are washed by the Skager-Rack, Cattegat, and
Baltic. From the mountain-barrier of Norway the country slopes down in
broad terrace-like plains to the sea, intersected by many useful rivers
and diversified by numerous lakes, of which Lakes Wenner, Wetter, and
Maelar (properly an arm of the sea) are the largest, and lying under
forest to the extent of nearly one-half its area; is divided into three
great divisions: 1, Norrland in the N., a wide and wild tract of
mountainous country, thickly forested, infested by the wolf, bear, and
lynx, in summer the home of the wood-cutter, and sparsely inhabited by
Lapps. 2, Svealand or Sweden proper occupies the centre, and is the
region of the great lakes and of the principal mineral wealth (iron,
copper, &c.) of the country. 3, Gothland, the southern portion, embraces
the fertile plains sloping to the Cattegat, and is the chief agricultural
district, besides possessing iron and coal. Climate is fairly dry, with a
warm summer and long cold winter. Agriculture (potatoes, grain, rye,
beet), although scarcely 8 per cent. of the land is under cultivation, is
the principal industry, and with dairy-farming, stock-raising, &c., gives
employment to more than one-half of the people; mining and timber-felling
are only less important; chief industries are iron-works,
sugar-refineries, cotton-mills, &c.; principal exports timber (much the
largest), iron, steel, butter, &c., while textiles and dry-goods are the
chiefly needed imports. Transit is greatly facilitated by the numerous
canals and by the rivers and lakes. Railways and telegraphs are well
developed in proportion to the population. As in Norway, the national
religion is Lutheranism; education is free and compulsory. Government is
vested in the king, who with the advice of a council controls the
executive, and two legislative chambers which have equal powers, but the
members of the one are elected for nine years by provincial councils,
while those of the other are elected by the suffrages of the people,
receive salaries, and sit only for three years. The national debt amounts
to 141/2 million pounds. In the 14th century the country became an appanage
of the Danish crown, and continued as such until freedom was again won in
the 16th century by the patriot king, Gustavus Vasa. By the 17th century
had extended her rule across the seas into certain portions of the
empire, but selling these in the beginning of the 18th century, fell from
her ran