Sounds like you just want to be smart it's obvious he already knew that he's making the video because some of his viewers might not know that. I hate when people try and criticize content creators for making their videos simply because they want to act like things are obvious when they're not to other people this is valuable information for people who don't know already.
for a geography channel, you should be informing people that scandinavia is denmark, norway and sweden; finland along with iceland is part of the larger nordic country block
That completly depends on what you are talking about, yea the ethnolinguistic Scandinavia is usually limited to Sweden, Norway and Denmark (but also Iceland, Åland and Faroe Islands), the cultural and economic Scandinavia can be Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland. Before you comment I know theese are not all countries, but some of them have varrying degree of freedom from their suzerain country. The Scandinavian Peninsula is Sweeden, Norway and parts of Finnland and Russia, but not Denmark. Just because you think something is right dosn't mean it is. There is way more questions around what is Scandinavia. It's more a concept then actually facts, so what is and isn't Scandinavia is up for discussion. Greetings from Norway ❤
@@TheMortey "Scandinavia" is just Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It's the name of a cultural region. It does not include Finland, Iceland, The Faroes or Åland. No need to overthink this. The "Scandinavian Peninsula" is named after that cultural region, not the other way around. People often get confused by the Nordic region, and think Scandinavia is a geographical feature. It is not. It is a cultural region, which later in history gave its name to the Scandinavian peninsula. The very top of Finland is technically located in the Scandinavian peninsula, and on some maps, an extremely small and insignificant portion of Russia appears on it. But that is overthinking already. No NEED to have a clearly defined line here.
He did say that in the intro, that strictly speaking Scandinavia is only Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. But in the broader sense, Finland is usually also included when talking about Scandinavia as a whole.
I don’t know what they teach in Swedish schools now but when I went to school in the 80’s and 90’s Finland was never included in Scandinavia. I’ve lived my entire life in Sweden and have never heard anyone from Sweden include Finland in Scandinavia. So this “Finland is sometimes excluded from Scandinavia” is not true, at least not in Sweden. We always exclude Finland when we talk about Scandinavia. Just like others have said: Skandinavien - Sweden, Norway and Denmark Skandinaviska halvön - Sweden and Norway Norden - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland
Here in the Sweden my impression is that we usually talk about “Norden” (Nordics) including Finland and Iceland in a geographic and political sense while “Skandinavien” (Scandinavia) only including Sweden, Norway and Denmark is usually related to culture, linguistics and historical sense (Royal families, Vikings, Empires and wars) “Norden” is in my experience the by far most common way of talking about the region, I don’t hear many people using the term “Skandinavien” so much - mostly only when referring to people from Denmark and Norway and grouping Swedes in with them, for example when traveling abroad and saying something like “There are a lot of Scandinavians here!”. Finns and Icelandic people are usually addressed as separate groups.
Swedish myself here. When I have talked about Scandinavian countries with the family and people around me I have personally always had in mind to include Finland mainly because I see the four countries as an entity with a common past. Might not be 100% accurate, but that is what the people around me meant when they said it and what I mean when I say it as well. I went to school in the 90's-00's.
Well same thing in Finland. We were never told to be part of Scandinavia but a Nordic country. The small part of Finland that actually is in Scandinavia doesn´t really have a population. So even for that we´ve never tought to be part of Scandinavia.
”Sweden actually allowed German troops to traverse the country to invade Norway.” False, the Germans soldiers who used Swedish railway were only allowed in after the surrender of Norway. Very misleading information. Especially considering all the help Sweden gave the allies.
@@themangospy8288 Indeed. And what never gets pointed out is the fact that those transportations also provided Finland with all kinds of goods, both military and other much needed stuff to help them fight against Russia. Finland had no choice but to side with Germany because of that threat.
@@themangospy8288 Blown out of proportion? This was a source of conflict between the Norwegian and Swedish governments for years following the war. And it was also considered so controversial even by the Swedish parliament that the debate was kept confidential at the time. This was actually a very hostile action against Norway by any measure. You should read up!
@@jandmath What happened was soliders on leave was on transport through Sweden, and this was to avoid being invaded. It would have been mad to let German troops go through Sweden, that could have meant an invasion by itself. Both Sweden and Norway also rejected British and French troops to go through Sweden to Finland (since they rightfully suspected they would stay there). I know there is a Norwegian guy saying that some of the medics was soliders, but as far as I know, he have not presented any evidence for this, and even if those medics was soliders, it would have meant a marginal effect since they would be so few.
Whether this had any military consequences is not really the focus - although you could argue that the transport through Sweden would give Germany an advantage when it comes to responsiveness and capacity. The point is that Sweden gave the impression of neutrality, but in reality aided Germany. When the war dynamics changed in favour of the allies, and also due to pressure from the allied forced, Sweden revoked the agreement. So my point is that this was a real controversy, also internally in Sweden. To say this is overstated is wrong. This is discussed in several books.
Goldilocks syndrome... You need a region that's JUST RIGHT... Hence Sweden... It's the Alberta of the Nordics... BC is too mountainous... Manitoba largely too lake-filled and Saskatchewan to hot and dry in everything but the Saskatoon-Lloydminster-Prince Albert region that extends into Alberta past Vegreville reaching Edmonton. Hence why you look at maps here and the largest clusters of settlement branch out from Edmonton eastward and southward... Tons of Mennonites, Hutterites, Germanic, Ukrainian and Scandi farmers around these parts!
Sweden has more lakes than Finland. It's the climate and lack of large agrarian plains that is the biggest hindrance for Finland. Finish topsoil was scraped clean by the glaciers, and unfertile moraine was deposited instead.
It´s interesting that Sweden has a a bit of what all its neighbor has. It has mountains like Norway, it has forest and lakes like Finland, and it has farm land like Denmark. It´s the only Nordic country that has a bit if everything.
A bit of everything including a bit of Middle East/Africa! Over 2 million immigrants in 20 years going from 9 to 11 million in that period, now also defines Sweden and makes them exceptional in a Nordic context.
@@comedyriff5231 there's also a lot of french inspired castles built in the Romantic architectural style. Lots of Oak tree forest, pastures and yellow open fields that stretches for miles
@@Mike-zx1kxSweden’s population is 10.5 million. And of those 2 million immigrants since 2004, about half has been EU migration, including ca 300k Swedish citizens moving back. The statistics also include non permanent migration such as temporary foreign workers and exchange students that no longer lives in Sweden etc etc.
And angry and confusion in Greenland which both Canadian and Scandinavian in almost equal measures both historically, geographically and politically.. It's the ultimate bridge zone, hence why America seems still so eager to step in and seize it...
I would not credit the swedish imperial times with population growth, as it was a terrible time to be a swede. People were dying like flies in large wars interspersed by plague epidemics. The population started growing in the 1800's after the introduction of peace, potatoes and vaccines (according to a swedish proverb)
If Sweden didn’t go to war as much and if the big emigration wave to America didn’t happen in the 1800s due to famine - I think Sweden would have more than 20 million people today.
Yes, it is rare to hear that ever mentioned, but when the imperial swedish adventure began, Sweden had a large fortune, having large savings after many years of mining (Copper and Silver if I remember right). They average swede were not rich, but the state had liquid capital. After the swedish adventure ended, it was a poor, broken and destroyed country. It was in many ways the same story as Germany in WWII. They got off to a good start under Gustav Adolf, then under Karl 12, came the downfall. When it stopped, Sweden as a major European nation was destroyed. They had spent all their money on war and lost a big part of their population. This powerty hung on until the late 1800's and powerty was even common up in the start of the 1900. That is also why there were such a large emigration to the US (During the 19th and early 20th centuries, about 1.3 million Swedes left Sweden for the United States of America, about 20 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women)
@@peterrumspringa9757 Karl XII was not involved in military adventurism, the Great Northern War was a fully defensive war on Sweden’s part. We’re paying today for Sweden having lost it too as it was a big part of Russia emerging as a great European power.
The rumor goes that Karl 12 was murdered by his own men. Because his constant warfare had turned Sweden into a poor, ruined country, not to mention the huge losses in manpower.
Sweden would like to renounce the title "home of the Scandinavian mountains", since 80% of Norway's land mass IS mountains, which explains why we call them "mountain goats" (double entendre intended)
Sweden (with Finland) and Denmark (with Norway) fought for centuries who would be the leading country in northern Europe. There were eleven Dano-Swedish wars in 1521-1814 after the Kalmar Union broke and fourteen wars between Russia and Sweden in 1475-1809. Quite often the Kingdom of Sweden had to prepare to fight at the same time in east, west and south from the Crusaders to the Napoleonic Wars. Denmark and Norway lost many regions to Sweden in 1645-1658: Gotland, Halland, Jämtland, Bohuslän, Blekinge and Skåne. Actually Turku (Åbo) in southwest Finland has been a part of Sweden longer (1229-1809) than Malmö in current southern Sweden (since 1658). During the modern times Nordic countries have been very good neighbours to each other and there are many common everyday habits. The only reason why Finland needs a proper army is our eastern neighbour.
The only reason any country needs an army is the existence of all other countries' armies. Stating any single other country as a reason only applies in the short term.
Once again. RUclipsrs get it all wrong. Finland was never mostly controlled by Sweden. Sweden has never occupied Finland. Finland was Sweden until we lost it to Russia. What is today the country of Finland was the eastern part of Sweden from ca1300 - 1809.
Very good point! This is a very frequently misunderstood fact, even among swedes. Would be like to suggest that the Swedish regions Götaland or Svealand are not really Swedish and are being occupied by Sweden. Similarly, Skåne (southernmost part of Sweden) was part of Denmark until they lost it to Sweden 1658.
Lol. Sweden literally organized crusades to cede control of the Finnish tribes. That's about "just being Sweden". Also, Finland was never just like any part of Sweden, since Swedes were always a national minority on those lands. At the very peak of the Swedish rule around 1800 only 20% of the population of Finland was speaking Swedish, the rest was speaking Finnish.
@DanielosVK It's true that Sweden did crusade the territory what now is the sovereign country of Finland, between 1000-1200. The territory was not a country and there was no sense of belonging to a nation. It was Swedish until 1809. That's about 700 years. The ideas that made Finland a nation started under the Russian occupation of the eastern part of Sweden (Finland) when there was a rallying around the Finnish language that is unique. Ended with the Russian revolution and Finland proclaimed to be a sovereign nation on the 6 of December 1917. The west coast of Finland has always been speaking Swedish. They're not speaking Swedish with a Finnish accent. It's actually a Swedish dialect. But in the main part of Finland they speak Finnish and if they can speak Swedish it's often with accent. On Åland they speak more Swedish than Finnish. The southern part of Sweden was Danish until 1658. That was occupied and given to Sweden in a peace treaty. After that, there was a brutal ethnic cleansing of everything Danish
@@DanielosVK How is that different from how Christianity spread in other parts of the world? Throughout whole history, violence have been used to convert pagans from one religion to another. That doesn't mean that "Finland" (that didn't exist at the time) lived under some kind of Swedish occupation. Also, historically in most tribal civilizations, tribes usually fought a lot even between each other. Even within the territory of current day Sweden, was during early middle ages also a tribal society.
