# Timeline of Swedish history

This is a timeline of Swedish history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Sweden. To read about the background to these events, see History of Sweden. See also the list of Swedish monarchs and list of prime ministers of Sweden.

## 1st century – 5th century

| Year | Date | Event |

## 6th century – 9th century

| Year | Event |
| 530 | Posited date of possibly legendary Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern |
| c. 551 | Getica of Jordanes, history of the Gothic people, written in Constantinople |
| 750–790 | Trade center Birka, island on Lake Mälaren near present-day Stockholm, established |
| 750s | Beginnings of Scandinavian colonisation along Varangian trade routes (Baltic states to Black Sea) |
| c. 793 | Approximate beginning of Viking Age |
| 800 | Rök runestone carved |
| 829 | Ansgar's first mission to introduce Christianity to Sweden |
| 850s | Olof I campaigns in Courland (present day western Latvia) |

## 10th century

| Year | Event |
| 960 | Settlement at Birka abandoned |
| 980 | City of Sigtuna founded |
| 984 | Battle of Fyrisvellir near present day Uppsala; Swedish and Geat tribes unite for first time under Eric the Victorious |
| 990 | City of Lund founded |
| 995 | Olof Skötkonung, first Swedish king of whom there is substantial historical knowledge, succeeds to throne |

## 11th century

| Year | Event |
| 1000 | Gothi (pagan chieftain-priest) Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði endorses Christianity |
| 1004 | Olof Skötkonung baptized; begins adoption of Christianity as official religion |
| 1020 | The city of Lund is founded |
| 1036 | Ingvar the Far-Travelled leads unsuccessful Viking attack against Persia |
| 1085 | City of Helsingborg founded |
| 1087 | Temple at Uppsala, the central place of worship within Ancient Norse paganism, destroyed at order of King Inge the Elder. |

## 12th century

| Year | Event |
| 1100 | Vreta Abbey, first Christian convent in Sweden, established |
| 1187 | Estonians, Curonians or/and Karelians invade and pillage Sigtuna killing archbishop Johannes |
| 1187 | City of Nyköping founded |

## 13th century

| Year | Event |
| 1208 | Battle of Lena |
| c. 1215 | Eskil Magnusson, first historically attested lawspeaker of Thing of all Swedes (held in Tiundaland, present day Uppland) |
| c. 1220 | Gutalagen law book (also containing the Gutasaga) |
| 1240 | Battle of the Neva |
| 1252 | City of Stockholm founded |
| 1280 | Ordinance of Alsnö gives birth to the frälse, a class of tax-exempt secular nobility |

## 14th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1306 | 29 September | Håtuna games: coup against King Birger by his brothers, Eric and Valdemar Magnusson |
| 1310 | | Peace of Helsingborg settles conflicts between Sweden, Norway and Denmark |
| 1317 | 11 December | Nyköping Banquet, Christmas celebration, after which King Birger imprisons his two brothers and starves them to death |
| 1319 | | Sweden and Norway first unite |
| 1323 | | Treaty of Nöteborg establishes peace between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic |
| 1344 | | Bridgettine Order founded by St. Bridget (Heliga Birgitta) |
| 1350 | | Black Death arrives in Sweden |
| 1359 | | Magnus IV summons first Riksdag (parliament of Sweden) |
| 1389 | 24 February | Battle of Åsle; King Albert deposed |
| 1397 | | Sweden, Denmark and Norway unite into the Kalmar Union (1397-1523) |
| 1398 | | Gotland conquered by Teutonic Knights |

## 15th century

| Year | Event |
| 1409 | Teutonic Order sells Gotland to the Kalmar Union |
| 1434 | Start of Engelbrekt rebellion against King Erik of Pomerania |
| 1435 | Assembly of Swedish nobility at Arboga, considered first Riksdag of the Estates |
| 1436 | Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson assassinated |
| 1471 | Battle of Brunkeberg |
| 1477 | Foundation of Uppsala University |
| 1495 | Russo-Swedish War (1495-1497) |

## 16th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1505 | | First Kalmar Bloodbath |
| 1520 | | Christina Gyllenstierna defends Stockholm but is defeated by the Danes under Christian II of Denmark; Christian is crowned king of Sweden and orders Stockholm bloodbath |
| 1523 | | Gustav Vasa liberates Stockholm, leading Sweden out of the Kalmar Union and initiating monarchical rule of the House of Vasa |
| 1524 | | Treaty of Malmö signed: The Danish king formally renounce his claim to Sweden; Sweden in return renounces claims to Scania and Blekinge |
| 1525 | | First Dalecarlian Rebellion occurs in parallel with attempt by Christina Gyllenstierna and Sören Norby to take Swedish throne |
| 1526 | | First Swedish translation of New Testament published |
| 1529 | | Westrogothian Rebellion |
| 1531 | | Third Dalecarlian Rebellion, also known as the Bell Rebellion (Klockupproret) begins; suppressed two years later |
| 1535 | | War with Lübeck leads to expulsion of Hanseatic traders, ending previous Hanseatic League monopoly on foreign trade |
| 1540 | | First full Swedish translation of Bible, the Gustav Vasa Bible, published |
| 1542 | | Nils Dacke starts peasant uprising in Småland, defeated the following year |
| 1554 | | Border skirmishes between Sweden and Russia lead to outbreak of Russo-Swedish War (1554-1557) |
| 1555 | | A Description of the Northern Peoples (Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus) by Olaus Magnus published |
| 1561 | | Estonia becomes a Swedish dominion |
| 1567 | | Sture Murders carried out on the orders of Eric XIV |
| 1577 | 26 February | Eric XIV dies in imprisonment |
| 1584 | | City of Karlstad founded |
| 1592 | | Poland and Sweden enter into a short-lived personal union following crowning of Sigismund III Vasa as King of Sweden |
| 1598 | | Conflict between Duke Charles, later King Charles IX, and Sigismund, King of Sweden and Poland, leads to outbreak of the War against Sigismund |
| 1598 | 25 September | Battle of Stångebro |
| 1599 | | War against Sigismund ends, resulting in deposition of King Sigismund; Sigismund's followers targeted in second Kalmar Bloodbath and the Åbo Bloodbath |

## 17th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1600 | 20 March | Linköping Bloodbath |
| 1610 | | Ingrian War between Russia and Sweden begins |
| 1611 | | Denmark declares war on Sweden, initiating Kalmar War |
| 1613 | | Treaty of Knäred ends Kalmar War: Sweden obligated to pay Älvsborg Ransom of one million rixdollars for return of fortress of Älvsborg |
| 1614 | | City of Kristianstad founded |
| 1617 | 27 February | Treaty of Stolbovo ends Ingrian War: Russia cedes province and fortress of Kexholm, southwestern Karelia and province of Ingria to Sweden, laying foundation for Sweden's rise as a Great Power |
| 1621 | | City of Gothenburg founded |
| 1628 | 10 August | Sinking of the Swedish warship Vasa |
| 1630 | | Sweden enters the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) |
| 1631 | 13 April | Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder |
| 1631 | 7 September | Battle of Breitenfeld |
| 1632 | 6 November | Battle of Lützen: King Gustav II Adolf killed |
| 1638 | | Colony of New Sweden established along the Delaware River in North America |
| 1648 | | Thirty Years' War ends, with Sweden among the winners; Peace of Westphalia grants Sweden the provinces of Western Pomerania, Wismar, and the bishoprics of Bremen-Verden |
| 1650 | | Colony of Swedish Gold Coast established on Gulf of Guinea in present-day Ghana |
| 1654 | | Queen Christina abdicates throne and converts to Roman Catholicism, creating major scandal |
| 1658 | 26 February | Treaty of Roskilde: Denmark-Norway cedes provinces of Blekinge, Bornholm, Bohuslän, Scania, Trøndelag and Halland to Sweden |
| 1663 | | Colony of the Swedish Gold Coast seized by Denmark, and integrated into Danish Gold Coast |
| 1666 | | Foundation of Lund University |
| 1668 | | Foundation of Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank |
| 1674 | 24 December | Sweden invades Brandenburg, triggering Swedish-Brandenburg War |
| 1675 | | Denmark invades Scania, triggering Scanian War |
| 1676 | 1 June | Battle of Öland |
| 1676 | 17 August | Battle of Halmstad |
| 1676 | 4 December | Battle of Lund |
| 1677 | 26 June | Siege of Malmö |
| 1677 | 14 July | Battle of Landskrona |
| 1678 | | Invasion of Rügen |
| 1679 | 23 August | Treaty of Fontainebleau signed, restoring all Danish conquests during the Scanian War to Sweden |
| 1680 | | City of Karlskrona founded |
| 1680 | | Great Reduction of 1680 enacted, returning to the Swedish Crown lands that had earlier been granted to the nobility |
| 1697 | 7 May | Castle of Tre Kronor burns down, destroying a significant portion of Sweden's national library and royal archives |

