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