Names. appears from Adam' o f Bremen, or from Sjultheod the native term,
foftened as ufual by the Roman enunciation.
Extent. -The kingdom o f Sweden is of .very confiderable . extent; beings
from the mofl fouthern promontory of Scone, to the northern extremity
of Swedifh Lapland, mot lets than 1x50 Britiffi miles in
length; and from the Norwegian Alps to the limits of Ruffia about
600. The contents in fquare miles have been computed 208,912 >•
. and the inhabitants being lame years ago fuppofed 2,9-77,345., there
will be fourteen to the fquare mile, including Swedifh Pomerania com»,
puted at 1440 fquare miles, and 103,345 inhabitants.
Original Po- As there is no evidence that the Celts ever penetrated to Scandinavia^
pulation. the firft population appears to have eonlifted o f Fins, who, perhaps
feven or might centuries before the ChrffEian sera, wpre fupplanted by
the Goths, mythologically reprefented .its having been conduced, by
- Odin, or the god of war. Thefe Goths gradually'proceeded from
their native feats in the north o f Perfia, and-, along the Euxine; and
while one divifion palled to the weft, or into Germany, another in a
northern progrefs reached Scandinavia,' wh’eref no, foteigrf ^cOnqueft
having fince extended, the population continues purely! Qdthic in the
fouthern parts; while in the north there' are remains o f the Fins';
and above them the Laplanders, a' native diminutive race refem'bling
the Samoieds of the north o f Alia, and the Efquimaux, and Greenlanders,
Arctic races of America. If any ifles exift neat' the fouth
pole, it is probable that the inhabitants- will be found of diminifhe'd
fize, and manners refembling thofe o f the northern progeny. The
Laplanders, are however fuperior to the Samoieds,6r Efxjtiimaux,
becaufe they have intermarried with the Fins, a race of greater dignity j
and their language bein^ onginSly'very rude and barren, as* their
wants and ideas were few, they have in a great ineafure adopted that
of the Fins their neighbours. #
Progreffive Only the fouthern parts of Scandinavia being known to. the ancients,
Geography fa progreffive geography is rather obfciire. The only people there
fituated
«Mated known to Tafcirtfa .were • the- Sitone&i , Pliny «-appears to have
.confounded the knowledge of thd ancient Greeksr'concerning Britain
.and Ireland, with :that> qi^fhe, Romans ooncerning the Baltic); but he.
iexprefsly ’snaines .Scandinavia-,-; a.. part;- p f which- ,was inhabited tby the
Hilleviones," perhaps in fheTbutfr of I^ rMfpdr in Hallaftid, while his
Eningia improbably thHpficuth'' weftern ffior'e of - Gdthknd,: , which the
Romans,''deceived .by the-mtervempg-gulph lo,f Ghriftiana, fupp0fe(j t0
be another illand. Ptdlemy mentiqns^i^ve qf'tfix; tribes, -among which
are the Gilt* of Gothland, >afs inhabiting, the portion *0^’ Scandinavia
.known in his time; which, froih the - hze he afcribes fo it,v could not
have p'afled the lakes Wenner, and Weter. , H is' four- .Scandinavian
iflands are evidently thofe 'of,>i§ealai£(Jy Funeri, Lalandj^hnfr'tFa'I'fter,
After this’ period there ig little 'progrefs in Sc-andipaviaiM'geography till
'the time of Jornandes, in the fixth •ceUtu^yj; who deleribe^-Sqanzi'a,* -dr'
Scandinavia" ab fome length, and mention 1 nations by whom
it rw^^iihil^itiid.* The next nqfices are due .ta.the acreages .of ■ Ohter,
Recited-; by our great Alfred; and-the. mpre- qertahi; and general
knowledge .begins to dawn wit,h ,Adam of . Bremen, and the' Icelandic
. hifrorian^. .
Tjhe. following feem to conftitute the chief hiftoricai 'epochs of
Syveden...
I. The early population Jjy the Fins and Laplanders,
i 2. The cqnqueft by the Qpths. ,
3. What little knowledge the ancients poffeffed ..concerning, theffouth
o f Scandinavia^. I
.The.-'.fabulous and'traditional htftpny, which begins .abp,ut the
year of Chrift >520, and includes the conqueft. 'of tSwedea ,by Ivar
^idfafrnfe king of Denmark about A. D. 760. -^Hcncei^fer-fj^u an
ebfcure period till the reign of Biornnt, A, D. 8219;' cbnaohemorated^
with his immediate fucceffors, by Adam of Bremen.
•; 5. The ebnqueft df Denmark by Olaf I l ahout the year gsoop '
* The names are corrupt, hut blight like the whole - o f pus author, be greatly improved
‘from the Ambrofian MS., whole various readings ate phiiliihecr by1 fttetatoti in t h e l o f
his Italian hiftorians. In a new edition that MS'-fho^hybe adopted as the text, aud-tlje few
various readings that are worth prefervtftion fhould be given on the margin.
6. The
P r o g r e s s
iv e G e o g
r a p h y . ‘
Hiftoricai
EpaiShs. ‘ (