Swedish diaspora explained

The Swedish diaspora consists of emigrants and their descendants, especially those that maintain some of the customs of their Swedish culture.[1] Notable Swedish communities exist in the United States, Argentina,[2] Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, and the United Kingdom as well as others.

History

The New Sweden Company established a colony on the Delaware River in 1638, naming it New Sweden. The colony was lost to the Dutch in 1655.[3]

Between 1846 and 1930, roughly 1.3 million people, about 20% of the Swedish population, left the country.[4] [5]

In the United States members of the diaspora had access to Swedish films starting in 1922 with The Treasure of Arne which was shown in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Some films were made just for the Swedish American diaspora community such as The Film About Sweden and The Old Land of Dreams.[6]

The first recognition by Sweden of the 19th century emigration to the United States occurred in 1923 with a visit by Nathan Söderblom and the 1926 visit by the crown prince, who would later rule as Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.[7] [8] He would visit again in 1938.[9]

Swedish expatriates in Manhattan celebrate Midsummer as "a particularly grand example of the Swedish diaspora's ability to hold on to its culture while fully integrating on a global scale."[10]

Distribution

Finland

See main article: Swedish-speaking Finns. The Swedish-speaking Finns or Finland-Swedes form a minority group in Finland. The characteristic of this minority is debated: while some see it as an ethnic group of its own[11] some view it purely as a linguistic minority.[12] The group includes about 265,000 people, comprising 5.10% of the population of mainland Finland, or 5.50%[13] if the 26,000 inhabitants of Åland are included (there are also about 60,000 Swedish-speaking Finns currently resident in Sweden). It has been presented that the ethnic group can also be perceived as a distinct Swedish-speaking nationality in Finland.[14] There are also 9,000 Swedish citizens living in Finland.[15]

Germany

Approximately 23,000 Swedes live in Germany.[16]

Estonia

See main article: Estonian Swedes and Gammalsvenskby. The presence of Swedish-speaking permanent residents in what is now Estonia (Estonian Swedes) was first documented in the 14th century, and possibly dates back to the Viking Age. There were an estimated 12,000 Swedes resident in Estonia in 1563, mainly distributed along the coastal regions and islands. Estonia was under Swedish rule 1558–1710, after which the territory was ceded to Russia in the 1721 Treaty of Nystad. In 1781, 1,300 Estonian Swedes of the island of Hiiumaa (Dagö) were forced to move to New Russia (today Ukraine) by Catherine II of Russia, where they formed Gammalsvenskby (Old Swedish Village). According to the 1934 census, there were 7,641 Estonian Swedes (Swedish speaking, 0.7% of the population in Estonia), making Swedes the third largest national minority in Estonia, after Russians and Germans. During World War II, almost the entire community of Estonian Swedes fled to Sweden. Today there are, at most, a few hundred Estonian Swedes living in Estonia and a few hundred in Russia and Ukraine, with the estimates varying widely depending on who identifies, or can be identified, as a Swede. Many of them are living in northwestern mainland Estonia and on adjacent islands and on the island of Ruhnu (Runö) in the Gulf of Riga.

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.

France

Many Swedes spend their holidays in France especially in the South of France, small towns and villages. altogether totaling 20,000 to 25,000. They live in Ile-de-France, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Languedoc-Rousillon, Midi-Pyrenees, Brittany, Poitou-Charentes, Picardy, Upper Normandy, Lorraine, Alsace, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire, Centre-Val de Loire and in the Gallic country.[17]

Portugal

Many Swedes spend their holidays in Portugal and many Swedish pensioners have moved to the country in recent years. Official statistics suggest that 5,486 foreigners holding Swedish nationality (thus not taking into account 36 Swedes who have acquired Portuguese nationality since 2008 and descendants of immigrants, as well as people of more distant ancestry) live in Portugal. They live especially in the South (Algarve) and in Lisbon Region. Other estimates suggest that as many as 8,000 Swedes may be living in the country[18] [19] [20] [21] Notable Luso-Swedes include filmmaker Solveig Nordlund.

North America

See main article: Swedish Americans and Swedish Canadians. There are numerous Swedish descendants in places like the United States and Canada (i.e. Swedish Americans and Swedish Canadians), including some who still speak Swedish.

The majority of the early Swedish immigrants to Canada came via the United States. It was not until after 1880 that significant numbers of Swedes immigrated to Canada. From WWI onwards, almost all of the Swedish immigrants entered Canada coming directly from Sweden. In addition to Swedish immigrants from south-central part of Sweden, a relatively large number of Swedish immigrants came from Stockholm and northern Sweden. The newcomers played an important role in the development of the Canadian prairies.

Swedish Canadians can be found in all parts of the country, but the largest population resides in British Columbia. Many Swedish social, cultural, political, business and welfare organizations, both religious and secular, can be found in all major Canadian cities and some of the smaller towns and rural communities. Some of the Swedish traditions, such as Midsummer, Walpurgis, and St Lucia are still celebrated by the community today.[22]

South America

See main article: Swedish Argentines and Scandinavian Brazilians. Swedes settled mainly in Argentina.[23] Numerous communities can be found in South America, especially in the Misiones Province and Buenos Aires, in Argentina, in the South and Southeast of Brazil, and there are some Swedish communities in Uruguay.

Oceania

See main article: Swedish Australians and Swedish New Zealanders. Many Swedes settled in Australia and New Zealand. Organized immigration from Sweden occurred during the 19th century when Queensland and Tasmania invited immigrants to take up farming leases. Many people of Swedish descent can be found in these countries.

