A time-line of the Vikings and ScandinaviaWorld News | Politics | History | Editor(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |
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Longships 100 AD: the Finns occupy Finland 200 AD: Runic (futhark) alphabet 400: age of the migrations 690: English missionary Willibrord evangelizes in Denmark 700: boat graves at Vendel in Uppland (Sweden) 700: Denmark is ruled by Angantyr (Ongendus) 800: Danes under Godfred fight the Franks 810: Godfred is murdered 826: Harald Klak of Denmark converts to Christianity 827: Horik I, son of Godfred, rules Denmark 831: Vikings invade Ireland and found Dublin 834: Vikings raid England 844: Vikings raid Seville 852: Ansgar founds the churches at Hedeby and Ribe in Denmark 860: Vikings attack Constantinople 862: Vikings found Novgorod in Russia 865: the Danes invade East Anglia and destroy the Northumbrians 867: the Danes under Ivarr the Boneless establish a kingdom in York, England 872: Harald I becomes king of Norway 874: Vikings settle Iceland 878: the Danes invade Wessex (they now owned three of the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms) 885: Vikings besiege Paris 886: Wessex king Alfred divides England with the Danes 900: Eddic sagas in Iceland 900: Vikings raid the Mediterranean coasts 900: king Harald I Fairhaired unites most of Norway 910: Harald Bluetooth (Harald I) inherits the Jutland kingdom from his father, Gorm the Old and conquers the rest of Denmark 911: Vikings under Rollo are settled in Normandy by the Franks (first Duke of Normandy) 910: Alfred's son Edward defeats the Danes 912: the Normans become Christian 927: Aethelstan conquers all of Anglosaxon England 937: Aethelstan establishes the kindgom of England 941: Vikings attack Constantinople 950: Harald Bluetooth (Harold I) unites all of Denmark 959: Edgar the Peaceful becomes the first king of a united England 965: Harald Bluetooth (Harold I) converts the Danes to christianity 968: Brian Boru expels the Vikings from Ireland 981: Erik the Red discovers Greenland 986: Vikings land in Canada 995: Olaf I Trygvason conquers most of Norway and converts it to Christianity 1000: the tribes of Sweden unite 1000: Greenland and Iceland are christianized 1001: Leif Eriksson reaches the American coast 1008: Sweden is christianized 1013: the Danish chieftain Svend Forkbeard (Svend I) conquers England 1015: Olaf II Haraldsson is the first king of all Norway 1016: the Danish king Canute (Knut) II defeats the Wessex king Edmund at the battle of Alney and annexes Mercia 1017: Edmund of Wessex dies and Canute annexes Wessex 1017: Canute converts to christianity 1028: Canute, already king of England and Denmark, conquers Norway 1035: Canute dies, leaving Denmark and England to Hardacnut and Norway to Swein 1042: Hardacnut dies suddenly and Edward the Confessor, heir to both Wessex and Mercia, regains the throne of England to the Anglosaxons 1050: Vikings found the city of Oslo in Norway 1060: Svend Estridsen (Svend II) organizes the Danish church 1066: Edward the Confessor dies and Harold II Godwinson succeeds him 1066: Norway's king Harald III Harraade invades northern England and is killed at the battle of Stamford Bridge against Harold Godwinson of England 1066: William I of Normandy (the Conqueror) defeats and kills the English king Harold at the battle of Hastings, thus ending the Anglo-Saxon rule of England and becoming the first Norman king of England 1103: the Danish king Erik Ejegod (Erik I) obtains that Lund become the archiepiscopal see for the whole of Scandinavia 1152: the archbishopric of Norway is founded at Nidaros (Trondheim), where a cathedral is built 1155: the Swedish king Erik conquers Finland during a crusade 1157: Valdemar I becomes king of Denmark 1160: the Sverker and Erik families compete for power in Sweden 1164: Sweden obtains an archbishop 1169: the Danish king Canute VI conquers Arkona 1215: the English king John I Lackland signs the Magna Charta 1203: Philip Augustus II of France conquers Normandy and expels the English 1217: Haakon IV Haakonsson reunites Norway after a civil war 1219: the Danes under Valdemar II conquer Estonia 1241: Valdemar II dies and the Danish kingdom disintegrates 1262: Haakon IV annexes Iceland and Greenland to Norway 1263: Haakon IV dies and is succeeded by Magnus V Lagaboeter, who enacts Norway's code of laws 1280: Sweden's king Magnus Ladulas organizes Swedish society on the feudal model 1286: the Turku cathedral of Finland is founded 1300: Sweden trades with the cities of the Hanseatic Leage (Luebeck) 1340: Valdemar IV Atterdag succeeds to the throne of Denmark 1350: Sweden's king Magnus Eriksson enacts the Swedish law code 1350: the plague reaches Denmark and Scandinavia 1361: the Danes under Valdemar IV is defeated by the Hanseatic league 1375: Valdemar IV of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Oluf, the son of Valdemar IV's daughter Margrete and King Hakon VI of Norway 1388: following the deaths of Hakon and Oluf, Margrete becomes queen of Denmark and Norway 