Copyright © Hans Högman 2025-12-29
A brief overview of Swedish
history
The following historical section is by no means
complete from a historical perspective.
The purpose of this page is to provide a
chronological historical overview of events in
Sweden that may have had a connection with or
impact on the lives and livelihoods of my and others’
Swedish ancestors.
Swedish History in
Brief (1800s)
1800s
The 19th century began dramatically for Sweden, but
from 1814 onwards, the century was defined by
peace.
Gustav III was killed in 1792, and his son, Gustav IV
Adolf, succeeded to the throne.
About Swedish Finland
During the 12th century there was a Swedish
expansion to the east. In the middle and at the end
of the 13th century, we know there were Swedish
crusades to Finland. Strongholds were constructed
for the protection of the captured land, such as the
castles at Åbo, Tavastehus, and Vyborg (east of the
Gulf of Finland). A Swedish royal council was
established, an administrative structure and a fiscal
policy apparatus were created, and laws were
codified during the 13th and 14th centuries. As a
result, the “Eastern Land” (Österland) was firmly
integrated into the Swedish Empire.
In 1323, Sweden and Novgorod (Russia) signed a
peace treaty that set the Sweden's eastern boundary.
The western and southern parts of Finland became
Swedish, while Russia gained the eastern parts.
Finland now became a fully integrated part of
Sweden and was under the same political and
juridical administration as the rest of Sweden. So,
Finland was never a “state” under Swedish rule but
rather one of four Swedish so-called “greater
regions”, or "lands" (Swedish: landsdelar), which
included Svealand, Götaland, Norrland, and Finland.
Swedish-speaking colonists settled down in the
coastal regions of Finland. In 1362, the Finns were
granted the power to send representatives to king
elections, and in the 1500s, this right was expanded
to include sending representatives to the Swedish
parliament.
Swedish was the primary language for
administration, jurisdiction, the military, and higher
education in Finland. Finnish was primarily a
language spoken by farmers, clergy, and local courts
in predominantly Finnish-speaking areas.
Many regiments were established in the Finnish half
of Sweden during the Swedish ”Great Power Period,”
both infantry and cavalry. The soldiers in the
regiments in Finland were Finnish, while the majority
of the officers came from Sweden. The military
command language was Swedish. There was a
reason for this. When a soldier or an officer was
transferred to another regiment, they had to
understand the commands independent of where in
Sweden the regiment was established.
Gustav Vasa (reigned 1523–1560) made his second
son, Johan, Duke of Finland. In 1594, the office of
Governor-General of Finland was established as
part of the restructuring of the administration of the
Swedish Empire. Baron Clas Fleming was then
appointed to the post. A governor-general was the
senior military and civil authority over a region,
which often included many provinces, and hence
represented royal power. During the 17th century,
several Swedish governorates were established both
in the Baltic provinces and in Swedish border
regions. After 1669, the appointment of governors-
general over Finland ceased, except for 1710–1712,
1742-1743, and 1747-1752.
In 1634, administrative counties (Swedish: Län) were
introduced in the Swedish Realm, which naturally
also included the eastern half of the kingdom.
During the Swedish period, which lasted until 1809,
the region of Finland consisted of six provinces
(and, from 1634, counties), and “the eastern half of the
realm” constituted a so-called greater region in the
same way as Götaland, Svealand, and Norrland in
Sweden proper. The six provinces of Finland were
called in Swedish: Egentliga Finland, Tavastland,
Savolax, Karelen, Nyland, and Österbotten.
In fact, there was no such thing as “Finland” early on
during the Swedish era; instead, it was called “Östra
Rikshalvan” (the Eastern Half of the Realm) or
“Österland” (the Eastern Land).
However, there was one province in “Eastern Land”
called “Egentliga Finland” (Proper Finland) or
“Varsinais-Suomi” in Finnish. “Proper Finland” is
located in the southwestern
part of Finland (in the
former county of Åbo och
Björneborgs län), where Åbo
(Turku) is the largest city.
The map of Sweden shows
the four greater regions
(Swedish: Landsdel) of the
Swedish kingdom until 1809.
Image: Wikipedia.
The stages of expansion are
depicted in various shades
of green, with borders at
1700.
As can be seen, each of the greater region ends with
the term "land," hence “landsdel” in Swedish.
The name “Finland”:
The origin of the name “Finland” is not really known,
and it is not entirely clear when the Swedish name
“Finland” began to be used as a term for the entire
eastern half of the kingdom. During the 12th and
13th centuries, the name Finland referred only to
one of the provinces in the eastern half, namely
“Proper Finland” (Egentliga Finland). During the 14th
century, the name “Österland” (the Eastern Land)
began to be used as a term for the entire eastern
half of the kingdom. However, during the 16th
century, “Finland” began to be used more and more
in parallel with “Österland.” For example, from 1556,
John III was Duke of Finland (not Duke of “the Eastern
Land”).