United Kingdom

See main article: Swedes in the United Kingdom. Scandinavian migration to Britain is a phenomenon that has occurred at different periods over the past 1,200 years.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Diaspora . 22 February 2011 . the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland ... people settled far from their ancestral homelands. . . 30 April 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110430020138/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diaspora . live .
  2. Web site: Suecia en Argentina. 12 June 2011. 20 August 2017. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110612121843/http://www.sueciaenargentina.com.ar/index.html. 12 June 2011.
  3. Web site: A Brief History of New Sweden in America . 22 February 2011 . . 11 December 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051211144259/http://www.colonialswedes.org/History/History.html . dead .
  4. Web site: Swedish Emigrant Institute . 22 February 2011 . Its original purpose was to preserve records, interviews, and memorabilia relating to the period of major Swedish emigration between 1846 and 1930 when 1.3 million (about 20%) of the Swedish population left the country. . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131006130904/http://www.utvandrarnashus.se/eng/ . 6 October 2013.
  5. News: Viveca . https://archive.today/20120717235710/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=b6UyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MukFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2599,1490863&dq=swedish-diaspora&hl=en . dead . 17 July 2012 . ... part of the 19th century Swedish diaspora from 1840 to 1910, 33 percent of Sweden's population left for Minnesota ... . . 11 January 1983 . 25 February 2011 .
  6. Book: . Swedish Film: An Introduction and a Reader . 2010 . . As a comparison to these issues, and in order to see what happened to Swedishness in the diaspora, I am going to explore how the Swedish-Americans in special exhibitions used Swedish film to remember their home country and to construct their cultural identity as Swedish ... . 978-91-85509-36-2 . 4 December 2020 . 17 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230417101410/https://books.google.com/books?id=Pao6_-BjqvIC&q=Sweden+diaspora&pg=PA140 . live .
  7. Book: . Immigrant minds, American identities: making the United States home, 1870–1930 . 2000 . 9780252025624 . These trips inaugurated an official recognition of what, from a Swedish point of view, now was a Swedish diaspora. ... . 4 December 2020 . 17 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230417101422/https://books.google.com/books?id=jXGuJkA-RkYC&q=Swedish+diaspora&pg=PA180 . live .
  8. News: Prince Has Busy Day Seeing Washington. Dined By Coolidges. Gustavus Adolphus Visits House and Senate and Museum of the Capitol. He Is Thrilled By Fossils. Becomes So Absorbed in the Biological Specimens That He Almost Forgets Other Affairs. Banquet at White House. Royal Couple Attend Luncheon at the British Embassy and Reception at Home of John Hays Hammond. . A brilliant dinner by President and Mrs. Coolidge at the White House tonight, attended by every member of the Cabinet in Washington and other distinguished guests, topped off a lively day for Crown Prince Gustavus Adolphus and Crown Princess Louise of Sweden, which was divided between sight, seeing and a round of social functions. . . 29 May 1926 . 26 February 2011 . 22 July 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180722213707/https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/29/archives/prince-has-busy-day-seeing-washington-dined-by-coolidges-gustavus.html . live .
  9. News: Gustaf Adolf Returns to America For Delaware's Colonial Celebration. Many Official Duties. A Student in Norway. Athlete and Sportsman. A Man Who Enjoys Life . For the first time since 1926, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden will arrive in the United States tomorrow. Accompanied by his wife and his third son, Prince Bertil, he will take part in the celebration marking ... . . 26 June 1938 . 26 February 2011 . 22 July 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180722220807/https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/26/archives/swedens-crown-prince-gustaf-adolf-returns-to-america-for-delawares.html . live .
  10. News: Expat Swedes gather for Manhattan Midsummer . The New York City Midsummer celebration is a particularly grand example of the Swedish diaspora's ability to hold on to its culture while fully integrating on a global scale. . . 28 June 2010 . 25 February 2011 . 1 November 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101101063519/http://www.thelocal.se/27478/20100628/ . live .
  11. "...Finland has a Swedish-speaking minority that meets the four major criteria of ethnicity, i.e. self-identification of ethnicity, language, social structure and ancestry (Allardt and Starck, 1981; Bhopal, 1997).
  12. http://finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=26471
  13. Web site: Population and Society. https://web.archive.org/web/20041011104110/http://www.stat.fi/tk/tp/tasku/taskue_vaesto.html. dead. 11 October 2004. www.stat.fi.
  14. The identity of the Swedish[-speaking] minority [in Finland] is however clearly Finnish (Allardt 1997:110). But their identity is twofold: They are both Finland Swedes and Finns (Ivars 1987). (Die Identität der schwedischen Minderheit ist jedoch eindeutig finnisch (Allardt 1997:110). Ihre Identität ist aber doppelt: sie sind sowohl Finnlandschweden als auch Finnen (Ivars 1987).) Saari, Mirja: Schwedisch als die zweite Nationalsprache Finnlands. Retrieved 10 December 2006.
  15. "It is not correct to call a nationality a linguistic group or minority, if it has developed culture of its own. If there is not only a community of language, but also of other characteristics such as folklore, poetry and literature, folk music, theater, behavior, etc." "The concept of nation has a different significance as meaning of a population group or an ethnic community, irrespectively of its organization. For instance, the Swedes of Finland, with their distinctive language and culture form a nationality which under the Finnish constitution shall enjoy equal rights with the Finnish nationality". "In Finland this question (Swedish nationality) has been subjected to much discussion. The Finnish majority tries to deny the existence of a Swedish nationality. An example of this is the fact that the statutes always use the concept Swedish-speaking' instead of 'Swedish. Tore Modeen, The cultural rights of the Swedish ethnic group in Finland (Europa Ethnica, 3–4 1999, jg.56)
  16. Web site: ERV . Europeiska . Leva och bo i Tyskland: Det här behöver du veta . Europeiska ERV . 13 March 2017 . sv . 28 April 2022 . 6 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220706042729/https://www.erv.se/privat/blogg/leva-och-bo-i-tyskland-det-har-behover-du-veta/ . live .
  17. Web site: Présentation de la Suède. France Diplomatie : : Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères. 9 June 2016. 15 April 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210415033645/https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/dossiers-pays/suede/presentation-de-la-suede/. live.
  18. Web site: Sefstat . Relatório de Imigração, Fronteiras e Asilo 2021 . May 2022 . J . Estrela . S. Mota Lopes . A. Menezes . P . Sousa . R . Machado . 28 May 2023 . 23 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220623105729/https://sefstat.sef.pt/Docs/Rifa2021.pdf . live .
  19. Web site: Why are Swedes moving to Portugal? . 28 May 2023 . The Portugal News . Daisy . Sampson . 14 February 2023 . en . 3 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230403145326/https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2023-02-14/why-are-swedes-moving-to-portugal/74734 . live .
  20. Web site: Donn . Natasha . 2 February 2022 . Portugal’s Swedish NHR pensioners get the bad news . 28 May 2023 . Portugal Resident . en-GB . 28 May 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230528091345/https://www.portugalresident.com/portugals-swedish-nhr-pensioners-get-the-bad-news/ . live .
  21. Web site: Acquisition of citizenship statistics . 28 May 2023 . ec.europa.eu . en . 15 May 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230515211548/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Acquisition_of_citizenship_statistics . live .
  22. Web site: Community Life | Multicultural Canada . Multiculturalcanada.ca . 8 July 2010 . 7 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101207020725/http://multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/s13/4 . live .
  23. Web site: Argentina . 5 September 2013 . 28 January 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070128073552/http://www.nordicway.com/argentina.htm . dead .

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