@@epicure42 Exactly. No one is arguing that modern Finland should be "brought back into the fold as a part of Sweden" (other than on r/SWARJE, lol) but it's equally ridiculous when people like the True Finns try to diminish the importance of Sweden to Finland's history. It is in no way shape or form an exaggeration to say modern Finland would not exist without Sweden since, as has been pointed out, the very concept of a united Finland rather than a society of many small tribes (as used to be the case in Sweden too) only arose after 600 years of rule by Sweden. The country's national anthem had to be translated into Finnish because the original language is Swedish, and Åland was never a part of Finland until the ever-hateful UN decided to hand it to Finland after WWI despite the islanders' wishes and despite 94 % of it being Suecophone. Åland was never Finnic and it was inhabited in pre-Christian days by Old Norse Germanic peoples. Also, Christianity spread to most of the Mediterranean world without violence. For almost 400 years Christianity was a persecuted religion that had despite that spread from the Middle East to Portugal to the British Isles before it ever "married into power" by becoming state religion in 380 through the Edict of Thessaloniki. After that, there were a lot of violent "conversions" yes, but your description of that being how Christianity spread everywhere is totally and completely wrong (though utterly expected given the average Nordic person's knowledge of Christianity and church history). Even in Scandinavia the conversion was utterly peaceful, took centuries and started at the top with nobles who voluntarily converted, there was never an outside force "crusading" us. The same is true of the Rus, who converted en-masse after their tribal leaders were baptised by missionaries (not soldiers), the same was true in Great Moravia, etc. etc etc. Armenia was Christianized even before 380, and a monk invented the writing script they use, the same is true of the Cyrillic script which only came into being in Great Moravia thanks to Saints Cyril and Methodius, the same people who "Christianized" the region. Today these people are co-patron saints of Europe, in the CATHOLIC church no less despite being Orthodox, that's how important they were, but how many people know that today? The contrast to Islam could scarcely be starker
@@bennyklabarpan7002 What are you on about haha, its a Nordic country.... it legit just means the North aka we called it Norden here in sweden. Its Northern europe + North atlantic. Sweden, Norway and Danmark are Scandinavia. S/N/D + Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Åland are all part of "norden" aka the Nordics
@@RobinAsp77 Why would you include territories of Denmark and Finland? Just because we let the Islands govern themself mostly dosn't mean they are not a part of the country.
That completly depends on what you are talking about, yea the ethnolinguistic Scandinavia is usually limited to Sweden, Norway and Denmark (but also Iceland, Åland and Faroe Islands), the cultural and economic Scandinavia can be Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland. Before you comment I know theese are not all countries, but some of them have varrying degree of freedom from their suzerain country. The Scandinavian Peninsula is Sweeden, Norway and parts of Finnland and Russia, but not Denmark. Just because you think something is right dosn't mean it is. There is way more questions around what is Scandinavia. It's more a concept then actually facts, so what is and isn't Scandinavia is up for discussion. Greetings from Norway ❤
9:20 Sweden never alowed nazi troops to cross to invade Norway. They allowed nazi troops to cross into Finland, not Norway. Finland Was fighting a mostly defensive battle against USSR. Here is where it gets really complicated. Denmark, Norway and Finland was the best trading partners of Sweden. Sweden wanted all 3 countries to remain independent. During the early stages of the war, this was pretty simply. All 3 countries stood against the Ribbentrop pact. But then Germany and USSR flipped. Because Finland was invaded by USSR and the other two Germany, this made it very complicated where Sweden supported both war against USSR as well as against Germany (sort of kind of on paper)
Finland fought one defensive war against the USSR, one offensive war against the USSR while allied with Germany, and one defensive(?) war/skirmish against Germany to drive out the Germans from the country to secure a ceasefire with the Soviets. The reason for attacking the Germans was that they refused to retreat from the country peacefully as fast as the Soviets demanded.
@@matsv201 There was from 1940, "furlough" traffic of German troops between Norway and Germany over Swedish territory, by train. Allowing Germany to replace there forces in Norway. Some traffic also by ship in Swedish territorial waters.
@@cgn4512 That is incorect. All traffic was carried out in Sweden with swedish train under swedish controll. There was by swedish policy not alowed to enter Norway via Sweden. Actually the opposite. Resistance members of Norway as well as SAS operations was transit via Sweden
That's a really good point. Some decades ago Sweden was 8 million people, then it grew to 10 despite its population decline among Swedes - all immigrants.
@@lisaanimi It's doing wonders for the 'numbers', and the GDP, but social cohesion is being eroded. Immigration is a nuanced issue, it isn't bad or good, it just depends on many factors.
@@lisaanimi When you place 1 million Russians into a country of 5 million Ukrainians, you haven't got 6 million Ukrainians, you've made a Russian colony. Then allow in endless more Russians until they outnumber the Ukrainians. Can you guess what has historically happened in this scenario?
Sweden did not allow the Germans to transport troops to invade Norway. Rather, they allowed troops (but not equipment) to pass their territory only after Norway was already occupied. The diplomatic game Sweden played to stay out of the war is a very interesting story in itself.
@@jandmath It is not wrong. Norway was occupied in April 1940, and Germans soldiers on leave were allowed to travel by Swedish trains only when Norway had already surrendered. Later on, German soldiers traveled through the country mainly to fight the Soviets along the Finish border, or to transport injured soldiers. There were instances of trucks and artillery pieces being moved through the country but those were in negligible amounts. Soldiers with rifles, ammunition, rations and medical supplies, however, was common. Some of these trains, however, were sabotaged by Swedes rebelling against this decision. Just like many volunteered to protect Finland from the Soviets.
The Germans did NOT have control over the whole of Norway in April 1940. Fighting took place in northern Norway until 10 June. In the period up to 10 June 1940, approx. 300 German nurses and 400 tonnes of equipment were transported to Norway via Sweden. In retrospect, it has emerged that many of these nurses were in reality weapons and radio specialists. The transport of shipwrecked German sailors from the occupied parts of Norway to Germany was also allowed, despite protests from Norway.
Love your videos, Geoff! One suggestion: please stick to either instrumental or better yet no background music. I found the strange wailing vocals at a low volume to be distracting and irritating.
9 seconds in to the video and I got pissed off because he got Scandinavia wrong, like that's not even all the Nordics (which would include Iceland) so he can't even say he got it mixed up. His disclaimer makes no sense because Finland is not just "sometimes" excluded from Scandinavia, it's always excluded. You won't meet a scandinavian who would include Finland in Scandinavia, and in school Finland was never included when talking about Scandinavia. Finland is a nordic country.
That completly depends on what you are talking about, yea the ethnolinguistic Scandinavia is usually limited to Sweden, Norway and Denmark (but also Iceland, Åland and Faroe Islands), the cultural and economic Scandinavia can be Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland. Before you comment I know theese are not all countries, but some of them have varrying degree of freedom from their suzerain country. The Scandinavian Peninsula is Sweeden, Norway and parts of Finnland and Russia, but not Denmark. Just because you think something is right dosn't mean it is. There is way more questions around what is Scandinavia. It's more a concept then actually facts, so what is and isn't Scandinavia is up for discussion. Greetings from Norway ❤
7:36 map is wrong: The Russian and Ottoman empires did not exist during the Viking age, and the byzantine empire did not have those borders. Otherwise I'm enjoying the video!
@@MrCHAIRMANOFTHEBORED You are not wrong about Koenigsegg. Their facilities are on a former Swedish Airforce Base and the ghost emblem they use is a homage to the squadron that used to operate from that base, it was their emblem originally.
Before anyone else gets the chance to comment on it, I have to get ahead and say that Scandinavia, while often used as a term to talk about all of the Nordic countries or Fennoscandia, technically only refers to Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Finns are especially adamant about this. Cheers from, you guessed it, Finland!
@@matthewbelamont5800 Scandinavia typically refers to the countries where Nordic Germanic cultures are native, like Denmark, Sweden, Norway and sometimes Iceland is included. Finland is typically not included because the majority native culture is not Germanic, but Uralic, like Estonia, Hungary and various regions in and around the Ural mountains in Russia. It is included in the Nordic countries along with Scandinavia and the Baltic states because it is so far north.
Finland isn't just ''sometimes'' excluded in this term... It's always excluded because it's not part of Scandinavia. Only Americans who are too lazy to learn the difference of Scandinavia and Nordic would call Finland part of Scandinavia. It's like saying... ''Canadians and Mexicans are AMERICAN because of their countries location in the North American continent''. Finns aren't Scandinavians, they are Finns... Norwegians, Swedes and Danes are however: Scandinavians.
@@lisaanimi Correcting misinformation makes someone insufferable? I would think that what actually makes someone insufferable is things like when they refer to someone as insufferable just for doing the right thing, like correcting misinformation...
Slartibartfast was responsible for the fjords of Norway. Sweden gave us the Swedish Chef. The most popular Hondas in Finland as Helsinki Accords. Also, at the end of a race in Helsinki you will find the Finnish line. And thank you Geoff for the correct pronunciation of Copenhagen.
It's interesting that Sweden 🇸🇪 has a bit of what all it's neighbor has? It has Mountain's like Norway 🇳🇴. It has Forest's and Lake's like Finland 🇫🇮 and it has Farm's land like Denmark 🇩🇰. It's the only Nordic country that has a bit if everything. 😍🇵🇭
But yet, Norway became very rich in the last century by doing the one thing it could exploit: its natural resources. Norwegian petroleum fields are making huge amounts of money, and the country's rugged landscape also made it very amenable for hydroelectric power generation. Also, Norway has a very active fishing fleet even in 2024.
I'm surprised you didn't mention Sweden has the biggest archipelago with 270 000 islands. My last name actually means "park on island" in swedish, so i'm a bit annoyed that wasn't mentioned as a prominent physical feature. Even just Stockholm is made up of island and it's easy to tell where on any map where it is because of this.
Even if we avoid the obvious nordic/scandinavian mistake this has to be your least accurate video yet. Yes, there was a famine in the 1860s, but the important stuff happens after that. Firstly Sweden joins the industrial revolution quicker than any other nordic nation. This creates economic growth, increased urbanism etc. faster and on a larger scale then in other nordic countries. Lots of finns and some other nordics movebto Sweden post ww2 due to better opperunities. Secondly Sweden also attracts workers from the south of europe to these industries in a way that the other countries does not, most of these move permenantly to Sweden. Thirdly For a long period of time Sweden had more welcoming policy towards imigration. Sewden still has a much more diversified economy than any other nordic country and this creates a broarder rangr of job oppertunities etc.
@@okklidokkli ofcourse also for the troops doing garrison duty in the norwegian coast, but the reasoning was mainly for the finnish front in Lapland for sweden to let passage, as it wasn't possible during winter to sail on the baltic.
@@okklidokkli They did not let German troops through Sweden during the invasion of Norway. They let German occupation troops ride trains to/from Norway to Germany through Sweden when they were on home leave. This happened after the fighting in Norway had ceased. It is still a sensitive subject though.
@@matsandersson4846 True, it was during the occupation, but still... It was a huge benefit for the Wehrmacht, transporting almost 400.000 soldiers back and forth on Swedish rails helped the occupation a lot and made it easier.
A thing that rarely is being brought up when discussing Swedish geography is that sweden has the most islands of all countries in the world. I am a swed and i didn't know this before my Italian girlfriend told me that.
Technically it comes down to how you count islands. Sweden basically counts every rock sticking out of the water an "island" meanwhile Indonesia counts only liveable lands surrounded by water as "islands" So in practice while Indonesia has the most island in the world, Sweden's category makes it owner of most island by a long shot
@@marmac83 Indonesia isn't even close when they count all the tiny rocks in the sea. Just look at the coastline of countries like Sweden, Norway or Finland. Thousands of tiny little islands.
@@lisaanimi Similarly you can find out that Finland's definition for a lake is a much smaller body of water than what's the definition of a lake in Canada for example.
