Sweden’s prehistory begins in the Allerød warm period c. 12,000 BC with Late Palaeolithic reindeer-hunting camps of the Bromme culture at the edge of the ice in what is now the country’s southernmost province. This period was characterised by small bands of hunter-gatherer-fishers using flint technology.
Between the eighth and eleventh centuries BC come the Swedish Viking Age.
During this period, it is believed that the Swedes expanded from eastern Sweden and incorporated the Geats to the south. While Vikings from what is today Norway, Denmark and the west coast and south of Sweden travelled south and west, Swedish vikings and Gutar travelled east and south, going to Finland, the Baltic countries, Russia, the Mediterranean and further as far as Baghdad.
| Gustav Vasa - source |
Modern Sweden emerged out of the Kalmar Union formed in 1397, and by the unification of the country by King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. In the 17th century the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish empire. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula, were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The historically integrated eastern half of Sweden, Österland, was lost to Russia in 1809 to become the Grand duchy of Finland of Imperial Russia. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a union with Sweden, a union which lasted until 1905. Since that, Sweden has been at peace.