Swedish And Finnish Historiographies Of The Swedish Realm C 1520 1809

In the early modern era, two Nordic countries that are neighbours today, Sweden and Finland, formed one realm. Yet, modern history writing has largely ignored this unity, instead developing analysis and discussion in close connection to nationalistic ideas, national politics, and processes of state-building. Historians of both countries have therefore mostly approached their common past separately and academic history in both countries has taken its own course of development, leading to different emphases. This volume explores the common early modern history between Sweden and Finland from the Middle Ages to beginning of the 19th century, and how this history has been created in professional historiography (1860–2020), which methods have been used, and which themes studied. Based on extensive source material, including a database of history publications in different fields in both countries, this book offers a fresh scholarly approach to the study of historiography through a unique comparative perspective. This book is an excellent resource for students and professional researchers alike through providing an alternate view on the history of Sweden and Finland and providing key insight into the historiography of these two countries, and the similarities and differences they showcase.

This volume presents a comprehensive exposition of both the prehistory and medieval history of the whole of Scandinavia. The first part of the volume surveys the prehistoric and historic Scandinavian landscape and its natural resources, and tells how man took possession of this landscape, adapting culturally to changing natural conditions and developing various types of community throughout the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. The rest - and most substantial part of the volume - deals with the history of Scandinavia from the Viking Age to the end of the Scandinavian Middle Ages (c. 1520). The external Viking expansion opened Scandinavia to European influence to a hitherto unknown degree. A Christian church organisation was established, the first towns came into being, and the unification of the three medieval kingdoms of Scandinavia began, coinciding with the formation of the unique Icelandic 'Free State'.

The first systematic study of famine in all parts of Europe from the Middle Ages to present. It compares the characteristics, consequences and causes of famine in regional case studies by leading experts to form a comprehensive picture of when and why food security across the continent became a critical issue.

Islands of Identity: History-writing and identity formation in five island regions in the Baltic Sea Gotland, Aland, Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Bornholm are five island regions in the Baltic Sea which constitute, or have until recently constituted, provinces or counties of their own. Combining perspectives from two disparate academic fields, uses of history and island studies, this book investigates how regional history writing has contributed to the formation of regional identity on these islands since the year 1800. The special geographic situation of the islands-somewhat secluded from the mainland but also connected to important waterways-has provided their inhabitants with shared historical experiences. Due to varying geographic and historical circumstances, the relationship between regional and national identity is however different on each island. While regional history writing has in most cases aimed at integrating the island into the nation state, it has on Aland in the second half of the 20th century been used to portray its inhabitants as a separate nation. Dramatic political upheavals as the World Wars has also caused shifts in how regional history writing has represented the relationship to the mainland nation state, and has sometimes also resulted in altered national loyalties.

This book offers a comprehensive study of regional industrialization in Europe and Asia from the early nineteenth century to the present. Using case studies on regional industrialization, the book provides insights into similarities and differences in industrialization processes between European, Eurasian and Asian countries. Important factors include the transition from traditional to modern industrial production, industrial policy, agglomeration forces, market integration, and the determinants of industrial location over time. The book is an invaluable reference that attempts to bridge the fields of economic history, political history, economic geography, and economics while contributing to the debates on economic divergence between Europe and Asia as well as on the role of economic integration and globalization.

"Despite its failure as a political mobilizer, Scandinavism as a cultural movement would have a great impact on national consciousness-raising in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden by stressing common ethnolinguistic, mythological and historical roots. This cultural vision is traced in the long 19th century, specifically in its interactions and overlaps with the various nationally specific manifestations of cultural nationalism. Through an in-depth analysis of an extensive corpus of cultural products - ranging from novels and poetry to public commemorations, painting and street name signs - this book demonstrates that cultural Scandinavism was successful in forging a common pan-Scandinavian identity that supplemented and strengthened national-identity formation in the three nationalities it aimed to unify"--