## 18th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1700 | 22 February | Alliance consisting of Denmark-Norway, Saxony, Poland and Russia declares war on Sweden, initiating Great Northern War |
| 1700 | | Battle of Narva |
| 1702 | 8 July | Battle of Kliszów |
| 1706 | 3 February | Battle of Fraustadt ends in slaughter of captured prisoners by victorious Swedish army |
| 1706 | 13 October | Invasion of Poland by Sweden results in Treaty of Altranstädt forcing King Augustus the Strong to renounce claim to Polish throne and break Treaty of Narva, his alliance with Russia |
| 1708 | 1 January | Charles XII crosses Vistula, opening attempted Swedish invasion of Russia |
| 1709 | 27 June | Battle of Poltava: destruction of Charles XII's invading Swedish army by defending Russian forces of Peter the Great marks beginning of Sweden's decline as a great power |
| 1710 | 28 February | Battle of Helsingborg: final failed attempt by Denmark to regain Scania |
| 1713 | 1 February | Skirmish at Bender, battle to remove Charles XII and the remnants of his army from the Ottoman Empire |
| 1718 | 30 November | Charles XII killed at Frederikshald |
| 1719 | | Treaties of Stockholm, requiring Sweden to cede parts of Swedish Pomerania to Prussia and Bremen-Verden to Hanover |
| 1720 | | Treaty of Frederiksborg, requiring Sweden to cede Schleswig to Denmark-Norway |
| 1721 | | Treaty of Nystad, requiring Sweden to cede Estonia, Livonia and Ingria to Russia |
| 1731 | | Foundation of Swedish East India Company |
| 1732 | | Carl Linnaeus departs on his Expedition to Lapland |
| 1734 | | Civil Code of 1734 establishes unified code of law for Sweden |
| 1735 | | First edition of Linnaeus' Systema Naturae |
| 1737 | | Swedish language Theater of Bollhuset founded |
| 1739 | 2 June | Foundation of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
| 1741 | 23 August | Battle of Villmanstrand |
| 1742 | | Anders Celsius proposes Celsius temperature scale |
| 1743 | | Fourth Dalecarlian Rebellion breaks out |
| 1747 | | Olof von Dalin begins publication of his Swedish history, Svea Rikes Historia |
| 1749 | | Storskifte Enclosure Act begins long period of major land reform in Sweden |
| 1756 | | Quelling of attempted coup d'état by Queen Louisa Ulrika and a few devoted nobles to reinstate absolute monarchy in Sweden |
| 1757 | | Sweden enters Seven Years' War (1756-1763) |
| 1762 | 22 May | Treaty of Hamburg concludes Sweden's involvement in Seven Years' War |
| 1766 | | Freedom of the Press Act enacted: censorship abolished apart from limitations on vocal opposition to the king and the Church of Sweden |
| 1768 | | December Crisis (1768) fails to increase royal power |
| 1772 | | Absolute monarchy reintroduced through the Revolution of 1772 |
| 1773 | | Discovery of oxygen by Carl Wilhelm Scheele |
| 1773 | | Royal Swedish Opera founded |
| 1782 | | Sweden purchases Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy from France |
| 1786 | 20 March | Foundation of Swedish Academy |
| 1787 | | First secondary education school in Sweden for girls, Societetsskolan, founded in Gothenburg |
| 1788 | | Sweden declares war against Russia, initiating Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) |
| 1790 | | Treaty of Värälä concludes Russo-Swedish War, confirming status quo ante bellum with respect to borders |
| 1792 | 16 March | King Gustav III assassinated at a masked ball |