A easy way to tell between the Nordic countries is: Sweden - Land of the Forest Norway - Land of the Mountains & Fjords Denmark - Land of the fields & lowlands Finland - Land of the Lakes Iceland - Land of the Ice and Fire, Glaciers and Volcanos Sweden has a larger population mostly because they have larger landmass. Denmark actually has the largest population density, unless you count Greenland which technically is apart of Denmark, but that part would complicate everything, since Greenland is technically not even in Europe.
@@ProgressIsTheOnlyEvolution Sweden has a larger population because of more farmlands. All over the Nordic countries people basically only live where there is farmlands or proximity to the sea. Even if Sweden gave the northern part to Norway we would still outnumber them.
Sweden isn’t really the country of forests. It’s the land of all these geographic features (except volcanoes) combined with a twist of Southern European vibes on Gotland island’s white limestone soil and arid looking climate/trees with rocky beaches and blue crystal clear water.
Absolutely love this part of the world. Born and raised in NW Oregon. I've never gotten to go there but I'd love to. I'm weird because i love colder places.
@@kingboss1279 Not yes and no, just no. Scandinavia is only Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. The Scandinavian Peninsula on the other hand, is Norway, Sweden, and parts of north western Finland. And Fennoscandia is Norway, Sweden, Finland, and parts of north western Russia.
Large parts of present day Sweden were historically part of Denmark. If you scrape off 2 million Swedes and imagine them being Danes, the situation gets a bit more balanced. Population density for Denmark and the old Danish lands in Sweden are fairly comparable, while they are decisively lower for the historical Sweden.
yes and entire finland, estonia, norway, latvia, part of lithuania, pomerania, hamburg, st petersburg, were part of sweden for hundreds of years so you add another 15-20+ million to sweden if we are going to go by your logic.
@@joakimb7851 many of those parts you mentioned were possessions-not parts-of Sweden only for a few years. And they were never incorporated in Sweden. And they were not culturally or linguistically Scandinavian. They were administered as colonies, and sometimes not even that. St Petersburg didn't even exist during the brief period Ingermanland was under the Swedish Crown. You are totally missing the point. The point is that it's the large arable plains that support a high population. A third of historical Denmark is today part of Sweden, which explains why Sweden has a bigger population, despite not as high agrarian production in average. The Scanian plains have the same population density as Denmark does (roughly 300 capita/km²), while Swedish plains further north have a much lower population density. And by historical Denmark I mean areas that were part of the cultural Danish area for over a thousand years, even well before the Viking Age.
@@themangospy8288 Scania, Halland and Blekinge. So roughly a third of historical Denmark. Before the mass refuge crisis of the late 17th century, these lands held not far off from half the Danish population at the time.
Theres over 800 comments and 99% of them are saying Finland isnt part of Scandinavia. You'd think one or two comment had been enough. Apparently no one reads comments before making their own
Lol another very important, maybe the most important reason why Sweden is so far ahead population wise is because Sweden annexed the Danish areas of halland, Skåne and blekinge. The two countries have had simulair populations before Sweden annexed these. And if you were to simply transfer the regions back to denmark again, the population number would yet again be neck and neck 🤷
@@matthewbarabas3052 Nordics is the more commonly used, and well established term, both within EU and Nordic countries themselves. The only ones that stubbornly use the term Scandinavia are Americans.
More that 540000 Finns moved to Sweden after year 1945. Lot of immigration to Sweden. North Finland is not bad place to live, when you learn to be in cool -35'C winter weather and summer is warm, sometimes too warm/hot. 4 beautiful seasons, lot of colours. Winter time is brutal, but you know that nature can get rid off you, it is not problem.
My ancestors moved from Finland to Sweden in the 1700s immigration wave. Eastern Sweden where they settled is probably a little more hospitable. Family stories says they were from Savolax, don't know how that compares to Värmland.
Very many falsehoods in this. For example Sweden never allowed German troops to go through Sweden to invade Norway. Sweden did however allow German troops to go from Norway to Finland in the Continuation War.
Well! If you open the doors and , for decades, greets everyone "Come in, come in! Your population will increase? Problems? Yes, seems to me that they are paying the price for this policy now?
You'd be surprised how hot Sweden is half the year. People assume it's cold here all year round and then they come here with warm clothing only in August and it's +30C and humid. It also depends where you are. I mean if you're in Kiruna you're gonna be twice colder than in Skåne. If you lay Sweden down lengthwise from Skåne it would reach Italy at about 1500km.
Generally speaking, the closer you are to the poles, the more temperature variation you have. Tropical regions don't really get seasons in terms of temperature changes, but more often seasonal changes in rainfall. Where I live (in the Virginian Appalachians) we swing from about 38C in the Summer (though most days are around 30-35C) down to about -20C in the Winter (though most days are between 5 to -10 C). So our 'average temp' swings about 45C, and our 'extreme temp' swings about 60C. If you go to Fairbanks Alaska, though, most days in the Summer will be between 30C-20C, and most days in the Winter will be between -30 to -40C, which is a swing of about 70C (I don't live there to tell you what the possible extreme temp swing is, and those stats are a lot harder to find)
Scandinavia is a geographic boundary in northern Europe that incorporates Denmark, Norway and Sweden, where they talk Nordic languages. Finland is not in Scandinavia. And finnish is not a nordic language. The finnish language is of the Uralic language family
My folks went to Scandinavia. I believe they were in Finland, but I really don't remember. They took a hovercraft tour. While they were on the tour, the hovercraft broke down. The hovercraft went over to a small, desert island... desert because the water was salt water, so no fresh water source. Some of the passengers elected to climb the bridge pylon, but my folks weren't up to climbing stairs, especially that many...
Finland isn't a Scandinavian country. Scandinavian isn't a geographic, but a cultural designation. They are the countries that derive from the old Norse culture around Scandinavian peninsula. -kind regards, a Finn
It's a bit weird to talk about Finland as being under occupation by either Russia or Sweden. Finland was the eastern half of Sweden since Sweden was formed as a kingdom (longer than the current southern parts of Sweden), many prominent historical political figure originated from Finland, and several kings spoke Finnish (as a second language). The language of the court was Swedish, but then again Finnish didn't even have a codified written language until the conversion of Sweden to Protestantism. This wasn't really occupation in any modern meaning of the word. After Finland was annexed by Russia, things turned out better than what one would expect from an outright occupation, as Finland got turned into a Duchy and got to retain their Swedish constitution. It was also during this time that Finnish became an official language of the Finland, and for most of this time Russia ruled with a rather soft hand. Many Finns consider this period better than Swedish rule. However, this backfired quite a bit when Russia tried to russify Finland, which then sparked substantial nationalistic sentiments culminating with Finland declaring independence during the Russian Revolution. Ofc, the wars between Sweden and Russia, particularly during the 18th century, were horrible for the Finnish population living close to Russia. Even my home town of Umeå in the north of Sweden was sacked and burned 3 times during the first half of the 18th century. Essentially all of Finland suffered just as bad during those years. Add to that the actions of the USSR, and Russia is in a completely different ballpark than Sweden when it comes to how it is perceived both currently and historically by Finns.
An important piece of this topic is that Denmark was originally the strongest and likely had the highest population. Were Sweden to return Skåne, Blekinge and Halland that it took from Denmark, the difference in scale between the two would be largely equalised.
@@bennyklabarpan7002 The term Nordic don't have anything to do with being germanic. You are thinking about the term Scandinavian. All Scandinavians are Nordic but not all Nordics are Scandinavians. Nordic is a cultural and geographical thing, not ethnical nor linguistical. If Estonia hadn't been annexed by USSR in 1940's it too would be part of the Nordic group today but because they were part of the USSR so long they belong in the Baltic group because culturally they differ from the Nordic countries.
@@NordicWiseguy You're thinking of the nordic race, which estonians indeed are part of. Linguistically and culturally nordic = north germanic. Finland being considered nordic is just an imperialistic/colonial afterthought, as they are seen as an extension of Sweden, even being created with Swedish laws within russia.
@@bennyklabarpan7002 Every comment I have read from you have contained very strange "information". There is no such thing as a "Nordic race" that is an invention of people in the 1800s who did not know genetic science. Finland is definitively Nordic. The other guy is 100% correct.
@@Spacemongerr Species and races are not defined by genetics. There is a greater genetic difference between northern europeans and africans than there are between eurasians and neanderthals.
I wish all native people from Sverige nothing more than happiness and good life. Hopefully you will manage the crisis created by immigrant mob/mafia. Greetings from Poland.
Not that it matters, i love my Finnish brother and sisters and I would like them to belong to Scandinavia but they dont, they are with the Nordics. But as a Swede I cant have a better neighbor tjan the Finnish people! They are strong and resilient to our eastern neighbor russia,
9:19 That's false information. "Sweden would actually allow Nazi troops to traverse their territory in order to invade Norway." - The Swedish wartime unity government allowed German transports on Swedish railways after the invasion of Norway was over and Germany had occupational control of the country, after denying transits during the fighting, citing that the Swedish and Norwegian were brother peoples, which made sense to Nazi Germany who accepted that objection. However, on June 17, 1940, high-ranking military officials in Berlin emphasized to the Swedish embassy there that the brother people were now defeated and allowing transits to facilitate German logistics now wouldn't contribute to the invasion, and that a refusal of this German request for transits would lead to "coercive measures, probably of military nature". It's not that hard to look up the German invasion of Norway on Wikipedia to see that it didn't go through Sweden before making a video for half a million subscribers. 14:10 Wrong. "Norway, then a part of Sweden . . . " - It was a personal union, not a real union, so Norway wasn’t a part of Sweden. They shared the Swedish king and foreign policy, but Norway had its own constitution, parliament, laws, institutions, etc.
9:20 Wrong. Sweden did not allow nazi troop movement through sweden to facilitate norwegian invasion. What was allowed as the transportation of non active personel (troops on leave) AFTER the invasion. I believe also from norway to finland at a later time point when they wanted to invade russia.
That 10% population growth between 2010 and 2020 is mostly immigrants. Unlike the other Scandinavian countries, Sweden has taken them in, especially during the refugee "wave" in 2015. Because of this, Sweden's future and our economy look much stronger than Finland's.
Hundreds of years ago, Denmark had control of parts of mainland, Sweden, Corresponding to where goteland Is now located along the coast As with many struggles, Warren suit and the Swedes from a little far north took over and converted into Swedish culture This made Denmark quite wealthy as they control, not only trade along the only route out of the Baltic sea, but also had a lot of fertile land and which to levy taxes
Took over and converted?? You mean ethnically cleansed, pestered the water so polio would rise and colonised with swedes so we would forcefully give up our own culture, forbid us to speak our language forcing lots of people toleave their families and flee to denmark. Is that what you mean?
@ispbrotherwolf thats fine. We never wanted to be swedish anyway, it was forced on us. Before you say stuff like that you should look into how sweden ethnically cleansed scanian people.
Their neighbors to the west and east are further north and face harsher conditions. Denmark has far less land than the other 3. How would we expect it to be more populated on a much smaller land mass?
Could you do a video about the three Spanish Speaking areas of the Caribbean? Puerto Rico, Cuba and Dominican Republic? What similarities and differences they have?
Great video idea. I also would love ones on the Anglo-Caribbean nations and colonies too because it's the common thread that holds together a very diverse set of island nations that at times could have been its own nation, still part of the UK, independent or even merged into Canada as was the concept for Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and Jamaica at different points in history hence why Canadian banks still have a weirdly large market share in some of these nations...
For crying out loud, stop this. Scandinavia = Denmark + Norway + Sweden. The Nordics = Scandinavian Countries(see above) + Finland + Iceland. Fennoscandia = Scandinavian Countries - Denmark + Finland. When talking about Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, refer to them as the Nordics or the Nordic Countries. It's okay to not talk about Iceland in this context, I'm sure they don't mind. - A Swede.
