The medieval town of Stockholm expanded along the Baltic Sea, where an great archipelago of 24 000 islands, skerries and lumps of rock have protected it from the open seas. It is ideally situated for trade and maritime activities. Most of the land masses are uninhabited, merely about 10.000 people live in the archipelago and only in the major islands, although the popularity of the area for boating means it can be hard finding anchorage in high summer. The Stockholm archipelago can endures up to 20 cm of ice through most of the winter wich makes it ideal for long-distance skating as well. In the first place it is a paradise for boating activites and to have a place in the country into.