From the 17th century until 1809, Finland, or
“Eastern Half of the Kingdom,” was the established
name for the region.
Note, “Finland” is called “Suomi” in the Finnish
language.
So, Swedish and Finnish history are, of course,
closely interrelated.
Loss of Finland in 1809
The War with Russia 1808-1809:
The 19th century began with several wars for
Sweden. Between 1805 and 1807, Sweden was at
war with France in Swedish Pomerania in northern
Germany, between 1808 and 1809 with Russia in
Swedish Finland, and in 1808 with Denmark.
Between 1813 and 1814, Sweden was at war with
France and Denmark (the Napoleonic Wars) and in
1814 with Norway.
The Finnish War was fought between Sweden and
the Russian Empire from 1808 to 1809. Sweden was
supported by the United Kingdom, whereas Russia
was supported by the French Republic and its
various allies (including Denmark-Norway).
The war was fought as part of the Napoleonic Wars.
The conflict broke out after Tsar Alexander I of
Russia and Emperor Napoleon I of France signed a
peace pact in Tilsit in July 1807. The agreement
obliged Alexander I to attack Sweden if the country
did not break off its relations with Great Britain and
join Napoleon's trade blockade against Great Britain.
Sweden had been in alliance with Great Britain since
the Pomeranian War, and the Swedish monarch
Gustav IV Adolf refused to agree to the French
demands.
In principle, Napoleon and Alexander divided Europe
into different spheres of interest. Alexander was
given free rein to invade Swedish Finland.
On February 21, 1808, in the middle of a cold winter,
Emperor Alexander's Russian troops cross the
Swedish-Russian border into Finland. The Russian
force numbered 24,000 men. The attack took place
without an official declaration of war.
The Swedish field army numbered approximately
21,000 men in Finland, of whom approximately 7,000
were stationed at the fortresses of Sveaborg and
Svartholm.
Since it was the middle of winter and the Gulf of
Bothnia was frozen over, it was not possible to ship
reinforcements from Stockholm to Finland at that
time.
The Swedish forces in Finland would have difficulty
defending the whole of Finland against the Russians.
The plan was for the Swedish army to retreat
northwards in Finland while awaiting reinforcements,
while the southern parts were abandoned and
occupied by the Russians. The Swedish defense in
the south was maintained with the support of the
fortresses of Sveaborg and Svartholm.
When spring arrived and the Swedish army was at
full strength and reinforced, the plan was to launch a
counterattack from the north and, with the help of
the navy and the troops in the fortresses in the
south, recapture the whole of Finland in a pincer
movement.
The Swedish fortress Sveaborg, located outside
Helsinki (Helsingfors) in Finland, is one of the world's
largest sea fortresses. It encompasses several islands
at the entrance to Helsinki and is also known as the
“Gibraltar of the North.” When the war began, Vice
Admiral Carl Olof Cronstedt was commandant at
Sveaborg.
But Cronstedt turned out to be a traitor. The
defense of Finland depended on Sveaborg holding
out against the Russian siege. However, it was
unlikely that the first Russian force alone would be
able to capture Sveaborg as long as there was
gunpowder in the fortress, where 7,000 men and the
entire Swedish archipelago fleet with over 200 ships
were stationed. In total, the fortress itself also had
over 2,000 cannons. Russian troops entered Helsinki
across the ice on March 2, 1808.
On March 23, Cronstedt met with Russian
negotiators, and on April 6, Cronstedt agreed to
surrender to the Russian commander in Helsinki.
This was completely contrary to Cronstedt's orders to
hold the fort. He did not have the authority to do
this. After the surrender, Cronstedt defected to the
Russians.
The surrender of Sveaborg was a heavy blow to
Finland's defenses, and now it became even easier
for the superior Russian forces to occupy Finland.
Denmark has always had a habit of attacking Sweden
when Sweden has been at war with other nations,
and this time was no exception. On March 14, 1808,
Denmark (aligned with France) declared war on
Sweden, which tied up the main army in Sweden on
the western border. This meant that Sweden now
faced a two-front war. Throughout the conflict with
Denmark, the British navy was a help to Sweden and
posed a threat to any Danish landings.
The war in Finland went badly for Sweden and led to
Sweden having to cede its eastern half.
The peace treaty was signed in Fredrikshamn on
September 17, 1809.
The Russians demanded the six provinces that made
up Finland at the time, plus parts of Västerbotten
County and the Åland Islands.