Scandinavia = Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Finnoscandia = Scandinavia plus Finland. The Nordics = Finnoscandia plus Iceland. That's how it is, there are no disputes, only people who don't know, similar to when people refer to the UK as England. Or Yanks for all Americans.
@@lisaanimi I'm guessing that you belong to the group who are a bit ignorant, or maybe even a bit behind? Sure, I'm a nerd, I like to know and understand stuff, and I'm not ashamed of that.
@@abaddon1371 Sure, but while somewhat independent parts of other countries, ie Åland is a part of Finland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are Danish.
As a Swede leaving Iceland out feels wrong. Yes they are small and has extreme nature and position but they are one of us Scandinavians for sure. In my book Estonia is becoming so. War is terrible for your population and Sweden has been spared since 1814 which Finland, Norway and Denmark was not.
Iceland is not part of Scandinavia, but you could argue that they are more Scandinavian than the Finns since Iceland was populated by Norwegian vikings. The only Scandinavians in Finland would be the Swedes, or "Finn-Swedes", Finlandssvenskar.
0:02 Scandinavia is comprised of three countries, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. There are two countries on the Scandinavian peninsula: Norway and Sweden. The Nordics (or Nordic countries) are Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. These also make up the Nordic Council.
I am from Sweden and it really feel specially good that all of Nordics now, since 7 March this year, after 500 years is within the same security union (NATO).
Just by looking at a geographic map the short answer is Denmark is small, Norway is mountainous coastline, and Finland is icy forests. Sweden is the place that is both big and cut off from the colder north. The internal lakes help to regulate temperature too.
@@Pannkakaize Migration has barely impacted population ratio between Nordic countries. Sweden has had a larger population for centuries. In fact, in 1900 Sweden had more people than Norway and Denmark combined. Today Norway and Denmark combined have more people than Sweden.
@@Spacemongerr Yeah no shit, cuz ethnic Swedes have a birth rate of 1.2, there are 7 million "Swedes" not the soon 11 Migration has barely impacted the population? Wow i want to have what youre smoking
@@Spacemongerrit’s been 100 years since population is constrained by domestic farms, as we can easily import now. Without a doubt immigration is the biggest factor of why Sweden has a bigger population, at least by 2 million and I suspect 4 million, depending how many generations back you count.
Denmark has lot's of Islands? Sweden have 260k Islands, most in the world 😁 And as a Swede, I beg you all of forgiveness. When we went east, by mistake we created Russia. The word rower is Rus by old Nors, our bad 😞
Good exposé! True as said below, that Finland is not considered a Scandinavic country, however it shares history and geography in great measure, with the other nordic countries. I also want to compliment you on the pronunciation, very good!
@@LasVegar Greenland has it's own chart, its a part of the Danish equivelent of the english commonwealth, greenland has alot of autonomy and isnt stricly "denmark" but rather in a Union with Denmark, so no i did not forget it :)
I have loved Finland since childhood. As children, we traveled around Finland summer after summer. A link to Canada is that the first ferry I worked on was called the M/S Apollo. The ship ended her life as j M/S Apollo (for the second time) 40 years later in Canada when she sailed for the shipping company Labrador Marine in between St. Barbe in Newfoundland and Labrador and Blanc-Sablon in Québec. Thanks for the video / Adam, Stockholm
@@heh9392 The "technical" definition of Scandinavia is that it isn't a geographical term but a cultural and historical term refering to the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
Even as a Swede, I understand that the term Scandinavia and Nordic can be a bit confusing but I think Geoff did a good job explaining. TECHNICALLY, Scandinavia is Sweden and Norway is it refers to the peninsula both countries are located on. Denmark is almost always included here due to historical reasons and Finland was part of Sweden for roughly 700 years so sometimes it is included too but isn't actually part of Scandinavia. The Nordic countries however is not geographical in nature in the same way and consists of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe islands as well as Greenland. Åland is also sometimes mentioned while being an autonomous region of Finland. Hope this clears up some of the confusion :). Great and very informative video!
@@Colabusken en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Bronze_Age You also have this. Finland being nordic is only the case if you acknowledge their existance as an extension of Sweden
What did you expect? Gonna be shocking for you to find ot that New York is named after York in yorkshire, along with basically thousands of other names that were just copied with a "new" at the front. All of them originate from europe.
@@PingSharp Well yeah everybody knows about Old York, Old England, Old Mexico, Old Jersey, Old Hampshire, Old Orleans, Old South Wales, Old Amsterdam, etc. But... Old Zealand? Never heard of 'er.
Norways climate is much milder than one might think. The issue for norway is the lack of low lands. The reason why a lot of Norway is as cold as it is, is becasue if the high elevation, not its position far north. Take a place like Lofoten for example, having considerably milder winters than say Chicago.
If one were to exclude finland, mostly because of its "attachment" and similar geography to nearby to russia, then one would need to exclude denmark, as it is attached to germany. Furthermore, geographically and geologically and climatologically, denmark and northern germany are almost identical.
Denmark has Scandinavian culture, Finland has not. Also Denmark have had areas of the Scandinavian peninsula for most of the history. Scania, Halland and Blekinge were Danish territories until they were ceased by Sweden in 1658, and even whole Norway was Danish until 1814.
@@Togangehver14dag again i was addressing only the author's comments concerning geography , location and climate. Neither i, nor the author , was, at that point in the vid addressing culture nor history
1:00 Properly, even Denmark is excluded, as the word "Scandinavia" refers to the geographic semi-insular of Sweden+Norway. But then again Denmark is often included because its tight cultural relation. As for Finland, it has Swedish as a protected language, becuause history. Fun fact: The Swedish + Norway + Finland part of the earth's crust is the same, and very old and stable -- so no earthquakes, and also very apt for storing nuclear waste.
You'd think that the geography person would know the difference between Scandinavia and the Nordic countries.
That threw me off.
Because nobody caresssss.
If you google what is Scandinavia it says the exact same thing as he said; Denmark, Norway and Sweden sometimes including Finland.
@@chrisdubs121If they include Finland shouldn't by Keralia or whtvr region of Russia should be Scandinavian??
Sounds like you just want to be smart it's obvious he already knew that he's making the video because some of his viewers might not know that. I hate when people try and criticize content creators for making their videos simply because they want to act like things are obvious when they're not to other people this is valuable information for people who don't know already.
for a geography channel, you should be informing people that scandinavia is denmark, norway and sweden; finland along with iceland is part of the larger nordic country block
That completly depends on what you are talking about, yea the ethnolinguistic Scandinavia is usually limited to Sweden, Norway and Denmark (but also Iceland, Åland and Faroe Islands), the cultural and economic Scandinavia can be Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland.
Before you comment I know theese are not all countries, but some of them have varrying degree of freedom from their suzerain country.
The Scandinavian Peninsula is Sweeden, Norway and parts of Finnland and Russia, but not Denmark.
Just because you think something is right dosn't mean it is. There is way more questions around what is Scandinavia. It's more a concept then actually facts, so what is and isn't Scandinavia is up for discussion.
Greetings from Norway ❤
@@TheMortey "Scandinavia" is just Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It's the name of a cultural region. It does not include Finland, Iceland, The Faroes or Åland. No need to overthink this.
The "Scandinavian Peninsula" is named after that cultural region, not the other way around. People often get confused by the Nordic region, and think Scandinavia is a geographical feature. It is not. It is a cultural region, which later in history gave its name to the Scandinavian peninsula.
The very top of Finland is technically located in the Scandinavian peninsula, and on some maps, an extremely small and insignificant portion of Russia appears on it. But that is overthinking already. No NEED to have a clearly defined line here.
He did say that in the intro, that strictly speaking Scandinavia is only Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. But in the broader sense, Finland is usually also included when talking about Scandinavia as a whole.
I don’t know what they teach in Swedish schools now but when I went to school in the 80’s and 90’s Finland was never included in Scandinavia. I’ve lived my entire life in Sweden and have never heard anyone from Sweden include Finland in Scandinavia. So this “Finland is sometimes excluded from Scandinavia” is not true, at least not in Sweden. We always exclude Finland when we talk about Scandinavia.
Just like others have said:
Skandinavien - Sweden, Norway and Denmark
Skandinaviska halvön - Sweden and Norway
Norden - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland
Here in the Sweden my impression is that we usually talk about “Norden” (Nordics) including Finland and Iceland in a geographic and political sense while “Skandinavien” (Scandinavia) only including Sweden, Norway and Denmark is usually related to culture, linguistics and historical sense (Royal families, Vikings, Empires and wars)
“Norden” is in my experience the by far most common way of talking about the region, I don’t hear many people using the term “Skandinavien” so much - mostly only when referring to people from Denmark and Norway and grouping Swedes in with them, for example when traveling abroad and saying something like “There are a lot of Scandinavians here!”. Finns and Icelandic people are usually addressed as separate groups.
As someone who lives in sweden and goes to school, finland is not a part of scandinavia.
"skandinaviska halvön"... sa ingen någonsin xd
Swedish myself here.
When I have talked about Scandinavian countries with the family and people around me I have personally always had in mind to include Finland mainly because I see the four countries as an entity with a common past.
Might not be 100% accurate, but that is what the people around me meant when they said it and what I mean when I say it as well.
I went to school in the 90's-00's.
Well same thing in Finland. We were never told to be part of Scandinavia but a Nordic country. The small part of Finland that actually is in Scandinavia doesn´t really have a population. So even for that we´ve never tought to be part of Scandinavia.
”Sweden actually allowed German troops to traverse the country to invade Norway.” False, the Germans soldiers who used Swedish railway were only allowed in after the surrender of Norway. Very misleading information. Especially considering all the help Sweden gave the allies.
Thank you for pointing that out. That incident always gets blown out of proportion.
@@themangospy8288 Indeed. And what never gets pointed out is the fact that those transportations also provided Finland with all kinds of goods, both military and other much needed stuff to help them fight against Russia. Finland had no choice but to side with Germany because of that threat.
@@themangospy8288 Blown out of proportion? This was a source of conflict between the Norwegian and Swedish governments for years following the war. And it was also considered so controversial even by the Swedish parliament that the debate was kept confidential at the time. This was actually a very hostile action against Norway by any measure. You should read up!
@@jandmath What happened was soliders on leave was on transport through Sweden, and this was to avoid being invaded. It would have been mad to let German troops go through Sweden, that could have meant an invasion by itself. Both Sweden and Norway also rejected British and French troops to go through Sweden to Finland (since they rightfully suspected they would stay there).
I know there is a Norwegian guy saying that some of the medics was soliders, but as far as I know, he have not presented any evidence for this, and even if those medics was soliders, it would have meant a marginal effect since they would be so few.
Whether this had any military consequences is not really the focus - although you could argue that the transport through Sweden would give Germany an advantage when it comes to responsiveness and capacity.
The point is that Sweden gave the impression of neutrality, but in reality aided Germany. When the war dynamics changed in favour of the allies, and also due to pressure from the allied forced, Sweden revoked the agreement.
So my point is that this was a real controversy, also internally in Sweden. To say this is overstated is wrong. This is discussed in several books.
Finland - too many lakes
Norway - too mountainous
Denmark - too small
Goldilocks syndrome... You need a region that's JUST RIGHT... Hence Sweden... It's the Alberta of the Nordics... BC is too mountainous... Manitoba largely too lake-filled and Saskatchewan to hot and dry in everything but the Saskatoon-Lloydminster-Prince Albert region that extends into Alberta past Vegreville reaching Edmonton. Hence why you look at maps here and the largest clusters of settlement branch out from Edmonton eastward and southward... Tons of Mennonites, Hutterites, Germanic, Ukrainian and Scandi farmers around these parts!
