Chapter 15 section 4 The Nordic Nations

The Nordic Nations
Chapter 15 section 4
The people of the north call themselves Norden – means northlands
Norden includes 5 independent nations
Norway, Sweden, Finland. Denmark, and Iceland
Called Nordic nations English unified as a region by location and culture
Physical Characteristics
Identified as a region in party by its location in the northern latitudes
Some reach into the Arctic Circle
Varied Landscapes
Is a region of peninsulas and islands separated by seas, gulfs and oceans
Most continuous land masses are the Scandinavian and Jutland peninsulas terrain varies dramatically throughout the Nordic nations
Denmark is so flat its highest point is lass than 600 feet
Norway is one of the most mountainous nations in Europe
Environmental Change
Landscape on Scandinavian Peninsula product of last Ice Age
Glaciers carve out thousands of lakes across the peninsula
Remove topsoil and deposited them in Denmark and other parts of Western Europe
Rocky and difficult to farm
The jagged coastlines along the Scandinavian Peninsula were carved out by glaciers as they advanced and made deep valleys
Water filled them crating glacial valleys called fjords
Some are so deep ocean going ships can sail into them
Natural Resources
Iceland-volcanoes and glaciers exist side by side
Icelanders call their island "a land of fire and ice"
They take advantage of their islands geology ton produce geothermal energy
energy that is produced from the heat of the earth’s interior
Geothermal energy accounts for large amount of the power used for heat and electricity in Iceland
Long Winters, Short Summers
Norden’s location to the far north results in long winters and short summers "land of the midnight sun"
Midwinter sun may shine only 2-3 hours a day
Midsummer it shines for more than 20 hours
Winter is when the greenish white and red lights or the aurora borealis or t northern lights shine most brightly in the Nordic Nations
The Ocean and the Climate
The climate in most of Norden can be surprisingly mild
Half of Iceland ,all of Denmark, the west coast of Norway and southern Sweden have a mild marines west coast climate
Warm currents of the North Atlantic Drift moderate the weather and keep the coast free of ice
Shared Cultural Bonds
Understanding the Past
The Nordic nations have similar histories
Around 800 to 1050 Vikings were more than warriors
They were traders, colonizers, and explores
1397 they were joined by Queen Margrethe of Denmark
In 1523 Sweden (Finland) withdrew

Religion unites the Nordic people most belong to the Lutheran Church established during the Reformation
Except for Finnish Nordic languages have common roots
Nordic schools require students to learn English
Economic Systems
All five Nordic nations are democracies and have mixed economies
They practice a mixture of free enterprise and socialism
Denmark and Sweden have state-run daycare centers and state supported medical care
Nordic nations are politically neutral in foreign affairs
They do not take sides in international disputes
Norway refused to open its excellent harbors for military use
Forbids storage of nuclear weapons on its territory
Economic Activities
They derive their wealth from varied sources
Denmark and Southern Sweden have flat land and a mild climate suitable for agriculture
Denmark use 60% of its land for farming
Produces three time the amount of food need to feed its people
Fishing – Norwegians look to the sea
They compare it to farmland and call their offshore water the Blue Meadow
Oil and gas production
High-grade ores
forests
Idealized Nordic types, which appeared on the
cover of the Nazi journal "New People" in 1938,
pervaded Nazi propaganda. This image is part
of the show at The Andy Warhol Museum