The Finland region of Sweden consisted of six
provinces in the southern and central parts of the
eastern half of our country. The northern part of
present-day Finland was then part of the Norrland
region of Sweden, or more precisely, part of
Västerbotten County. The Åland Islands, east of
Stockholm, were part of the Svealand region of
Central Sweden.
Before 1809, the old border between Finland and the
rest of Sweden ran considerably further south in
Finland than it does today. In practice, what is now
northern Finland was then part of
the Västerbotten County.
The final border between Sweden
and what then became Russian
Finland was drawn along the Torneå
and Muonio rivers.
The map shows Sweden’s borders
after the peace in 1809.
With the peace, Sweden lost around
one-third of its territory and one-quarter of its
inhabitants.
In accordance with the peace treaty, Finland now
came under Russian rule and formed the Russian
Grand Duchy of Finland.
The peace treaty with Denmark was signed in
Jönköping on December 10, 1809, with no
alterations to boundary borders.
Gustav IV Adolf is Deposed from the Swedish
Throne
Gustav IV Adolf, Sweden's regent, had no admiration
for Napoleon and the French Empire; quite the
contrary. His distancing himself from Napoleon and
his sometimes exaggerated and willful pride and self-
image meant that his decisions were not always
based on common sense and facts. As King of
Sweden, Gustav IV Adolf led the military campaign.
On March 13, 1809, Gustav IV Adolf was deposed
from the throne in a coup d'état. Formally, pending a
new heir to the throne, Duke Karl took power as Karl
XIII. Karl XIII was a younger brother of Gustav III.
The coup d'état of 1809 was a rebellion against
Gustav IV Adolf. The background to the coup d'état
was mainly the military defeats in the Finnish War
and the growing dissatisfaction with how the country
was being governed. Gustav IV Adolf's foreign policy
was widely disliked, and his anti-French position had
terrible implications for Sweden. However, the main
reason was dissatisfaction with autocracy. His poor
and ineffective leadership was also blamed for the
unsuccessful war in Finland.
The conspirators had their strongest power
resources within the western army. It was agreed
that as soon as word came from the conspirators'
headquarters in Stockholm that the time was right,
Lieutenant Colonel Georg Adlersparre would lead
reliable troops in a march on the capital.
Gustav IV Adolf decided to travel to Skåne in
southern Sweden on March 13 to seek support from
the army there, which was led by Johan Christopher
Toll, who was more loyal to the king. Then a group of
nobles led by Carl Johan Adlercreutz intervened and
captured the king at Stockholm Palace. During the
night, Gustav Adolf was taken as a prisoner of state
to Drottningholm Palace, from where he was soon
transferred to Gripsholm Castle.
Among other things, the revolution resulted in the
irreversible loss of the Swedish crown by the king,
queen, and their heirs. Instead, Gustav Adolf's uncle
Duke Karl became the new king. The king, queen,
crown prince, and other royal children were stripped
of their Swedish citizenship and expelled from
Sweden for good.
However, Karl XIII was in his sixties and had no
children. This meant that there was no heir to the
Swedish throne.
New heir to the throne:
On July 18, 1809, the Danish-Norwegian Prince
Christian August was elected as the new heir to the
Swedish throne and was to succeed the elderly and
childless Karl XIII, who would wear the crown until his
death. However, Crown Prince Karl August died
unexpectedly on May 28, 1810, at the age of only 41.
However, a few months later,
something strange happened: a
French military officer and
nobleman was chosen as the new
crown prince of Sweden instead.
It was the Prince of Ponte Corvo,
Jean Baptiste Bernadotte. When
Karl XIII died in 1818, Bernadotte
was crowned as king of Sweden
with the royal name Karl XIV
Johan.
The image shows Sweden's Crown
Prince Karl Johan wearing a Swedish general's
uniform in 1811 (reigned as King Karl XIV Johan from
1818 to 1844). Painting by François Gérard. Image:
Wikipedia.
1813–1814, War with France and Denmark
In accordance with the conventions of Saint
Petersburg and Stockholm (April 5 and 9, 1812),
Sweden committed itself to actively participating in
the fight against Napoleon in exchange for Russia's
promise to work toward Sweden's acquisition of
Danish Norway.
In the spring of 1813, Sweden transferred 30,000
men to Germany to participate in the war against
Napoleon. Swedish Crown Prince Swedish Crown
Prince Karl Johan was assigned leadership of the
so-called Northern Army, which consisted of
Swedes as well as approximately 95,000 Prussian
and Russian soldiers.
Under the circumstances, Karl Johan attempted to
save the Swedish troops for the impending Swedish
attack on Denmark (which was allied with France),
when the Danes would be forced to cede Norway to
Sweden.