All nordic countries are good
United States🔥 - Way better than all of them
Sweden has more lakes than Finland. It's the climate and lack of large agrarian plains that is the biggest hindrance for Finland. Finish topsoil was scraped clean by the glaciers, and unfertile moraine was deposited instead.
Sweden is also a country with the most islands, followed by Finland.
It´s interesting that Sweden has a a bit of what all its neighbor has. It has mountains like Norway, it has forest and lakes like Finland, and it has farm land like Denmark. It´s the only Nordic country that has a bit if everything.
Beaches and ski resorts too. And a considerable number of i***ts
A bit of everything including a bit of Middle East/Africa! Over 2 million immigrants in 20 years going from 9 to 11 million in that period, now also defines Sweden and makes them exceptional in a Nordic context.
Just how we like it! Lagom :)
@@comedyriff5231 there's also a lot of french inspired castles built in the Romantic architectural style. Lots of Oak tree forest, pastures and yellow open fields that stretches for miles
@@Mike-zx1kxSweden’s population is 10.5 million. And of those 2 million immigrants since 2004, about half has been EU migration, including ca 300k Swedish citizens moving back. The statistics also include non permanent migration such as temporary foreign workers and exchange students that no longer lives in Sweden etc etc.
Cries in Icelandic
And angry and confusion in Greenland which both Canadian and Scandinavian in almost equal measures both historically, geographically and politically.. It's the ultimate bridge zone, hence why America seems still so eager to step in and seize it...
@@stickynorthAre you from Greenland? If you are then that's really cool, I never meet people from there.
@@ravenchild7517hes from Canada you can see in his account
MapswithoutIceland
Why? We are not scandinavian
I would not credit the swedish imperial times with population growth, as it was a terrible time to be a swede. People were dying like flies in large wars interspersed by plague epidemics. The population started growing in the 1800's after the introduction of peace, potatoes and vaccines (according to a swedish proverb)
If Sweden didn’t go to war as much and if the big emigration wave to America didn’t happen in the 1800s due to famine - I think Sweden would have more than 20 million people today.
Yes, it is rare to hear that ever mentioned, but when the imperial swedish adventure began, Sweden had a large fortune, having large savings after many years of mining (Copper and Silver if I remember right). They average swede were not rich, but the state had liquid capital.
After the swedish adventure ended, it was a poor, broken and destroyed country.
It was in many ways the same story as Germany in WWII. They got off to a good start under Gustav Adolf, then under Karl 12, came the downfall. When it stopped, Sweden as a major European nation was destroyed. They had spent all their money on war and lost a big part of their population.
This powerty hung on until the late 1800's and powerty was even common up in the start of the 1900. That is also why there were such a large emigration to the US (During the 19th and early 20th centuries, about 1.3 million Swedes left Sweden for the United States of America, about 20 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women)
@@peterrumspringa9757 Karl XII was not involved in military adventurism, the Great Northern War was a fully defensive war on Sweden’s part. We’re paying today for Sweden having lost it too as it was a big part of Russia emerging as a great European power.
@@mutantraniE Except when he was playing around in Poland and invaded Russia with no respect for the enemy, but he did not start any war
The rumor goes that Karl 12 was murdered by his own men. Because his constant warfare had turned Sweden into a poor, ruined country, not to mention the huge losses in manpower.
Sweden home of the Scandinavian mountains.
Shows drone video of Northern Norway 😂
you dont think sweden has mountains too?
@@stayhungry1503 they do, but showing Lofoten has nothing to do with Sweden.
@@stayhungry1503 Two different sets of mountains. Sweden - older Norway younger and higher mountains.
Sweden would like to renounce the title "home of the Scandinavian mountains", since 80% of Norway's land mass IS mountains, which explains why we call them "mountain goats" (double entendre intended)
@@agnetaonfelt8618 ehh no? its the same mountain range , just that the tallest peaks are on the norway side.
Sweden (with Finland) and Denmark (with Norway) fought for centuries who would be the leading country in northern Europe. There were eleven Dano-Swedish wars in 1521-1814 after the Kalmar Union broke and fourteen wars between Russia and Sweden in 1475-1809. Quite often the Kingdom of Sweden had to prepare to fight at the same time in east, west and south from the Crusaders to the Napoleonic Wars.
Denmark and Norway lost many regions to Sweden in 1645-1658: Gotland, Halland, Jämtland, Bohuslän, Blekinge and Skåne. Actually Turku (Åbo) in southwest Finland has been a part of Sweden longer (1229-1809) than Malmö in current southern Sweden (since 1658). During the modern times Nordic countries have been very good neighbours to each other and there are many common everyday habits. The only reason why Finland needs a proper army is our eastern neighbour.
The only reason any country needs an army is the existence of all other countries' armies. Stating any single other country as a reason only applies in the short term.
Once again. RUclipsrs get it all wrong. Finland was never mostly controlled by Sweden. Sweden has never occupied Finland. Finland was Sweden until we lost it to Russia. What is today the country of Finland was the eastern part of Sweden from ca1300 - 1809.
Very good point! This is a very frequently misunderstood fact, even among swedes. Would be like to suggest that the Swedish regions Götaland or Svealand are not really Swedish and are being occupied by Sweden.
Similarly, Skåne (southernmost part of Sweden) was part of Denmark until they lost it to Sweden 1658.
Lol. Sweden literally organized crusades to cede control of the Finnish tribes. That's about "just being Sweden".
Also, Finland was never just like any part of Sweden, since Swedes were always a national minority on those lands. At the very peak of the Swedish rule around 1800 only 20% of the population of Finland was speaking Swedish, the rest was speaking Finnish.
@DanielosVK It's true that Sweden did crusade the territory what now is the sovereign country of Finland, between 1000-1200. The territory was not a country and there was no sense of belonging to a nation. It was Swedish until 1809. That's about 700 years. The ideas that made Finland a nation started under the Russian occupation of the eastern part of Sweden (Finland) when there was a rallying around the Finnish language that is unique. Ended with the Russian revolution and Finland proclaimed to be a sovereign nation on the 6 of December 1917. The west coast of Finland has always been speaking Swedish. They're not speaking Swedish with a Finnish accent. It's actually a Swedish dialect. But in the main part of Finland they speak Finnish and if they can speak Swedish it's often with accent. On Åland they speak more Swedish than Finnish.
The southern part of Sweden was Danish until 1658. That was occupied and given to Sweden in a peace treaty. After that, there was a brutal ethnic cleansing of everything Danish
@@DanielosVK How is that different from how Christianity spread in other parts of the world? Throughout whole history, violence have been used to convert pagans from one religion to another. That doesn't mean that "Finland" (that didn't exist at the time) lived under some kind of Swedish occupation. Also, historically in most tribal civilizations, tribes usually fought a lot even between each other. Even within the territory of current day Sweden, was during early middle ages also a tribal society.
@@epicure42 Exactly. No one is arguing that modern Finland should be "brought back into the fold as a part of Sweden" (other than on r/SWARJE, lol) but it's equally ridiculous when people like the True Finns try to diminish the importance of Sweden to Finland's history. It is in no way shape or form an exaggeration to say modern Finland would not exist without Sweden since, as has been pointed out, the very concept of a united Finland rather than a society of many small tribes (as used to be the case in Sweden too) only arose after 600 years of rule by Sweden. The country's national anthem had to be translated into Finnish because the original language is Swedish, and Åland was never a part of Finland until the ever-hateful UN decided to hand it to Finland after WWI despite the islanders' wishes and despite 94 % of it being Suecophone. Åland was never Finnic and it was inhabited in pre-Christian days by Old Norse Germanic peoples.
Also, Christianity spread to most of the Mediterranean world without violence. For almost 400 years Christianity was a persecuted religion that had despite that spread from the Middle East to Portugal to the British Isles before it ever "married into power" by becoming state religion in 380 through the Edict of Thessaloniki. After that, there were a lot of violent "conversions" yes, but your description of that being how Christianity spread everywhere is totally and completely wrong (though utterly expected given the average Nordic person's knowledge of Christianity and church history). Even in Scandinavia the conversion was utterly peaceful, took centuries and started at the top with nobles who voluntarily converted, there was never an outside force "crusading" us. The same is true of the Rus, who converted en-masse after their tribal leaders were baptised by missionaries (not soldiers), the same was true in Great Moravia, etc. etc etc. Armenia was Christianized even before 380, and a monk invented the writing script they use, the same is true of the Cyrillic script which only came into being in Great Moravia thanks to Saints Cyril and Methodius, the same people who "Christianized" the region. Today these people are co-patron saints of Europe, in the CATHOLIC church no less despite being Orthodox, that's how important they were, but how many people know that today?
The contrast to Islam could scarcely be starker
Finland is not a Scandinavian country. Finland + Scandinavia = Nordic.
@@charleslemos7972 he quite literally said that in the first minute of the video
No Finland +Iceland -Scandinavia = Nordic
The age old debate continues.. EFF IT! Merge back into the Kalmar Union and call it a day please! ;-)
Finland is not nordic. Nordic = North Germanic
@@bennyklabarpan7002 What are you on about haha, its a Nordic country.... it legit just means the North aka we called it Norden here in sweden.
Its Northern europe + North atlantic.
Sweden, Norway and Danmark are Scandinavia. S/N/D + Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Åland are all part of "norden" aka the Nordics
In case you are talking about the Nordic countries, rather than Scandinavia, then you should not exclude Iceland
Or Åland, Færøerne, Grønland which everyone seems to forget.
@@RobinAsp77 Why would you include territories of Denmark and Finland? Just because we let the Islands govern themself mostly dosn't mean they are not a part of the country.
That completly depends on what you are talking about, yea the ethnolinguistic Scandinavia is usually limited to Sweden, Norway and Denmark (but also Iceland, Åland and Faroe Islands), the cultural and economic Scandinavia can be Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland.
Before you comment I know theese are not all countries, but some of them have varrying degree of freedom from their suzerain country.
The Scandinavian Peninsula is Sweeden, Norway and parts of Finnland and Russia, but not Denmark.
Just because you think something is right dosn't mean it is. There is way more questions around what is Scandinavia. It's more a concept then actually facts, so what is and isn't Scandinavia is up for discussion.
Greetings from Norway ❤
9:20 Sweden never alowed nazi troops to cross to invade Norway. They allowed nazi troops to cross into Finland, not Norway.
Finland Was fighting a mostly defensive battle against USSR.
Here is where it gets really complicated. Denmark, Norway and Finland was the best trading partners of Sweden. Sweden wanted all 3 countries to remain independent.
During the early stages of the war, this was pretty simply. All 3 countries stood against the Ribbentrop pact.
But then Germany and USSR flipped. Because Finland was invaded by USSR and the other two Germany, this made it very complicated where Sweden supported both war against USSR as well as against Germany (sort of kind of on paper)
Finland fought one defensive war against the USSR, one offensive war against the USSR while allied with Germany, and one defensive(?) war/skirmish against Germany to drive out the Germans from the country to secure a ceasefire with the Soviets. The reason for attacking the Germans was that they refused to retreat from the country peacefully as fast as the Soviets demanded.
My Grandfather personally escorted nazi troops to Norway as an observant on the trains. Nothing he was proud of but he did. This is official.
@@hasse_selassie thay never happened. The troops to norway got there with ships.
@@matsv201 There was from 1940, "furlough" traffic of German troops between Norway and Germany over Swedish territory, by train. Allowing Germany to replace there forces in Norway. Some traffic also by ship in Swedish territorial waters.
