Review
"...this work is clearly designed to permit regular consultation in library collections for many decades. Essential." Choice
"...a significant addition to the growing literature on Nordic history...an indispensable reference book for every major library. Thanks to good editing, it is highly readable and flows seamlessly from chapter to another. It is a volume not only for professional historians, but also a valuable research tool for college students and the general adult reading public." History
Book Description
The various countries and communities that constitute present-day Scandinavia consider themselves as integral parts of that larger region. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland share a common geographic, historic and socio-cultural distinctness that differs from the rest of Europe. This "distinctness" provides the rationale for compiling a comprehensive and comparative history of Scandinavia. The first volume in the series will be followed by two others.
Download Description
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'.
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