1.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
2.
Gotland
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Gotland, Gutland in the local dialect Gutnish, is a province, county, municipality, and diocese of Sweden. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north. The population is 57,221, of which about 23,600 live in Visby, the island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up less than one percent of Swedens total land area. From a military viewpoint, it occupies a location in the Baltic sea. The island is the home of the Gutes, and sites such as the Ajvide Settlement show that it has occupied since prehistory. This is consistent with the spread of peoples from the Middle East at about that time. Early on, Gotland became a center, with the town of Visby the most important Hanseatic city in the Baltic Sea. In late medieval times, the island had twenty district courts, each represented by its elected judge at the island-ting, new laws were decided at the landsting, which also took other decisions regarding the island as a whole. Gutasaga contains legends of how the island was settled by Þieluar, according to some historians, it is therefore an effort not only to write down the history of Gotland, but also to assert Gotlands independence from Sweden. In 1361, Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark invaded the island, the Victual Brothers occupied the island in 1394 to set up a stronghold as a headquarters of their own in Visby. At last, Gotland became a fief of the Teutonic Knights, an invading army of Teutonic Knights conquered the island in 1398, destroying Visby and driving the Victual Brothers from Gotland. The number of Arab dirhams discovered on the island of Gotland alone is astoundingly high, in the various hoards located around the island, there are more of these silver coins than at any other site in Western Eurasia. The total sum is almost as great as the number that has been unearthed in the entire Muslim world, the Berezan Runestone, discovered in 1905 in Ukraine, was made by a Varangian trader named Grani in memory of his business partner Karl. It is assumed that they were from Gotland, the Mästermyr chest, an important artefact from the Viking Age, was found in Gotland. The authority of the landsting was successively eroded after the island was occupied by the Teutonic Order, then sold to Eric of Pomerania, in late medieval times, the ting consisted of twelve representatives for the farmers, free-holders or tenants. Since the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, the island has remained under Swedish rule, the Order never regained its territory, and eventually it reestablished itself in Rome as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. On 22 April 1808, during the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, a Russian army landed on the shores of Gotland near Grötlingbo. Under command of Nikolaus Andrejevich Bodisco 1,800 Russians took the city of Visby without any combat or engagement, and occupied the island
3.
Socken
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Socken is the name used for a part of a county in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. A socken is an area that was previously like a civil parish, a socken was formerly linked to a parish but is now a traditional area with other borders than the original parishes. In some parts of Sweden the use of socken as a way to describe an area is more prominent than in others, a socken may also have the same name as a locality or parish. Socken, in old Swedish sokn, Danish or bokmål sogn, nynorsk sokn, is a name for the original country church parishes. It also describes an area, a sockenkommun or a taxation area. The jordbrukssocken remained in use until the Fastighetsdatareformen 1976–1995 was complete, no further alterations to the sockens was made after this. On 1 January 2016, a new division and area for statistics. Geographically, the districts correspond with the parishes of the Church of Sweden of 31 December 1999, about 85% of the old sockens corresponds with the new districts. Socken is a convenient parameter for these purposes since it does not change with time, List of sockens in Sweden on Swedish Wikipedia, sv, Kategori, Socknar i Sverige. Administrative divisions of Sweden Civil parishes in England Historical region Hundred Soke Townships of the Peoples Republic of China Almquist, den civila lokalförvaltningen i Sverige 1523-1630, med särskild hänsyn till den kamerala indelningen. Meddelanden från svenska Riksarkivet, 99-0506720-5,6, den civila lokalförvaltningens gränser 1630-1952, kameral redovisning, areell beteckning och gränsförändring. Meddelanden från Kulturgeografiska institutionen vid Stockholms universitet, 0585-3508, B24, peter Aronsson & Lennart Johansson, ed. Att skapa ordning och reda, administrativa förändringar på landsbygden omkring 1870-1940. Sogneportalen, information about sockens in Denmark Swedish Tax Agency, Parishes in Sweden, Swedish National Heritage Board, List of towns and sockens
4.