1389: the Danish queen Margareta is elected queen of Sweden, thereby uniting the crowns of Denmark, Norway and Sweden 1397: Denmark, Norway and Sweden agree to unite under Erik VII of Pomerania (Union of Kalmar) 1442: Christopher III of Denmark becomes king of Norway, thereby installing a Danish dynasty in Norway 1460: the Danish King Christian I is elected Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein by the nobles of Schleswig-Holstein 1475: the Olavinlinna castle is founded in Finland 1520: Swedish nobles fighting for independence are executed by the Danish union king Kristian II 1521: the Danish king Kristian II is deposed 1523: Gustar Vasa is elected king of Sweden and Sweden leaves the union with Denmark 1529: Sweden adopts Lutheranism as the state religion 1536: Christian III emerges as the winner from the Danish civil war, ruling over Denmark, Norway, the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland 1536: Denmark and Norway adopt Lutheranism as the state religion 1544: Sweden becomes an hereditary monarchy and abandons Catholicism in favor of Protestantism 1563: Erik XIV of Sweden and Frederik II of Denmark get entangled in a seven-year war 1611: Denmark tries to annex again Sweden but fails (Kalmar War) 1625: Sweden under Gustav II Adolf captures Livonia from Poland 1626: the Danish army of Christian IV is defeated in the Thirty Years' War at Lutter am Barenberg 1630: Sweden under Gustav II Adolf allies with Germany in the Thirty Years' War 1632: Gustav II Adolf is killed at the battle of Luetzen but Sweden wins and becomes a European power 1634: Swedish nobility ratifies a new constitution 1634: Finland is incorporated into the kingdom of Sweden 1655: Sweden invades Poland-Lithuania ("First Northern War"), causing the death of millions, while Russia, Denmark, and the Empireside with Poland-Lithuania 1658: Sweden under Charles X seizes Danish provinces, its territory now including Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany 1660: Denmark becomes a hereditary monarchy under Frederik III 1670: Christian V becomes king of Denmark and introduces administrative reforms 1661: Johan Palmstruch introduces the first European paper money 1697: Charles XII becomes king of Sweden 1699: Frederik IV becomes king of Denmark 1699: Denmark, Poland and Russia attack Sweden, but Charles XII's army invades Poland, Saxony and Ukraine 1707: Sweden, having defeated Poland, invades Russia 1709: Sweden is defeated by Russia at the battle of Poltava 1729: Greenland becomes a Danish province 1721: Sweden is defeated by an alliance of Denmark, Poland and Russia and loses most of its territory on the other side of the Baltic Sea (peace of Nystad) 1772: Gustav III seizes power in Sweden 1773: Denmark enter into an alliance with Russia 1807: Britain attacks Denmark and steals the entire Danish fleet, and Denmark allies with Napoleon 1809: a new constitution of Sweden grants more powers to the Parliament 1809: Russia invades Sweden and Sweden cedes Finland to Russia 1812: Helsinki becomes the capital of Finland 1814: and at the Peace of Kiel, Denmark is forced to cede Norway to Sweden 1814: Christian VIII introduces constitutional monarchy in Norway 1818: the first Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste, one of Napoleon's field marshals, is elected king of Sweden 1849: Frederik VII signs Denmark's first constitution, granting civil rights and instituting a parliamentary democracy 1864: Prussia and Austria defeat Denmark and Denmark is forced to cede Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg 1867: the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invents dynamite 1905: the union between Sweden and Norway is dissolved and prince Carl of Demark becomes king of Norway as Haakon VII 1906: universal female suffrage in Finland (first country in Europe) 1907: Sweden introduces proportional representation and universal suffrage 1912: universal female suffrage in Norway 1913: Norway introduces univeral male suffrage 1913: the Danish physicist Niels Bohr explains how the atom works 1918: Denmark introduces universal suffrage 1919: Finland declares its independence from Russia 1932: the socialdemocratic party wins the elections in Sweden 1944: Finland surrenders Karelia to the Soviet Union 1944: Iceland declares independence from Denmark 1946: Socialdemocrat Tage Erlander becomes prime minister of Sweden 1969: Erlander resigns and Olof Palme becomes prime minister of Sweden 1974: a new Swedish constitution removes any power from the monarchy 1979: Ericsson introduces the first cellular phone 1986: Olof Palme is assassinated 1995: Sweden and Finland join the European Union 1996: Goeran Persson becomes prime minister of Sweden 2000: a bridge is inaugurated linking Malmo in Sweden and Copenhagen in Denmark 2002: Finland adopts the euro 2006: Arab countries protest for a caricature of Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper 2006: Fredrik Reinfeldt becomes prime minister of Sweden |
| (Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |