Sweden Links My Grandmother's Country

Here are some links for the Country of Sweden

http://www.usis.usemb.se/usis/absweden/index.html
Information for visitors to Sweden

http://www.tidusa.com/PEHP2000/Planet_Earth/countries/sweden.html
Planet Earth Home Page-Europe-Country Of Sweden

http://www.sverigeturism.se/smorgasbord/smorgasbord/culture/lifestyle/sentences.html
Common Sentences in Swedish- some audio

Facts and figures and Some well known Swedes:

the Nobel Prize
Absolut Vodka
Volvo (which is Latin for "I roll")
Björn Borg, the tennis player
Greta Garbo
Bergman (both Ingrid and Ingmar,not related)
Smõrgåsbord (is Swedish for "table of sandwiches")
IKEA
SAAB
Celsius (invented the Centrigrade system)
Ace of Base
Roxette
ABBA
SKF (makes ball bearings)
The propeller
The zip
The Ombudsman

Facts and figures: important historical events

800-1050 A D The Viking Age.
The Vikings worshipped the Asa gods such as Oden and Thor.
The origin of the word Thursday comes from the Swedish word Torsdag, meaning... you guessed it... Thors day.
Actually, most of the days of the week come from Nordic mythology.

900 Sweden becomes unified. Olof Skötkonung is the first king.

1050
Sweden becomes christianized.

1610-1718
The Great Power period. Many wars lead to the expansion of Swedish territory.

1812
Sweden acquires its present borders. This is also the last time Sweden was engaged in war (We have been very fortunate in that sense).

1850
The breakthrough of industrialism in Sweden.

1939-45
Sweden is neutral during the World War II.

1950
With industry intact after WW2, and with high quality engineering, Sweden becomes one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

1995
Sweden becomes a member of the European Union.