@@cgn4512 That is incorect. All traffic was carried out in Sweden with swedish train under swedish controll. There was by swedish policy not alowed to enter Norway via Sweden. Actually the opposite. Resistance members of Norway as well as SAS operations was transit via Sweden
You forgot about the impact of immigration since the sixties
That's a really good point. Some decades ago Sweden was 8 million people, then it grew to 10 despite its population decline among Swedes - all immigrants.
@@themangospy8288 It's funny how people online say that immigrations is ruining europe when in reality it seems to be the opposite
@@lisaanimi It's doing wonders for the 'numbers', and the GDP, but social cohesion is being eroded. Immigration is a nuanced issue, it isn't bad or good, it just depends on many factors.
Yes, Sweden's increase in crime due to immigrant gangs has really enriched the country.
@@lisaanimi When you place 1 million Russians into a country of 5 million Ukrainians, you haven't got 6 million Ukrainians, you've made a Russian colony. Then allow in endless more Russians until they outnumber the Ukrainians. Can you guess what has historically happened in this scenario?
Geographically Sweden basically combines the agricultural features of Denmark in the south, and the forest and mining of Finland in the Mid to North..
Also the scenic mountains and mineral reserves of Norway in the north and northwest.
Sweden did not allow the Germans to transport troops to invade Norway. Rather, they allowed troops (but not equipment) to pass their territory only after Norway was already occupied.
The diplomatic game Sweden played to stay out of the war is a very interesting story in itself.
Thank you for pointing that out. The misinformation is very damaging. 😢
This is positively wrong. Read a bit of history.
@@jandmath It is not wrong. Norway was occupied in April 1940, and Germans soldiers on leave were allowed to travel by Swedish trains only when Norway had already surrendered. Later on, German soldiers traveled through the country mainly to fight the Soviets along the Finish border, or to transport injured soldiers.
There were instances of trucks and artillery pieces being moved through the country but those were in negligible amounts. Soldiers with rifles, ammunition, rations and medical supplies, however, was common. Some of these trains, however, were sabotaged by Swedes rebelling against this decision. Just like many volunteered to protect Finland from the Soviets.
The Germans did NOT have control over the whole of Norway in April 1940. Fighting took place in northern Norway until 10 June. In the period up to 10 June 1940, approx. 300 German nurses and 400 tonnes of equipment were transported to Norway via Sweden. In retrospect, it has emerged that many of these nurses were in reality weapons and radio specialists. The transport of shipwrecked German sailors from the occupied parts of Norway to Germany was also allowed, despite protests from Norway.
@@ahkkariq7406 Yes, and the trains weren't allowed to begin until later that same month after the full occupation was already in effect.
Love your videos, Geoff! One suggestion: please stick to either instrumental or better yet no background music. I found the strange wailing vocals at a low volume to be distracting and irritating.
Agreed, never saw his videos before but the vocals are distracting
@jamieholt8727 thanks I was wondering if I was hearing voices at one point 😅
9 seconds in to the video and I got pissed off because he got Scandinavia wrong, like that's not even all the Nordics (which would include Iceland) so he can't even say he got it mixed up.
His disclaimer makes no sense because Finland is not just "sometimes" excluded from Scandinavia, it's always excluded. You won't meet a scandinavian who would include Finland in Scandinavia, and in school Finland was never included when talking about Scandinavia. Finland is a nordic country.
That completly depends on what you are talking about, yea the ethnolinguistic Scandinavia is usually limited to Sweden, Norway and Denmark (but also Iceland, Åland and Faroe Islands), the cultural and economic Scandinavia can be Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland.
Before you comment I know theese are not all countries, but some of them have varrying degree of freedom from their suzerain country.
The Scandinavian Peninsula is Sweeden, Norway and parts of Finnland and Russia, but not Denmark.
Just because you think something is right dosn't mean it is. There is way more questions around what is Scandinavia. It's more a concept then actually facts, so what is and isn't Scandinavia is up for discussion.
Greetings from Norway ❤
@@TheMortey Ikke engang finlenderne selv regner seg som skandinaver.
American clickbaits.
There is a rare name that he could have used which is from the tip of Scandinavian peninsula to about Petersburg. Fennoscandia.
7:36 map is wrong: The Russian and Ottoman empires did not exist during the Viking age, and the byzantine empire did not have those borders. Otherwise I'm enjoying the video!
Basically, every map here is wrong. So wrong.
Because Sweden has plenty of IKEA stores where people can work.
Not to mention gummy fish
@@SixtyNice420 we can't forget Volvo and Saab plus I believe that Koenigsegg is Swedish,but I may be wrong about that
@@MrCHAIRMANOFTHEBORED You are not wrong about Koenigsegg. Their facilities are on a former Swedish Airforce Base and the ghost emblem they use is a homage to the squadron that used to operate from that base, it was their emblem originally.
And Volvo cars (as their own)...
🤣🤣🤣
1:52 The southernmost region of Sweden is the Skåne Region, I don’t think the citizens there consider themselves part of Götaland
Geoff, I have to say that the background music is annoying. Thanks for all of your great videos. I don't miss very many.
Yes. When will he wake up and get rid of it
You didn’t mention that Sweden’s population growth in recent years is in large part due to taking in many refugees; like 163.000 in 2015 alone.
Before anyone else gets the chance to comment on it, I have to get ahead and say that Scandinavia, while often used as a term to talk about all of the Nordic countries or Fennoscandia, technically only refers to Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Finns are especially adamant about this. Cheers from, you guessed it, Finland!
Are you not embarrassed? The first 10 seconds of your video are already incorrect and you're a "geography RUclipsr".
@@Padraigofloinn He mentioned that exact point in the video, paddy.
And the «Scandinavian Peninsula» holds only Norway and Sweden
@@AreHan1991 andparts of finland
When Sweden owned Finland, it was de facto part of Scandinavia. Because it was Sweden. Now it’s not. I suspect Finns realize this connection too.
Finland is nordic, not Scandinavian.
Explain this please I always thought it was the inverse
This is true!
CGP Grey activated: ruclips.net/video/TsXMe8H6iyc/видео.htmlsi=QHwesBeJmvhMIru6
He does say in the video that people often don't include Finland as part of Scandinavia
@@matthewbelamont5800 Scandinavia typically refers to the countries where Nordic Germanic cultures are native, like Denmark, Sweden, Norway and sometimes Iceland is included. Finland is typically not included because the majority native culture is not Germanic, but Uralic, like Estonia, Hungary and various regions in and around the Ural mountains in Russia. It is included in the Nordic countries along with Scandinavia and the Baltic states because it is so far north.
Finland isn't just ''sometimes'' excluded in this term... It's always excluded because it's not part of Scandinavia. Only Americans who are too lazy to learn the difference of Scandinavia and Nordic would call Finland part of Scandinavia. It's like saying... ''Canadians and Mexicans are AMERICAN because of their countries location in the North American continent''. Finns aren't Scandinavians, they are Finns... Norwegians, Swedes and Danes are however: Scandinavians.
Well aren't you just a breath of fresh air.
@@stevewoodard527 Meaning?
@@bobmalibaliyahmarley1551 It means you're insufferable
@@lisaanimi Opinions are like assholes, we all got one.
@@lisaanimi
Correcting misinformation makes someone insufferable?
I would think that what actually makes someone insufferable is things like when they refer to someone as insufferable just for doing the right thing, like correcting misinformation...
Slartibartfast was responsible for the fjords of Norway. Sweden gave us the Swedish Chef. The most popular Hondas in Finland as Helsinki Accords. Also, at the end of a race in Helsinki you will find the Finnish line. And thank you Geoff for the correct pronunciation of Copenhagen.
It's interesting that Sweden 🇸🇪 has a bit of what all it's neighbor has? It has Mountain's like Norway 🇳🇴. It has Forest's and Lake's like Finland 🇫🇮 and it has Farm's land like Denmark 🇩🇰. It's the only Nordic country that has a bit if everything. 😍🇵🇭
But yet, Norway became very rich in the last century by doing the one thing it could exploit: its natural resources. Norwegian petroleum fields are making huge amounts of money, and the country's rugged landscape also made it very amenable for hydroelectric power generation. Also, Norway has a very active fishing fleet even in 2024.
...and along with Iceland, Japan, the USA, Russia, and Denmark it's one of the few nations on Earth still killing whales.
@@Bleckman666 Just to be clear Denmark doesnt have whale hunting, but the Faroe Islands and Greenland who are part of the Danish kingdom does.
It suprises me year after year that people don't know that Norway is an oil country
I'm surprised you didn't mention Sweden has the biggest archipelago with 270 000 islands. My last name actually means "park on island" in swedish, so i'm a bit annoyed that wasn't mentioned as a prominent physical feature. Even just Stockholm is made up of island and it's easy to tell where on any map where it is because of this.
Parkpåö
Sweden also has the largest immigration population.
Even if we avoid the obvious nordic/scandinavian mistake this has to be your least accurate video yet. Yes, there was a famine in the 1860s, but the important stuff happens after that. Firstly Sweden joins the industrial revolution quicker than any other nordic nation. This creates economic growth, increased urbanism etc. faster and on a larger scale then in other nordic countries. Lots of finns and some other nordics movebto Sweden post ww2 due to better opperunities. Secondly Sweden also attracts workers from the south of europe to these industries in a way that the other countries does not, most of these move permenantly to Sweden. Thirdly For a long period of time Sweden had more welcoming policy towards imigration.
Sewden still has a much more diversified economy than any other nordic country and this creates a broarder rangr of job oppertunities etc.
You're really messing up the historical side.
Swedes alowed german troops to pass through to invade Russia, in Finland, not to invade Norway.
Wrong. German troops used Sweden for troop transports into Norway. This is still a sensitive topic.
@@okklidokkli ofcourse also for the troops doing garrison duty in the norwegian coast, but the reasoning was mainly for the finnish front in Lapland for sweden to let passage, as it wasn't possible during winter to sail on the baltic.
@@okklidokkli They did not let German troops through Sweden during the invasion of Norway. They let German occupation troops ride trains to/from Norway to Germany through Sweden when they were on home leave. This happened after the fighting in Norway had ceased. It is still a sensitive subject though.
and neutral but huge weapon exporting nation lol they all love money
@@matsandersson4846 True, it was during the occupation, but still... It was a huge benefit for the Wehrmacht, transporting almost 400.000 soldiers back and forth on Swedish rails helped the occupation a lot and made it easier.
Finland in Spanish is Finlandia. Finlandia is also a brand of vodka. And...ok, I'll see myself out.
Don't forget your coat! You need it when you visit Finlandia.
A thing that rarely is being brought up when discussing Swedish geography is that sweden has the most islands of all countries in the world. I am a swed and i didn't know this before my Italian girlfriend told me that.
what about Indonesia?
Technically it comes down to how you count islands. Sweden basically counts every rock sticking out of the water an "island" meanwhile Indonesia counts only liveable lands surrounded by water as "islands"
So in practice while Indonesia has the most island in the world, Sweden's category makes it owner of most island by a long shot
@@marmac83 Indonesia isn't even close when they count all the tiny rocks in the sea. Just look at the coastline of countries like Sweden, Norway or Finland. Thousands of tiny little islands.
@@lisaanimi Similarly you can find out that Finland's definition for a lake is a much smaller body of water than what's the definition of a lake in Canada for example.
Sweden is many times larger than Denmark, why would it surprise you that it has a larger population?
