Sweden History Timeline
- (500) Kingdom of Svear created (first Swedish state)
- (516) Hygelac, King of the Geats, led attack on Frisia
- (550) Gotlanders came under Swedish protection
- (800) Svear conquered Gotar in southern Sweden; Birka founded on island of Bjorko
- (829) Christianity introduced by St. Ansgar
- (860) Swedish Vikings attacked Constantinople
- (1000) Svein Forkbeard, King of Denmark, and Olaf Eiriksson, King of Sweden, defeated King Olaf Tryggvason in naval Battle of Svolder; Birka destroyed; Swedes lost control of Hedeby
- (1022) Anund Jakob became king
- (1026) Canute the Great attacked Swedes and Norwegians at Battle of Holy River; Canute victorious; controlled Scandinavia
- (1050) Edmund the Old became king of Sweden
- (1054) Sweden and Denmark set boundaries
- (1066) Halsten crowned king
- (1070) Halsten deposed; Hakon the Red became King
- (1150) Erik IX crowned King
- (1160) King Erik IX killed by Danish prince
- (1187) Estonian raiders sacked, burned Sigtuna
- (1208) King Sverker overthrown at Battle of Lena
- (1220) Swedish fleet attacked Estonia
- (1229) Folkungs deposed King Eriksson
- (1233) King Eriksson returned to rule
- (1250) King Eriksson died; Valdemar crowned King; Birger Jarl declared regent until Valdemar became of age
- (1251) Folkungs rose against rule of Jarl and Valdemar; lost at Herrevads Bridge
- (1266) King Valdemar overthrown by brothers
- (1275) King Valdemar deposed
- (1292) Swedish expansion reached Karelian Isthmus
- (1318) Peasants revolted against King
- (1323) Sweden and Russia established border
- (1332) Magnus Eriksson crowned King of Sweden and King of Norway
- (1350's) Black Death killed one-third of population
- (1397) Union of Kalmar united Sweden, Denmark and Norway under one monarch
- (1448) Karl Knutsson crowned King of Sweden and King of Norway
- (1450) Danish King Kristian I convinced Norway to renounce King Knutsson
- (1451) Danes attacked Sweden
- (1465) King Knutsson forced to abdicate
- (1467) Knutsson again crowned King of Sweden
- (1495) Russians forces invaded Sweden
- (1497) King Hans of Denmark and Norway attacked Sweden; King Hans declared King of Sweden
- (1523) Gustav I (Gustav Vasa) crowned King; separated Swedish Crown from Kalmar Union
- (1568) King Eric XIV deposed; John III named King
- (1570) Peace of Stettin concluded; Denmark recognized independence of Sweden; Sweden gave up claim to Norway
- (1617) Treaty of Stolbovo ended Swedish occupation of Northern Russia
- (1628) Swedish warship Vasa sank in Stockholm harbor; 25 drowned
- (1632) Swedish and Saxon army defeated Imperial forces; King Gustavus II died in battle
- (1637) Swedish immigrants sailed to Delaware
- (1651) Sweden seized territory of Estonia
- (1653) Stockholm became capital of Sweden
- (1654) Queen Christina abdicated throne; converted to Catholicism, later buried in Rome in St. Peters
- (1685) King Charles II barred Jews from settling in Stockholm
- (1698) King Charles II invaded Denmark; forced Danish King to sign Peace of Travendal
- (1700 - 1721) Northern War occurred
- (1721) Peace of Nystad ended Northern War
- (1743) In Treaty of Abo, Sweden ceded southeast Finland to Russia
- (1790) Swedish army captured one-third of Russian fleet at Battle of Svensksund
- (1792) King Gustav III assassinated
1800s
- (1809) Sweden declared independence; constitutional monarchy established; Russia took Aland Island group from Sweden
- (1814) Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden
- (1832) Gota Canal opened
- (1852) Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Stockholm
- (1866) Alfred Nobel invented dynamite
- (1875) Denmark, Norway and Sweden adopted common basis of currency
- (1879) Labor strike by workers in timber industry occurred, several thousand refused to work
- (1897) World exposition held in Stockholm; first Swedish car built
- (1901) First Nobel Prize awarded
- (1905) Union of Norway and Sweden dissolved
- (1914) World War I began, Sweden neutral
- (1918) Sweden recognized Finland as independent state; Swedish naval expedition sent to Aland Islands to protect against Russians; Spanish flu epidemic killed 38,000 in Sweden
- (1920) Sweden joined League of Nations
- (1939) World War II began; Sweden neutral
- (1940) Sweden forced to allow German troops to cross through Sweden to Norway; Sweden became refuge for Danes and Norwegians
- (1941) Transit agreement with Germany cancelled
- (1946) Sweden joined United Nations
- (1952) Sweden founding member of Nordic Council
- (1953) Swedish diplomat, Dag Hammarskjold, became secretary general of United Nations
- (1959) Sweden became founding member of European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
- (1971) Two-chamber parliament replaced by one chamber elected by representation
- (1975) Constitutional reforms enacted; powers of monarch removed, office became ceremonial only
- (1980's) Soviet submarines suspected of invading Swedish territorial waters; relations with Soviet Union deteriorated
- (1986) Prime Minister Olof Palme assassinated
- (1990) Parliament supported governmental decision to apply for membership in European Union
- (1994) Voters narrowly approved EU membership
- (1995) Sweden joined EU
- (2000) Bridge and tunnel opened between Malmo, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark
- (2001) 12,000 demonstrators in Goteborg set up flaming barricades to protest globalization
- (2003) Foreign Minister Anna Lindh assassinated in Stockholm; referendum vote rejected Euro; power outage in southern Sweden and Denmark left 4 million without electricity
- (2004) 543 Swedes died in Asian tsunami disaster
- (2006) Bird flu discovered in Sweden; Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds resigned over shutting down website related to cartoons of Prophet Muhammad; Social Democrats lost elections ending 12 years of rule; Trade Minister, Maria Borelius, resigned over allegations of tax evasion
- (2007) Winds whipped across southwestern Sweden, more than 100,000 lost power
- (2009) Pirate Bay (file-sharing website) founders found guilty of breaking copyright law, sentenced to one year in jail, fined $4.5 Million
- (2010) Two blasts in center of Stockholm killed one, injured others
Sweden's Information

Land Area | 410,335 km2 |
---|---|
Water Area | 39,960 km2 |
Total Area | 450,295km2 (#55) |
Population | 9,880,604 (#89) |
Population Density | 24.08/km2 |
Government Type | Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy |
GDP (PPP) | $498.00 Billion |
GDP Per Capita | $49,700 |
Currency | Krona (SEK) |
More Information | Sweden |
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This page was last updated on April 7, 2017.