At the end of 1813, Karl Johan moved northwards to
Holstein to force Denmark to capitulate. After the
battle at Bornhöved on December 7, 1813, the
surrender of Frederiksort on December 19, and
Glückstadt's capitulation on January 4, 1814,
Denmark was also forced to yield and, in the Treaty
of Kiel on January 14, cede Norway to the King of
Sweden.
Union Between Sweden and Norway
The Norwegian resistance to the Treaty of Kiel led to
a Norwegian declaration of independence and the
adoption of a Norwegian constitution, the
Constitution of Eidsvoll, on May 17, 1814. From a
Swedish perspective, this meant that Sweden had to
subdue Norway by force unless the Swedes wanted
to renounce the gains of the Treaty of Kiel. But giving
up Norway was not an option for Crown Prince Karl
Johan, which is why an invasion of Norway was
planned.
The battle-hardened Swedish main army of
approximately 45,000 soldiers entered Norway at
dawn on July 30 1814, with Fredriksten Fortress as
their first target. On August 4, 1814, the Norwegian
defenders of Fredrikstad raised a white flag on the
fortress ramparts.
At around eight o'clock in the evening on August 14,
1814, the Norwegian negotiators signed the
Convention of Moss. Crown Prince Karl Johan,
representing the Swedish king, secured an
agreement with the Norwegian Parliament. In the
weeks following the armistice, negotiations
continued on how the Eidsvoll constitution should be
adapted to the union solution, i.e., a revision of the
Norwegian constitution to enable a personal union
with Sweden.
The Convention of Moss of August 14, 1814, meant
that Danish King Kristian Fredrik abdicated the
Norwegian throne and that Norway entered into a
personal union with Sweden. Sweden's King Karl
XIII became the joint king of both Sweden and
Norway.
A personal union is a union between two or more
states with a common head of state, in this case, the
King of Sweden.
The union between Sweden and Norway was
dissolved in 1905.
More information about the union is available at
Union Between Sweden and Norway
Conscription
One of the weaknesses of the military allotment
system was the problem of obtaining sufficient
reinforcements. During the war with Russia in
1808–1809, it became clear that something had to be
done about the allotment system in order to obtain a
sufficient number of reserve soldiers.
On October 27, 1812, the Swedish Parliament passed
an act that introduced a conscription system to
supplement the regular army. The name of the
conscription system was Beväringen. At the age of
21, young men were called up for registration and
then underwent a short period of military training.
Initially, the training period was only 12 days, but in
the 1850s it was extended to 30 days.
The military training period was subsequently
extended several times, reaching 90 days in the
1890s.
Peace, the Vaccine, and Potatoes
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Sweden was at
war for very long periods of time. This had a very
adverse impact on population growth. Since 1814,
however, Sweden has enjoyed a long period of
peace. This had a positive effect on population
growth.
In Sweden, between 1749 and 1800, 270,000 people
died from smallpox. Edward Jenner, a Brit,
developed a smallpox vaccine that may be used to
prevent the disease. The Swedish authorities were
early to take advantage of Edward Jenner's discovery.
The first smallpox vaccination in Sweden was carried
out on 23 October 1801.
In 1816, Sweden became the first country in the
world to legislate that all children under the age of
two should be vaccinated against smallpox. The
result was a reduction in mortality.
However, there were other epidemics that were a
problem during the 19th century, including cholera.
Five epidemics ravaged Sweden between 1834 and
1873. There was no vaccine against cholera.
Another reason for the decline in mortality was diet.
This is where potatoes come into the picture. It was
nutritious and naturally provided calories, but more
importantly, it supplied vitamins that built resistance
to many diseases.
Another important reason for the decline in mortality
was the realization of the importance of hygiene,
particularly in connection with
childbirth, which, above all,
reduced the high infant
mortality rate.
The chart shows Sweden's
population growth since the
census began in the mid-1700s.
From 1750 to 1850, the population roughly doubled.
Agriculture remains the foundation of our economy
but is undergoing major changes. Arable land is
increasing through new cultivation. Drainage and
crop rotation are increasing yields. Education and
campaigns are introducing new crops such as
potatoes, improved cultivation methods, and more
efficient tools.
So, it is fair to say that peace, the vaccine, and
potatoes were three important prerequisites for
development.
Society is being reformed
The mid-19th century was a time of many reforms.
Examples include the Elementary School Act of
1842, equal inheritance rights for men and women in
1845, majority capacity for unmarried women in
1858, and the elimination of guilds in 1846. A
bicameral parliament was established in 1865 to
replace the ancient Parliament of the Four Estates.
The nineteenth century also saw substantial land
reforms, which resulted in significant improvements
in agricultural.