A easy way to tell between the Nordic countries is:
Sweden - Land of the Forest
Norway - Land of the Mountains & Fjords
Denmark - Land of the fields & lowlands
Finland - Land of the Lakes
Iceland - Land of the Ice and Fire, Glaciers and Volcanos
Sweden has a larger population mostly because they have larger landmass. Denmark actually has the largest population density, unless you count Greenland which technically is apart of Denmark, but that part would complicate everything, since Greenland is technically not even in Europe.
@@ProgressIsTheOnlyEvolution Sweden has a larger population because of more farmlands. All over the Nordic countries people basically only live where there is farmlands or proximity to the sea.
Even if Sweden gave the northern part to Norway we would still outnumber them.
Sweden isn’t really the country of forests. It’s the land of all these geographic features (except volcanoes) combined with a twist of Southern European vibes on Gotland island’s white limestone soil and arid looking climate/trees with rocky beaches and blue crystal clear water.
Swedish population density is very skewed though, because 80% of the population lives in the southern third of the country.
Denmark are not just fields my friends. .Danmark has the most beautiful beaches in all Scandinavia.
@@hnorrstromif Sweden gave Denmark the areas back that you stole, Denmark and Sweden would have equal population (both around 8 million).
Absolutely love this part of the world. Born and raised in NW Oregon. I've never gotten to go there but I'd love to. I'm weird because i love colder places.
Finland is not part of Scandanavia.
Nordics. If you live there many things contain nordic in theirs names. Nordic Bank, Nordea, Nord Line, Nord Food, etc.
Yes and no, the northern part is. Scandinavia stretches in to Russia aswell. But in general you are correct you would refer to this as Fenno-Scandia
@@kingboss1279
Not yes and no, just no.
Scandinavia is only Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
The Scandinavian Peninsula on the other hand, is Norway, Sweden, and parts of north western Finland.
And Fennoscandia is Norway, Sweden, Finland, and parts of north western Russia.
@@kingboss1279 Thank you for the clarification.
Yes ... Finland is better.
Large parts of present day Sweden were historically part of Denmark. If you scrape off 2 million Swedes and imagine them being Danes, the situation gets a bit more balanced. Population density for Denmark and the old Danish lands in Sweden are fairly comparable, while they are decisively lower for the historical Sweden.
yes and entire finland, estonia, norway, latvia, part of lithuania, pomerania, hamburg, st petersburg, were part of sweden for hundreds of years so you add another 15-20+ million to sweden if we are going to go by your logic.
@@xyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyz not large parts. Just the tiny southern tip, Skåne.
Correction: Tiny bits of Sweden were historically part of Denmark.
@@joakimb7851 many of those parts you mentioned were possessions-not parts-of Sweden only for a few years. And they were never incorporated in Sweden. And they were not culturally or linguistically Scandinavian. They were administered as colonies, and sometimes not even that. St Petersburg didn't even exist during the brief period Ingermanland was under the Swedish Crown.
You are totally missing the point. The point is that it's the large arable plains that support a high population. A third of historical Denmark is today part of Sweden, which explains why Sweden has a bigger population, despite not as high agrarian production in average. The Scanian plains have the same population density as Denmark does (roughly 300 capita/km²), while Swedish plains further north have a much lower population density.
And by historical Denmark I mean areas that were part of the cultural Danish area for over a thousand years, even well before the Viking Age.
@@themangospy8288 Scania, Halland and Blekinge. So roughly a third of historical Denmark. Before the mass refuge crisis of the late 17th century, these lands held not far off from half the Danish population at the time.
It’s bad when not even a geography channel knows what Scandinavia is.
Theres over 800 comments and 99% of them are saying Finland isnt part of Scandinavia. You'd think one or two comment had been enough. Apparently no one reads comments before making their own
Why do Swedish warships have barcodes on them? So they can Scandinavian. 🥁
Lol another very important, maybe the most important reason why Sweden is so far ahead population wise is because Sweden annexed the Danish areas of halland, Skåne and blekinge. The two countries have had simulair populations before Sweden annexed these. And if you were to simply transfer the regions back to denmark again, the population number would yet again be neck and neck 🤷
Finland STILL isn't Scandinavian
Whats so hard to understand
mitä vitun väliä?
its included so often that it basically is.
It is a breakaway province of the Russian Federation!!
Finland is a NORDIC country, but NOT Scandinavian.
@@matthewbarabas3052 Nordics is the more commonly used, and well established term, both within EU and Nordic countries themselves. The only ones that stubbornly use the term Scandinavia are Americans.
Duolingo sanoo: 'Suomi ei ole Skandinaviassa!'.
More that 540000 Finns moved to Sweden after year 1945. Lot of immigration to Sweden. North Finland is not bad place to live, when you learn to be in cool -35'C winter weather and summer is warm, sometimes too warm/hot. 4 beautiful seasons, lot of colours. Winter time is brutal, but you know that nature can get rid off you, it is not problem.
My ancestors moved from Finland to Sweden in the 1700s immigration wave. Eastern Sweden where they settled is probably a little more hospitable. Family stories says they were from Savolax, don't know how that compares to Värmland.
The visuals are incredible! Thanks for your astute commentary as well Geoff
Very many falsehoods in this. For example Sweden never allowed German troops to go through Sweden to invade Norway. Sweden did however allow German troops to go from Norway to Finland in the Continuation War.
Check how the Germans manged to help Deitles troops during the fight of Narvik. Remember that the invasion of Norway lasted about 2 months
Well! If you open the doors and , for decades, greets everyone "Come in, come in! Your population will increase? Problems? Yes, seems to me that they are paying the price for this policy now?
You'd be surprised how hot Sweden is half the year.
People assume it's cold here all year round and then they come here with warm clothing only in August and it's +30C and humid.
It also depends where you are.
I mean if you're in Kiruna you're gonna be twice colder than in Skåne.
If you lay Sweden down lengthwise from Skåne it would reach Italy at about 1500km.
Generally speaking, the closer you are to the poles, the more temperature variation you have. Tropical regions don't really get seasons in terms of temperature changes, but more often seasonal changes in rainfall. Where I live (in the Virginian Appalachians) we swing from about 38C in the Summer (though most days are around 30-35C) down to about -20C in the Winter (though most days are between 5 to -10 C). So our 'average temp' swings about 45C, and our 'extreme temp' swings about 60C. If you go to Fairbanks Alaska, though, most days in the Summer will be between 30C-20C, and most days in the Winter will be between -30 to -40C, which is a swing of about 70C (I don't live there to tell you what the possible extreme temp swing is, and those stats are a lot harder to find)
As a swede you are REALLY CORRECT. Ty for making this clear.
Scandinavia is a geographic boundary in northern Europe that incorporates Denmark, Norway and Sweden, where they talk Nordic languages. Finland is not in Scandinavia. And finnish is not a nordic language. The finnish language is of the Uralic language family
My folks went to Scandinavia. I believe they were in Finland, but I really don't remember. They took a hovercraft tour. While they were on the tour, the hovercraft broke down. The hovercraft went over to a small, desert island... desert because the water was salt water, so no fresh water source. Some of the passengers elected to climb the bridge pylon, but my folks weren't up to climbing stairs, especially that many...
Finland isn't a Scandinavian country. Scandinavian isn't a geographic, but a cultural designation. They are the countries that derive from the old Norse culture around Scandinavian peninsula.
-kind regards, a Finn
Why, pray tell, did the Swedes choose Minnesota, of all places??
It's a bit weird to talk about Finland as being under occupation by either Russia or Sweden. Finland was the eastern half of Sweden since Sweden was formed as a kingdom (longer than the current southern parts of Sweden), many prominent historical political figure originated from Finland, and several kings spoke Finnish (as a second language). The language of the court was Swedish, but then again Finnish didn't even have a codified written language until the conversion of Sweden to Protestantism. This wasn't really occupation in any modern meaning of the word.
After Finland was annexed by Russia, things turned out better than what one would expect from an outright occupation, as Finland got turned into a Duchy and got to retain their Swedish constitution. It was also during this time that Finnish became an official language of the Finland, and for most of this time Russia ruled with a rather soft hand. Many Finns consider this period better than Swedish rule. However, this backfired quite a bit when Russia tried to russify Finland, which then sparked substantial nationalistic sentiments culminating with Finland declaring independence during the Russian Revolution.
Ofc, the wars between Sweden and Russia, particularly during the 18th century, were horrible for the Finnish population living close to Russia. Even my home town of Umeå in the north of Sweden was sacked and burned 3 times during the first half of the 18th century. Essentially all of Finland suffered just as bad during those years. Add to that the actions of the USSR, and Russia is in a completely different ballpark than Sweden when it comes to how it is perceived both currently and historically by Finns.
Awesome video Geoff. I'm of Swedish ancestry so was very interested in your vlog.....great job.....👍🇨🇦
Swedes migrated to Minnesota
- accentuated emphasis on sota
.does that explain Geoff's cool speech?
An important piece of this topic is that Denmark was originally the strongest and likely had the highest population. Were Sweden to return Skåne, Blekinge and Halland that it took from Denmark, the difference in scale between the two would be largely equalised.
Q. Why does person A jump higher than person B?
A. Because he could.
What a pointless video with many wrong facts.
Sweden definitely stands out in Scandinavia! I remember visiting Stockholm and being surprised by how bustling it was compared to Oslo and Copenhagen.
I thought Finland was often excluded from the Scandinavian group due to its language being totally different from the other 3.
It is. Scandinavia, Finland and Iceland are the Nordic countries.
Finland is a bilingual country. Both Swedish and Finnish are the official languages.
Ummm… Nordic would have been the right term to use. Also includes Iceland & Finland.
Finland is not nordic. They are finno-ugric. Nordic = North Germanic
@@bennyklabarpan7002
The term Nordic don't have anything to do with being germanic. You are thinking about the term Scandinavian.
All Scandinavians are Nordic but not all Nordics are Scandinavians.
Nordic is a cultural and geographical thing, not ethnical nor linguistical. If Estonia hadn't been annexed by USSR in 1940's it too would be part of the Nordic group today but because they were part of the USSR so long they belong in the Baltic group because culturally they differ from the Nordic countries.
@@NordicWiseguy You're thinking of the nordic race, which estonians indeed are part of. Linguistically and culturally nordic = north germanic. Finland being considered nordic is just an imperialistic/colonial afterthought, as they are seen as an extension of Sweden, even being created with Swedish laws within russia.
@@bennyklabarpan7002 Every comment I have read from you have contained very strange "information". There is no such thing as a "Nordic race" that is an invention of people in the 1800s who did not know genetic science. Finland is definitively Nordic. The other guy is 100% correct.
@@Spacemongerr Species and races are not defined by genetics. There is a greater genetic difference between northern europeans and africans than there are between eurasians and neanderthals.
Finland is not part of Scandinavia. You should know this as you run a geography chanel!!!
I wish all native people from Sverige nothing more than happiness and good life. Hopefully you will manage the crisis created by immigrant mob/mafia. Greetings from Poland.
Poles are literally the largest immigrant group
The top three are Syrians, Iraqi and Finns, where did you get your data from?
Poland is fourth
Not that it matters, i love my Finnish brother and sisters and I would like them to belong to Scandinavia but they dont, they are with the Nordics.
But as a Swede I cant have a better neighbor tjan the Finnish people!
They are strong and resilient to our eastern neighbor russia,
9:19 That's false information. "Sweden would actually allow Nazi troops to traverse their territory in order to invade Norway." - The Swedish wartime unity government allowed German transports on Swedish railways after the invasion of Norway was over and Germany had occupational control of the country, after denying transits during the fighting, citing that the Swedish and Norwegian were brother peoples, which made sense to Nazi Germany who accepted that objection.
