. In the 17^th century, Sweden became an European power due to its participation in the Thirty Years War. But this situation got finished in 1809, when Russia divided Sweden and created Finland as a Russian dukedom.
	The recent history of Sweden has been quiet: the last war was in 1814, against Norway. After it the two countries established an union which was peacefully broken in 1905. Sweden was a neutral country during the First and the Second World Wars. Nowadays, Sweden doesn't belong to any militar alliance, although it has taken part in militar trainings of the OTAN.
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Culture


	The Swedish artistic outlook has acquired an important international appreciation due to its writers: mainly, to the dramatist August Strindberg, but also to the children's tales from Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Lanstrum's author, traduced to all around the world. Despite the gustavian ballad from Carl Michael Bellman is well known in Sweden, it isn't known out from it.
	*The representative of the proletary literature of the 20^th century, Vilhelm Moberg, obtained the international fame with his works The Immigrants* and The Emigrants.** In the 18^th century, the scientist Carl von Linné carried out some studies about different kinds of plants, using latin names. However, the most known Swedish researcher is Alfred Nobel: the first patron of the Nobel Institute and who gives the name to the international Nobel awards.
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Traditions and Festivities


	Walpurgis Night Walpurgis Night is celebrated in April 30. It's the festivity in which Swedish people celebrate the final of the Winter and the beginning of the Spring. In those celebrations, people gather together in the street to hear to the choirs singing around bonfires.

	Midsommar Sweden is in its most splendid moment at the end of June, at the eve of Summer Solstice. In the north of the country, the sun even shines at night, and in the south, it only shines during few hours. Midsommar is an old tradition which has its origins in the summer solstices festivities of the Prehistory. The custom of the leaf clothes, which has became a national symbol of Sweden, comes from Ancient Rome and Medieval German and France.

	The Crayfish Festival Crabs are an important food in Sweden, even more than in other countries. This traditional festivity, which is celebrated in August, is a farewell of the short Swedish summer. Crab festivities are normally decorated with full moon shape torches covered with colourful papers. The guests sometimes wear party hats.

	Lucia Lucia is the festival that lights up the dark December night like a vision. Throughout the country, schools, hospitals, old-people's homes and working places are visited in the early hours of the morning by magically shining Lucia processions, which are formed by young girls singing in long white cotton night-dresses, with glimmering candles in their hair and hands. Lucia is celebrated on 13 December.

	Christmas Christmas in Sweden also lights up the long, dark Scandinavian winter. Here, we celebrate Christmas Eve on 24 December. Traditional Christmas food, candles and Christmas presents are at the heart of Christmas. The Christmas table is the king of the traditional Swedish smörgåsbord, served in a variety of ways at most of our national festivals.
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Language


	The Swedish is a Germanic language which belongs to the Nordic oriental group and it is spoken almost for all the Swedish people, even in some areas of Finland. Swedish, Danish and Norwegian people have likely languages, so that they can speak among them. The most of the Swedish people use the English as a second language. About a 95 per cent of Swedish inhabitants are members of the Lutheran Church, however, the State guarantees the free cult.
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Gastronomy


	The Swedish gastronomy is based on fresh sea food or forest products. There are some tipical foods: arenque del Báltico, salmón marinado, asado de reno ahumado, parfait de arándanos and ice with camemoros. But the visitator can also taste the home-made food, as the panqueques, pyttipanna, potato crepes and dagens rätt.
	The most important restaurants of the country are used to serve the smörgasbrd which contains all the specialities of the Swedish gastronomy. This course acquires a special importance on Christmas days, when the julbord is covered with the specialities of the Christmas festivities.
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