Swedes (Swedish: svenskar) are a Scandinavian people, mostly inhabiting Sweden and the other Nordic countries, with descendants living in a number of countries.
Until the 9th century, the Scandinavian people lived in small Germanic kingdoms and chiefdoms known as petty kingdoms. The Germanic tribe of the Swedes (Swedish: svear; Old Norse: svíar) lived in Svealand, bordering the Geats to the south. The consolidation of Sweden was a long process, a...
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Swedes (Swedish: svenskar) are a Scandinavian people, mostly inhabiting Sweden and the other Nordic countries, with descendants living in a number of countries.
Until the 9th century, the Scandinavian people lived in small Germanic kingdoms and chiefdoms known as petty kingdoms. The Germanic tribe of the Swedes (Swedish: svear; Old Norse: svíar) lived in Svealand, bordering the Geats to the south. The consolidation of Sweden was a long process, and later, as Sweden's borders fluctuated over the centuries, so did the use of the Swedish language as well as Swedish self-identification.
The Swedish-speaking minority in Finland trace back to the many centuries when Finland was an integral part of Sweden. Their identity and relation towards Swedish and Finnish identities is a subject of discussion. Other groups have acquired Swedish identity; until 1658, when Scania became a possession of the Swedish Crown, the Scanians were a people of the Eastern Province of Denmark speaking a dialect...
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