However, on June 17, 1940, high-ranking military officials in Berlin emphasized to the Swedish embassy there that the brother people were now defeated and allowing transits to facilitate German logistics now wouldn't contribute to the invasion, and that a refusal of this German request for transits would lead to "coercive measures, probably of military nature".
It's not that hard to look up the German invasion of Norway on Wikipedia to see that it didn't go through Sweden before making a video for half a million subscribers.
14:10 Wrong. "Norway, then a part of Sweden . . . " - It was a personal union, not a real union, so Norway wasn’t a part of Sweden. They shared the Swedish king and foreign policy, but Norway had its own constitution, parliament, laws, institutions, etc.
9:20 Wrong. Sweden did not allow nazi troop movement through sweden to facilitate norwegian invasion. What was allowed as the transportation of non active personel (troops on leave) AFTER the invasion. I believe also from norway to finland at a later time point when they wanted to invade russia.
That 10% population growth between 2010 and 2020 is mostly immigrants. Unlike the other Scandinavian countries, Sweden has taken them in, especially during the refugee "wave" in 2015. Because of this, Sweden's future and our economy look much stronger than Finland's.
Hundreds of years ago, Denmark had control of parts of mainland, Sweden, Corresponding to where goteland Is now located along the coast
As with many struggles, Warren suit and the Swedes from a little far north took over and converted into Swedish culture
This made Denmark quite wealthy as they control, not only trade along the only route out of the Baltic sea, but also had a lot of fertile land and which to levy taxes
Götaland, not Goteland.
Yes Denmark, you can get Skåne back, we don´t like them anyway😉
@@IrenESoriusGotland var Danskt.
Took over and converted?? You mean ethnically cleansed, pestered the water so polio would rise and colonised with swedes so we would forcefully give up our own culture, forbid us to speak our language forcing lots of people toleave their families and flee to denmark. Is that what you mean?
@ispbrotherwolf thats fine. We never wanted to be swedish anyway, it was forced on us. Before you say stuff like that you should look into how sweden ethnically cleansed scanian people.
Their neighbors to the west and east are further north and face harsher conditions. Denmark has far less land than the other 3. How would we expect it to be more populated on a much smaller land mass?
Finland is not part of Scandinavia.
It's part of Russia!!!
Not russia, but the baltic states.
@@grzoli61 No, but the Nordic countries.
The video starts at 10:10
Could you do a video about the three Spanish Speaking areas of the Caribbean? Puerto Rico, Cuba and Dominican Republic? What similarities and differences they have?
Y que lo que, primo?!!
Great video idea. I also would love ones on the Anglo-Caribbean nations and colonies too because it's the common thread that holds together a very diverse set of island nations that at times could have been its own nation, still part of the UK, independent or even merged into Canada as was the concept for Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and Jamaica at different points in history hence why Canadian banks still have a weirdly large market share in some of these nations...
@@stickynorthIt is horribly wrong it is hard to find one correct statement in it.
@@larsdahlen319 French? Haiti?
For crying out loud, stop this.
Scandinavia = Denmark + Norway + Sweden.
The Nordics = Scandinavian Countries(see above) + Finland + Iceland.
Fennoscandia = Scandinavian Countries - Denmark + Finland.
When talking about Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, refer to them as the Nordics or the Nordic Countries. It's okay to not talk about Iceland in this context, I'm sure they don't mind.
- A Swede.
I am from Scandinavia specifically Denmark and we does not consider finland as a as of scandinavia But you do I think you are wrong
Scandinavia = Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
Finnoscandia = Scandinavia plus Finland.
The Nordics = Finnoscandia plus Iceland.
That's how it is, there are no disputes, only people who don't know, similar to when people refer to the UK as England. Or Yanks for all Americans.
Nerd, please stop being cringe
@@lisaanimi I'm guessing that you belong to the group who are a bit ignorant, or maybe even a bit behind?
Sure, I'm a nerd, I like to know and understand stuff, and I'm not ashamed of that.
So we are just going to leave out Greenland, Faroe Islands and Åland? They are as much part of the nordic countries as the others.
@@abaddon1371 Sure, but while somewhat independent parts of other countries, ie Åland is a part of Finland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are Danish.
@@abaddon1371 They are also just autonomous regions and not countries. Although especially in Greenland's case it feels really weird.
Finland was part of Sweden for 700 years until lost to Russia in 1809.
As a Swede leaving Iceland out feels wrong. Yes they are small and has extreme nature and position but they are one of us Scandinavians for sure. In my book Estonia is becoming so. War is terrible for your population and Sweden has been spared since 1814 which Finland, Norway and Denmark was not.
Iceland is not part of Scandinavia, but you could argue that they are more Scandinavian than the Finns since Iceland was populated by Norwegian vikings. The only Scandinavians in Finland would be the Swedes, or "Finn-Swedes", Finlandssvenskar.
¿Skandinaviska Finland?
@@themangospy8288 It is not only a geograhpical term, it is cultural (and historical).
@@Lowetofft We say "Nordic" but Scandinavian in English I guess. It si not tehs ame in our lanugae ("Norse" means just Norweigan to us).
0:02 Scandinavia is comprised of three countries, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. There are two countries on the Scandinavian peninsula: Norway and Sweden. The Nordics (or Nordic countries) are Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. These also make up the Nordic Council.
I am from Sweden and it really feel specially good that all of Nordics now, since 7 March this year, after 500 years is within the same security union (NATO).
Just by looking at a geographic map the short answer is Denmark is small, Norway is mountainous coastline, and Finland is icy forests. Sweden is the place that is both big and cut off from the colder north. The internal lakes help to regulate temperature too.
Did not even bother watching. The answer is: Sweden has more arable land. Next question.
Nope! It was Paraguay.
And mass immigration
@@Pannkakaize Migration has barely impacted population ratio between Nordic countries. Sweden has had a larger population for centuries.
In fact, in 1900 Sweden had more people than Norway and Denmark combined. Today Norway and Denmark combined have more people than Sweden.
@@Spacemongerr Yeah no shit, cuz ethnic Swedes have a birth rate of 1.2, there are 7 million "Swedes" not the soon 11
Migration has barely impacted the population? Wow i want to have what youre smoking
@@Spacemongerrit’s been 100 years since population is constrained by domestic farms, as we can easily import now. Without a doubt immigration is the biggest factor of why Sweden has a bigger population, at least by 2 million and I suspect 4 million, depending how many generations back you count.
lovely video thanks
Denmark has lot's of Islands? Sweden have 260k Islands, most in the world 😁 And as a Swede, I beg you all of forgiveness. When we went east, by mistake we created Russia. The word rower is Rus by old Nors, our bad 😞
278K I THINK
Sweden when every rock in the beach is considered an island " :DDDDDDD "
@@lisaanimi that one rock is more worth than your life :D
Good exposé! True as said below, that Finland is not considered a Scandinavic country, however it shares history and geography in great measure, with the other nordic countries. I also want to compliment you on the pronunciation, very good!
It's a weird take, Finland has a population of 16 per square KM, Norway 13, Sweden 24 while Denmark is at 130something per square km
Did you forget to calculate Grenland?
@@LasVegar Greenland has it's own chart, its a part of the Danish equivelent of the english commonwealth, greenland has alot of autonomy and isnt stricly "denmark" but rather in a Union with Denmark, so no i did not forget it :)
Video: Talks about ''Swedish Mountains'' then proceeds to show pictures of Norway. xD
Welcome to NATO
@@krisfrederick5001 thanks /sweden
I have loved Finland since childhood. As children, we traveled around Finland summer after summer. A link to Canada is that the first ferry I worked on was called the M/S Apollo. The ship ended her life as j M/S Apollo (for the second time) 40 years later in Canada when she sailed for the shipping company Labrador Marine in between St. Barbe in Newfoundland and Labrador and Blanc-Sablon in Québec. Thanks for the video / Adam, Stockholm
You forgot Iceland 🇮🇸
@@matthewbelamont5800 it aint in scandinavia
It is, an Finland isnt.@@heh9392
@@heh9392 and that applies to Finland as well
@@henning1152 indeed, but technically some areas of Finland are.
@@heh9392 The "technical" definition of Scandinavia is that it isn't a geographical term but a cultural and historical term refering to the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
Even as a Swede, I understand that the term Scandinavia and Nordic can be a bit confusing but I think Geoff did a good job explaining.
TECHNICALLY, Scandinavia is Sweden and Norway is it refers to the peninsula both countries are located on. Denmark is almost always included here due to historical reasons and Finland was part of Sweden for roughly 700 years so sometimes it is included too but isn't actually part of Scandinavia.
The Nordic countries however is not geographical in nature in the same way and consists of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe islands as well as Greenland. Åland is also sometimes mentioned while being an autonomous region of Finland.
Hope this clears up some of the confusion :).
Great and very informative video!
All of part of the tiny denmark and Greenland and iceland as well
You are correct except regarding Finland. Nordic is a short form of "North Germanic". Finland is not considered germanic hence not nordic.
@@bennyklabarpan7002 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries
@@Colabusken en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_race#/media/File:Passing_of_the_Great_Race_-_Map_3.jpg
@@Colabusken en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Bronze_Age You also have this. Finland being nordic is only the case if you acknowledge their existance as an extension of Sweden
Hold up... There's an Original Zealand? Not just a New Zealand?
What did you expect? Gonna be shocking for you to find ot that New York is named after York in yorkshire, along with basically thousands of other names that were just copied with a "new" at the front. All of them originate from europe.
Zeeland Province in Netherlands
@@PingSharp Well yeah everybody knows about Old York, Old England, Old Mexico, Old Jersey, Old Hampshire, Old Orleans, Old South Wales, Old Amsterdam, etc. But... Old Zealand? Never heard of 'er.
@@TylerR909 fair enough, but as Lars noted, the Zealand in Denmark isn't even the one that new Zealand is named after
@@TylerR909 I don't think many people know where "old" Hampshire is
Finland is not Skandinavia….
No ifs or buts -- Finland is not part of Scandinavia. They are Nordic, though, along with Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
Norways climate is much milder than one might think. The issue for norway is the lack of low lands. The reason why a lot of Norway is as cold as it is, is becasue if the high elevation, not its position far north.
Take a place like Lofoten for example, having considerably milder winters than say Chicago.
If one were to exclude finland, mostly because of its "attachment" and similar geography to nearby to russia, then one would need to exclude denmark, as it is attached to germany. Furthermore, geographically and geologically and climatologically, denmark and northern germany are almost identical.
It's not the land, it's the people living there. Finns are not Scandinavians.
Denmark has Scandinavian culture, Finland has not. Also Denmark have had areas of the Scandinavian peninsula for most of the history. Scania, Halland and Blekinge were Danish territories until they were ceased by Sweden in 1658, and even whole Norway was Danish until 1814.
@@csandste i agree however the author of the vid was referring only to geography, location and climate and that is what i was addressing
@@Togangehver14dag again i was addressing only the author's comments concerning geography , location and climate. Neither i, nor the author , was, at that point in the vid addressing culture nor history
remember that about half of swedens population are unemployed syrians, iraqis and somalis.
FINLAND IS NOT IN SCANDINAVIA😡
1:00 Properly, even Denmark is excluded, as the word "Scandinavia" refers to the geographic semi-insular of Sweden+Norway. But then again Denmark is often included because its tight cultural relation. As for Finland, it has Swedish as a protected language, becuause history.
Fun fact: The Swedish + Norway + Finland part of the earth's crust is the same, and very old and stable -- so no earthquakes, and also very apt for storing nuclear waste.