Military on Gotland
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The presence of the military on Gotland results from the Swedish islands strategic military importance in the Baltic Sea for most of the nations history. Gotland has been fortified in stages since the 13th century, during the 20th century, infantry, artillery, air force and naval elements were stationed on Gotland as part of Swedens defense system, until all permanent military units were stood down in 2005. With tensions in Northeastern Europe and Russia escalating in 2014–2015, the Swedish government has taken a new interest in remilitarizing the island, and in September 2016 regular troops were once again stationed on the island, albeit as an interim measure until a permanent garrison could be reestablished. Since the Iron Age, Gotland has occupied a location in the Baltic Sea from both a trade and military perspective. Second period, From the 12th century to the 15th century, a time of great discord and open warfare between various polities and interests. The era saw the end of Gotland as an independent kingdom, the fortified town of Visby was built and expanded during this time. Third period, From the 16th century to the mid 17th century, an unsettled time in both politics and on the battlefield eventually led to the end of Gotlands time as an autonomous entity and it becoming an integral part of Sweden. Fourth period, From the 1810s to around the 1880s and this period included an industrious time during the 1860s and 1870s when a number of well-designed, major artillery forts, like Fårösund Fortress and Enholmen Fortress, were constructed. These and other fortifications on Gotland would later serve to help ensure Swedens neutrality in World War I, a massive new round of major construction began as the world headed for a new world war, which continued right on into, and throughout the Cold War. From the late 1940s, most of the part of Gotland became an even more heavily fortified, military only zone. Tasked with training all units of the Gotland Brigade and Gotland Military Command, except for artillery, a 7 - Gotland Artillery Regiment in Visby. Tasked with training field artillery units on Gotland, one heavy anti-ship missile battery armed with Robot 08 missiles. The 7th Coastal Artillery Battery in Bunge with 3x mobile 152mm M/37 cannons, furthermore, the regiment trained a few smaller units, which maintained minefields with controlled mines along the coast of Gotland and Fårö. Additionally the regiment fielded a number of 75mm m/65 automatic cannons, which were a mobile version of the 75mm Tornpjäs m/57 automatic guns. Lv 2 - Gotland Air-defence Battalion in Visby with Robot 69 and Robot 70 man-portable surface-to-air missiles, as well as 20mm lvakan m/40-70 and 40mm lvakan m/48 anti-aircraft autocannons. Prior to the closure of the garrison, there had been a continuous Swedish military presence on Gotland in one form or another. After the standing down of the garrison, a battalion of the Swedish Home Guard is based on Gotland for emergencies as part of the Eastern Military Region. The unit,32, a Gotlandsbataljonen acts as an element of the regular 1st Marine Regiment based at Muskö island
5.
Enduro
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Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on extended cross-country, off-road courses. Enduro consists of different obstacles and challenges. The main type of event, and the format to which the World Enduro Championship is run, is a time-card enduro. In a traditional time-keeping enduro, riders leave together in groups or rows, the object of the event is to arrive at pre-defined checkpoints according to a strict schedule. Early or late arrivals result in the scores being penalized. Throughout a day there will also be allocated periods for refuelling and servicing the machine, penalties apply for not meeting defined times or for outside-assistance when not permitted. A world championship course must be at least 200 km and a maximum of 30% of its length can be on paved roads, American Motorcycle Association rules are different with respect to course length and other variables. The rules of the sanctioning body can also affect the rules for a particular enduro course. Competitors are moderated by a series of time keeping checkpoints along the race course. Rallies, on the hand, are run on point to point courses where the competitor with the fastest time between the two points being declared the winner. Such courses may be shorter than the length of the race, in which case the course is repeated several times. Such courses may also be very long such that competitors never cover the ground twice. Examples of such include the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. Engines are generally single-cylinder two-stroke between 125 and 300 cm³, or four-stroke between 250 and 650 cm³, the World Enduro Championship and several other championships currently categorize enduro motorcycles into three classes, Enduro 1, Enduro 2 and Enduro 3. Major events in the calendar include the World Enduro Championship. The world governing body for enduro is the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, in the United States, the national governing body is the American Motorcycle Association. In the United Kingdom, the governing body is the Auto-Cycle Union. The World Enduro Championship was started in 1990, replacing the European Enduro Championship, the championship is run under the FIM and generally consists of around eight or nine Grands Prix spread around the globe
6.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
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