Land Distribution Reforms
The arable land was expanded in the 1800s through
land reclamation. Ditching and crop rotation raised
the yield. During the same time, there were
significant social changes, not least in farming.
The gradual realization of the massive
redistribution of land ownership helped
agriculture. The purpose of the redistribution was to
gather each farmer’s fields into as few as
possible—rather one large field than several small
ones.
The sun distribution of land (Swedish: solskiftet) has
regulated the farming of land in Sweden's rural
settlements since the Middle Ages.
In a so-called farming village, each farmer owned a
portion of each individual piece of arable land and
meadows owned by the village, forming a
community of shared ownership. So, each farmer in
the hamlet held a strip of land in each of the village's
fields. The size and number of these strips of land
were proportional to the farmer's share in the
farming village.
All farmhouses were grouped together like a village,
often with a church in the center, hence the term
"farming village." The farmland surrounded these
farming villages.
Every single field owned by the village was divided
into several small bits of parcels and each villager
had his share in the respective field. It was
impossible to gain access to one's parcel of farmland
if the parcel next to it was not harvested
simultaneously.
Even if an individual farmer wanted to change his
farming methods, he couldn't unless the others did
as well. This was, of course, counterproductive.
Therefore, various land reforms were initiated to
make agriculture more efficient. These land reforms
were private initiatives but were supported by the
government. It was voluntary for each farming
village to adopt the reforms. The aim of the reforms
was to give each farmer as large a contiguous area of
arable land as possible, rather than several small
parcels of land.
There have been three major land reforms:
Storskifte, Enskifte, and Laga skifte.
The Storskifte Reform:
The first modern land reform implemented in
Sweden was the Storskifte reform. To modernize the
farming and to get a better yield of the land, there
was a parliament act taken in 1749 called "Storskifte"
(The Great Redistribution of Land Holdings).
According to the law of 1734, a new redistribution of
land could not take place unless all the landowners
in the farming village agreed to it. The 1749 law
made it possible for a co-owner in a farming village
to request a redistribution of land, which then also
included the other owners' plots, i.e., an attempt to
consolidate the farmers' land into larger parcels.
The Storskifte reform was carried out in large parts
of the country between 1758 and 1827.
However, the redistribution wasn't radical enough.
There were many compromises. The farmland was
still split into many parcels of land, and the individual
farmer was still dependent on his neighboring
farmers.
The Enskifte Reform:
The Enskifte reform was initiated by Baron Rutger
Maclean, owner of the Svaneholm Estate in Skåne
province. Between 1782 and 1785, he divided his
estate's land into quadratic parts, and the tenant
farmhouses in each village on his land were
relocated to each square, i.e., to each farm's
attached farmland. So, on the Svaneholm Estate,
each tenant farm was now located on each farmer's
arable land, resulting in a coherent expanse of
farmland.
This way of distributing the land (the Svaneholm
way) became the model of the next redistribution
reform, the "enskiftet," which was established for
southern Sweden in 1803-1804. The "enskifte
reform" was a further development of the
"strorskifte reform." The basic difference in the
"enskifte" was that the farmhouses were moved into
each farmer’s farmland. The "enskifte reform" was
best applied on the plains of southern Sweden.
The Laga Skifte Reform:
In 1827, a land distribution law, known as "Laga
Skifte," was passed, allowing land reform to be
implemented across Sweden. The "laga skifte" was
accomplished by the middle of the 1800s. This
reform involved the relocation of many farmhouses
from the farming villages into each farmer's
allocated farmland.
It was sufficient for one co-owner of a farming
hamlet to request a land redistribution under the
1827 redistribution statute for the village's land to be
redistributed.
The land redistribution, including farm relocation,
meant that farmers were no longer as reliant on
each other as they had been in the farming villages,
and they no longer needed to cross someone else's
field to reach their own.
When land redistribution was to be carried out in a
village, a land surveyor was sent to measure the
farmers' land, distribute it, and draw up land
redistribution maps (Swedish: skifteskartor.)
During the land redistribution process, a land
classification was carried out to ensure a fair
distribution of land. The landowner who was
assigned land of lower quality could be
compensated by receiving a larger plot of land. The
total value of the homestead before and after the
redistribution would be the same.
The farmers were reimbursed for the cost of
tearing down the old buildings, moving them, and
rebuilding them at the new place. As a result, many
countryside villages disappeared from the map.
In parts of Sweden, the land reform was never
carried out, especially not in Dalarna province.
More information about the reforms is available at
Swedish Land Reforms
Sweden Industrializes
Industrialization begins in the middle of the century.
The sawmill industry is the first to start. Many
sawmills are established along the Norrland coast.
