Want to impress family and friends with fun facts about Scandinavia in your next quiz night? This article will teach you more about Northern Europe, so get comfy, maybe you’ll discover a thing or two you didn’t know before.
Scandinavia is comprised of three countries. Scandinavia consists of three countries, which are Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Some definitions include Iceland, Finland, The Faroe Islands, Greenland and Aland in a wider group known as the Nordic region.
Scandinavians understand each other. All three languages are children of the ‘Old Norse’. However, dialects and strong accents are capable of complicating matters. So much so that English is the language used for communication between Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes just so there are no misunderstandings.
All countries where once part of a union. All the countries were under the Kalmar Union from 1397 until 1523, although there were short interruptions. The union fell after the Swedish rebellion and the subsequent election of King Gustav I of Sweden.
Football is mostly a summer sport. Football (soccer) is played mostly in the summer, not through as obtained in major European leagues. This mostly for Sweden and Norway anyway, as Denmark follows the standard summer season.
Scandinavia as a term originated in the 18th century. According to some historians, this was the period in time when ideas about a common heritage began to appear. However, the term was used more politically later on.
The three governments ran an airline. The three governments of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway formed a consortium in 1946 to cooperate on transatlantic operations for the national airline. They all merged, and Scandinavian Airlines was birthed fiver years later. Today, things are no longer as they were as Norway has sold all its shares.
The region is obsessed with coffee. It is not a secret that the fiver Nordic countries are big on coffee. In fact, they place high in the world’s six biggest consumers of coffee. Norway consumes the most at an average per capita consumption of 9.9kg yearly. Also, their light roasts are becoming popular everywhere.
The Nordic cross is used on the flags of all countries. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Faroe Islands and Iceland all have the off-centre Nordic cross design on their flags. The only country that don’t is Greenland. The flags differ in color and design, but people usually muddle up Denmark and Norway flags.
Swedish kids do Halloween at Easter. Although children don’t dress up like ghosts like in other parts of the world. They wear discarded clothes dressed up as witches, and red-painted cheeks, going from one house to another presenting occupants with paintings in hope of getting sweets and gifts in return.
The busiest airport in the region is in Copenhagen. More than 30 million passengers used the Copenhagen Airport Kastrup (CPH) every year. It offers long-haul flights to the USA and Asia. it is followed closely Oslo and Arlanda (ARN).
12. Scandinavia is the happiest region in the world. According to UN’s World Happiness Report, the three Scandinavian countries, along with their neighbors are the happiest countries on earth. Although, some prefer to say they are contented.
Swedes take recycling seriously. Not a lot of household waste end in landfills in Sweden. The country encourages heat to energy generation through programs initiated for the purposes. This has also led to burning off too much waste that the country produces, which is why it now imports waste from neighboring Norway.
