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The Swedes are a people of Germanic origin, having their primarily geographical location on the eastern side of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Identification, or the identity, as Swedes are today resting on a variety of factors, where Swedish language, Swedish heritage, Swedish descendance and Swedish citizenship may be used as criteria.Depending on the context, Swedes can for instance refer to:
- citizens of Sweden
- Ethnic Swedes
- inhabitants of the autonomous Åland Islands (under sovereignty of Finland), some of whom may designate themselves as Finland-Swedes
- members of the Finland-Swedish minority in mainland Finland, some of whom may designate themselves as ethnic Swedes
- members of the Estonia-Swedish minority
- The Suiones, an ancient Germanic tribe, sometimes named Svear in academic works, at the roots of the Swedish statehood, and contemporary with the Geats and the GothsThis article is about the Germanic tribes. For the late 20th century youth subculture see Goth. The Goths were a Germanic tribe which according to their own traditions originated in southern Sweden (cf. Gotaland and Gotland). They migrated southwards and in ScandinaviaScandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which mutually recognize each other as parts of Scandinavia. The collective label "Scandinavia" reflects the cultural. Note: in ScandinavianNorth Germanic languages is any of several Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the islands west of Scandinavia. There are two main branches, Insular (West-) North Germanic and Continental (East-) North Germanic or Scandinavia, there is a distinction between svenskar and svear (as between danskar ( Danes) and DanerThe Daner were an ancient North Germanic tribe residing in Terra Scania and on the Danish islands. They were not mentioned by Tacitus, who his famous work Germania included the Gothones ( Geats and/or Goths?) and the Suiones (Swedes). However, they seem t), since the latter term does not include the Geats and the GotlandGotland is the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 2,994 km² it is also the largest island belonging to Sweden, ahead of Oland. Inhabitants of the island number 57,381 (2002 figure) and the primary income sources are tourism and agriculture. The main citers and other populations whose descendants are part of the present population of Sweden.
1 Ethnic Swedes
The notion of ethnic Swedes is controversial, and especially the Swedish and Finnish views contradict each other. The usage in English does not necessarily reflect the usage in Sweden and Finland, or in Swedish and Finnish.
In an English language context, the concept of Ethnic Swedes may be used for:
- People of Swedish heritage, typically immigrants to the Americas
- Minorities outside of Sweden with Swedish mother tongue, who however might not designate themselves as "ethnically Swedish"
In Sweden, the connotation of Swede, when used without qualifications, is often a person who is
- a citizen of Sweden,
- living in Sweden, and
- born by Swedish parents.
Not all Swedes would agree with such a usage. Immigrants and their offspring may by some persons be denoted as Swedes, particularly if their Swedish is flawlessly without foreign accent or if they are prominent industrialists or sportsmen and they appear assimilated in the Swedish culture.
In a Swedish mindset, the concept of ethnic Swedes is used chiefly in the following contexts:
- To distinguish "Swedish citizens" who are naturalized immigrants, but not indistinguishably assimilated, from the other Swedes.
- To distinguish, typically in school settings, pupils of immigrant heritage from them without.
In addition to this is ethnic Swedes sometimes used to include, besides the ethnic Swedes living in Sweden,
- the Swedish speaking minority living in Finland (the Finland-Swedes) and Åland,
- the Swedish speaking minority living in Estonia ( Estonia-Swedes ) and
- the Swedish speaking minority living in Gammalsvenskby (Old Swedish Village) in Ukraine.
Some of the Estonia-Swedes and Ukraine-Swedes don't speak Swedish any more, but may yet be considered being ethnic Swedes (cf Ethnic German). In a nationalist context, the ethnic Swedes living outside Sweden are sometimes called "East-Swedes" (in Swedish östsvenskar), to distinguish them from the ethnic Swedes living in Sweden proper, called rikssvenskar or västsvenskar ("Western-Swedes"), reflecting irredentist sentiments.
However, in Sweden people typically refer to their ethnic identity, not as Swedes but rather to their sub-national ethnic identity, such as Dalecarlian, which orignates from the historical Provinces of Sweden.