The old farming society of Sweden undergoes
fundamental changes. New communities spring up,
and an industrial working class emerges. By 1900,
almost one in three wage earners works in industry.
Several inventions contributed to industrialization,
such as the steam engine, steel production, and, not
least, the propeller.
The steam engine made it possible to establish
works where it was most convenient. Previously,
works and mill had to be built along streams to
harness water power. The industry had shifted to the
cities, and so had the laborers.
Around the city of Sundsvall in Medelpad province,
Mid-Sweden, the country's first steam sawmill was
built in 1849, and it was soon followed by so many
other similar facilities that the Sundsvall district
became one of Sweden's most important industrial
areas with connections to countries all over the
world. The establishment of steam sawmills was
quickly followed by the establishment of pulp mills
and paper mills.
The poet Elias Sehlstedt coined the famous saying
"Sawmill by sawmill I saw, wherever I looked" ("Och
såg vid såg jag såg, varhelst jag såg") after visiting
Sundsvall and being impressed by the large number
of sawmills in the area.
The railroads connected Sweden in a whole new
way. Construction of railroads began in the middle of
the century, and in 1862 the first line, the Western
Trunk Line (Swedish: Västra stambanan) between
Stockholm City and Gothenburg City, was
inaugurated. Two years later, in 1864, the Southern
Trunk Line (Södra stambanan) to Malmö City was
opened.
Goods could now also be transported by land using
steam locomotives.
The steam engine would also revolutionize shipping.
Steamboats made people less dependent on the
weather. However, it took until the turn of the
century before the number of steamships reached
the same level as sailing ships in the transport
industry. Steamships could be built in iron and
became both larger and faster.
The Swedish Navy underwent major changes during
the 19th century. The first steam-powered warship
was the steam corvette HMS Thor, which was
completed in 1841 and the first propeller-driven
warship, one of the first in Europe, was the steam
corvette HMS Gefle. The navy's first steam-powered
iron ship was the paddle steamer HMS Kare, which
was launched in 1847.
The Swedish export of iron to the United States
increased in the beginning of the 19th century and
became quite significant by that time.
The Birth of Popular Movements
Social and economic changes are the backdrop to
popular movements; the Working-class movement,
Free Church movement and the Temperance
movement.
The goal was an eight-hour working day, the
abolishment of the Swedish State Church, and
alcohol prohibition. The demand for universal
suffrage grew. The suffrage at the time was based
on income or private means, and only 20% of the
men of age had the right to vote. Universal suffrage
for men was introduced in 1909, but not until 1919
did women receive the right to vote. The first
Swedish general election when women could vote
for the first time was held in 1921.
When liberal Nils Edén and social democrat Hjalmar
Branting formed a coalition government in 1917,
parliamentarianism (i.e. power held by the majority
in parliament) was put into reality.
1842 Elementary School Act
In 1842, a bill was passed introducing universal
elementary education in Sweden. According to the
1842 Elementary School Act (Swedish:
Folkskolestadgan), there was to be at least one school
in every rural parish and urban municipality. This
school was to be permanent and have an approved
teacher.
The requirements were thus one school per parish
and at least one teacher per school. There was no
division into classes; all age groups were to attend
the same class. The school was to be run locally, i.e.,
by the local administration.
It should be noted that when the public elementary
school system was formed in 1842, children were
not required to attend school. This was a concession
to the peasantry in parliament to allow the
Elementary School Act to be passed. The farming
community, for whom the school was primarily
intended, was moderately interested and not
convinced that it was necessary.
Compulsory schooling was first introduced with the
1882 Elementary School Act.
More information is available at Swedish School
History
The Emigration from Sweden
During the period beginning in 1850 and ending in
1930, about 1,250,000 Swedes emigrated from
Sweden to North America. Roughly 200,000 of
these emigrants returned to Sweden.
There was an early emigration from Sweden to
North America too, beginning in the 1830s, but this
was a modest one. The huge wave of emigrants from
Sweden started after the American Civil War, i.e.
after 1865.
During the 19th century, many Swedes began to
dream of America. The early settlers went there in
protest against Sweden. They were liberals, free
church members, or teetotalers who protested
against conservative Sweden.
In the mid-1800s, a new wave of travelers set off for
America. This time around, landless farmhands and
farmers' sons set out to cultivate their own land in
the new country.
Two consecutive years of poor harvests and famine
in the 1860s accelerated emigration, with 40,000
people emigrating in 1869 alone.
Towards the end of the 19th century, most emigrants
came from southwestern Sweden, but shortly after
1900, people from northern Sweden also began to
leave.
A large proportion of those who emigrated from
Sweden to America settled in the state of Minnesota
and in the city of Chicago (IL).
The early emigrants had to organize the journey to
the United States by themselves. There were no
passenger ships across the Atlantic at this time.
Instead, these emigrants had to travel as “ballast”
aboard the cargo sailing ships carrying iron. This
was not a comfortable way of traveling; the
conditions were very bad, and the journey could take
up to 3 months, or at least 1 1/2 months.
From the 1860s there were pure passenger sailing
ships, and from the 1880s there were fast
steamships where the comforts of the passengers
were in focus. The traveling time was reduced to
between 16 and 24 days.
There was no direct passenger traffic between
Sweden and North America during the era of the
mass emigration. Instead, the Swedish emigrants
had to travel by ship from Gothenburg to England
and from there on passenger ships to the United
States.
The first direct line from Sweden to the United
States opened in 1915: the Swedish American Line
(SAL).
Between 1820 and 1930, over 1.2 million Swedes
emigrated to America. This meant that in 1910, one
in five Swedes lived in the USA.
More information is available at The Emigration from
Sweden to North America
1862: Local governments are being
reorganized, and regional self-government
is being introduced
Since medieval times, Sweden’s rural areas have
been divided into smaller entities called “socken.”
There were two purposes of the “socken”: the parish
church and local administration.
So, inside the same body, there was the church and
its congregation (church socken) and an
administrative section for local administration
(worldly socken).
"Socken" is translated into "parish" in English.
The governance of cities and the churches within
them was arranged differently.
Local governments:
Until 1863, local administration of the parish
(Swedish: socken) was handled by the parish council
(Sockenstämman). “Sockenstämman” was the
highest decision-making body in each “socken.”
The parish minister headed the local church and
served as the obvious chair of the parish council
(sockenstämman).
So until 1863, the “socken” had two functions
integrated into one and the same body, partly as a
church parish (rural parish) and partly as a worldly
socken (parish municipality), which was the local
government.
In 1862, a bill was passed in the parliament called
kommunalförordningen (the municipal ordinance),
which ended the concept of the socken. The parish
was now broken up and divided into two separate
units.
The new ordinance came into force on January 1,
1863.
The Municipal Ordinance of 1862 meant that the
previous administrative body, “socken,” was replaced
by two different types of municipalities called
“kommun”:
1.
a civil “kommun” (municipality,) i.e., local
administration called “landskommun.”
2.
an ecclesiastical municipality (“Församling,” i.e.,
church parish);
Both have independent bodies and tasks.
There were now different types of civil municipalities:
1.
Rural municipalities in the countryside —
“Landskommuner”
2.
Cities
Between 1863 and 1970, the
“Kommunalfullmäktige” (municipal council) was
the name given to the highest elected political
decision-making body in a “Landskommun” (rural
municipality). However, the “Kommunalstämma”
(municipal assembly) was the highest decision-
making body in all small municipalities.
From 1863 to 1970, the “Stadsfullmäktige” (city
council) was the highest elected decision-making
body in a city in Sweden.
The reform of 1862 resulted in the establishment of
around 2,500 municipalities in Sweden. This led to
municipalities varying greatly in terms of size and
population density. The 1952 municipal reform
lowered the number of municipalities from 2,498 to
1,037 by mergers.
The municipal ordinance of 1862 thus laid the
foundation for the current municipal system in
Sweden.
The municipality's main tasks include schools,
elderly care, social welfare service, firefighting, local
infrastructure, water and sewage, sanitation, and
local power distribution, among others.
A Swedish “kommun” is about the same thing as a
US county.
The 1971 municipal reform: On January 1, 1971, a
uniform municipal type was introduced, when all
former rural municipalities, cities, and market towns
were reorganized into municipalities only. The
municipal reform of 1952 soon proved to be
insufficiently radical. Consideration was now given to
the central town principle. Towns and rural areas
would together form unified municipalities in which
the town, or another larger urban area, would serve
as the central town for the surrounding area.
Usually, several rural municipalities were
consolidated with the adjacent town to form a
single municipality called “kommun.”
For example, there were several rural municipalities
(Landskommun) around the city of Sundsvall,
including Njurunda, Matfors, Indals-Liden, and
Stöde, which were now consolidated with the city of
Sundsvall to form the municipality of Sundsvall
(Sundsvalls Kommun).
The US term “consolidated city-county” probably
best describes these new municipalities called
“Kommun.”
More information is available at Subdivisions of
Sweden and The Concept of Socken
Regional self-governance:
The 1862 municipal regulations also established
“Landsting” (county councils) to take care of areas
that were too large for a municipality to manage.
County councils were a new self-governing body,
controlled by an elected assembly, for regional
administration within a county. So, from 1862, the
new regional authority was called the Landsting
(County Council).
In 1634, Sweden was divided into several regional
units called Län (counties). The counties were an
instrument of the Crown for regional control of the
country. In each county a county governor was
appointed by the government, heading the
“Länsstyrelse” (County Administrative Board).
In 1862, when the “Landsting” (County Council) was
established as an entity for regional administration,
a Landsting was created in each of the already
existing counties. However, county councils and
county administrative boards are two completely
different entities, even though they are located in the
same territorial area.
The names of the individual county councils include
the name of the county in which they are located, for
example, “Västernorrlands Läns Landsting”
(Västernorrland County Council.) The
“Landstingsfullmäktige” is the highest decision-
making body in each “Landsting.”
In 2015, the responsibilities of the county councils
were expanded, and they were renamed “Regions.”
Thus, “Västernorrlands Läns Landsting” became
“Region Västernorrland.”
The major responsibilities for the County Council are
public health care, including dental care, and public
transportation.
The Bicameral Parliament of 1866
The medieval Riksdag of the Four Estates was
abolished in 1865, and a bicameral Riksdag was
established. As of 22 June 1866, a new Parliament
Act entered into force—Parliament met on an annual
basis.
The First Chamber (Första kammaren) was mainly
represented by the upper classes. The Second
Chamber (Andra kammaren) was more popular in
character.
Members of the Second Chamber had a shorter
term of office than those of the First Chamber.
The preparation of parliamentary matters would
take place in joint committees of the two chambers.
However, the second chamber had a majority in joint
votes due to its larger number of members.
The First Chamber was the name given to the
indirectly elected upper house. The Second Chamber
was the name given to the directly elected part of
the bicameral parliament (the lower house).
In 1970 the bicameral Riksdag was abolished and
replaced by a unicameral Riksdag (Swedish:
Enkammarriksdagen).
More information is available at The History of the
Swedish Riksdag
Transition to the Metric System in 1878
In 1665, Sweden adopted a standard measurement
system covering the whole nation. An adjustment of
that system was made in 1735.
A major change to the measurement system was
introduced in 1855 when the decimal system was
adopted. In other words, Sweden already had a
decimal system when the metric system was
introduced.
Our present system, the metric system, originates
from France. The Metric System was introduced after
the French Revolution in about 1795.
Sweden adopted the metric system in 1878, and
over a ten-year period, Sweden changed from the
old measurements to the metric system. Since
January 1, 1889, the metric system has been the only
legal system for measurements in Sweden.
More information is available at Old Swedish Units of
Measurement
The Monetary Reform of 1873
When Sweden entered the 19th century, the Swedish
currency was the “Riksdaler.”
In 1855 a decimal monetary system was
introduced in Sweden. The new name of the unit was
“Riksdaler Riksmynt” and was divided into 100 öre.
In 1873, the Riksdag, or Parliament, authorized a
monetary reform. Sweden's currency became the
“krona,” which was divided into 100 öre, i.e., 1 krona
= 100 öre. “Krona” (or short: Kr) is singular, while
“kronor” is plural. It is today abbreviated SEK.
At the same time, Denmark and Norway also
switched to the new currency, “kronor.”
More information is available at The History of the
Swedish Monetary System
Banking
Modern commercial banks started in the early 19th
century. The first was Skånska Privatbanken,
founded in Ystad in 1831.
This private issuance of banknotes lasted from 1830
to 1904, when the Riksbank (Central Bank of
Sweden) obtained a monopoly on all banknote
issuance.
Stockholm Enskilda Bank, founded in 1856 by A. O.
Wallenberg, started a new way of thinking by
building its business on deposits.
Banks soon changed their corporate form to limited
companies (corporations).
The first savings bank in Sweden was established
on 28 October 1820. In the beginning, deposits were
the most important thing for the savings banks, but
after 1839, lending became as important as deposits.
More information is available at The History of
Swedish Banking
Religious Freedom in 1858
Sweden was, according to its constitution, a Christian
country with a state church, the Church of Sweden. It
was the only church to which Swedes could belong,
and it was (is) an Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Sweden adopted a new Church Act on January 12,
1726, the so-called “Konventikelplakatet” (The
Conventicle Article), which banned all pious meetings
outside the control of the Church of Sweden, such as
Bible reading and prayer meetings in people’s homes
headed by laymen. The article was debated at
several Parliament meetings but was not abolished
until 1858.
A religious meeting that was not headed by a parish
minister from the Church of Sweden was still not
allowed during the regular hours of public worship
without special permission. However, this last
restriction was abolished on December 11, 1860.
Then it became possible to hold religious meetings
during regular hours of public worship, but not so
close to a church that they disturbed the regular
church service.