## 19th century

| Year | Event |
| 1807 | General Enclosure Act of 1807 intensifies land reform measures |
| 1808 | Outbreak of Finnish War |
| 1809 | Conclusion of Finnish War: Sweden cedes Finland to Russia |
| 1809 | Deposition of King Gustav IV Adolf in coup of 1809 |
| 1810 | Foundation of Karolinska Institutet |
| 1814 | Sweden and Norway unite (1814-1905) |
| 1832 | Completion of Göta Canal, providing route from Gothenburg (west coast) to Söderköping (east coast) |
| 1848 | Series of riots, the Marsoroligheterna, in Stockholm |
| 1855 | Construction begins on Sweden's first railway line |
| 1864 | Daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter established |
| 1867 | Telecommunications company, Ericsson, founded by Lars Magnus Ericsson |
| 1867 | Alfred Nobel invents dynamite |
| 1873 | Sweden and Denmark form Scandinavian Monetary Union |
| 1873 | Swedish krona replaces Swedish riksdaler as national currency |
| 1876 | Office of prime minister (statsminister) instituted |
| 1878 | Island of Saint Barthélemy sold back to France |
| 1884 | Daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet established |
| 1884 | Fredrika Bremer Association, Sweden's oldest women's rights organization, founded |
| 1889 | Swedish Social Democratic Party founded |
| 1897 | Arctic balloon expedition of Salomon August Andrée |
| 1898 | Formation of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) |

## 20th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1901 | | First Nobel Prizes awarded |
| 1903 | | Foundation of Swedish Employers' Association (SAF) |
| 1904 | | Moderate Party (Moderaterna) founded |
| 1905 | | Personal union between Sweden and Norway peacefully dissolved |
| 1906 | | Official spelling reform of Swedish language, simplifying previous forms |
| 1909 | | Stockholm School of Economics (Handelshögskolan i Stockholm) founded |
| 1909 | | General strike of 1909 |
| 1910 | | SAC Syndikalisterna established |
| 1919 | | AB Svensk Filmindustri established |
| 1921 | 30 June | Capital punishment abolished for all crimes committed in peacetime |
| 1933 | 24 February | Swedish Association for Sexuality Education founded |
| 1934 | | Crisis in the Population Question (Kris i befolkningsfrågan) by Alva and Gunnar Myrdal published and plays major role in design of Sweden's welfare policy |
| 1938 | | Saltsjöbaden Agreement establishes rules for collective bargaining and trade relations |
| 1943 | | Food packaging company, Tetra Pak, founded by Ruben Rausing |
| 1945 | 17 January | Raoul Wallenberg detained by Soviet authorities in Budapest and subsequently disappears |
| 1947 | | Furniture company IKEA is founded by Ingvar Kamprad |
| 1954 | 29 October | Sweden conducts its first television broadcast |
| 1957 | | Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet) |
| 1967 | 3 September | Right-hand traffic introduced |
| 1971 | | The Riksdag becomes unicameral |
| 1973 | | Norrmalmstorg bank robbery and hostage crisis |
| 1974 | 6 April | ABBA song Waterloo becomes the group's first global hit |
| 1976 | 30 January | Swedish authorities arrest internationally acclaimed film-maker Ingmar Bergman for alleged tax evasion and Bergman suffers nervous breakdown; charges declared unfounded and dropped 23 March |
| 1986 | 28 February | Murder of Prime Minister and Social Democratic leader Olof Palme |
| 1994 | | MS Estonia sinks en route from Tallinn to Stockholm; 852 people on board lose their lives |
| 1995 | | Sweden joins in the European Union |
| 1999 | | Church of Sweden separates from state and becomes independent organization |
| 1999 | 12 October | Murder of Björn Söderberg by fascists in Stockholm |

## 21st century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 2000 | 1 July | Øresund Bridge opened, creating road and railway connection between Sweden and mainland Europe |
| 2003 | | Voters decide not to adopt euro as the country's official currency |
| 2009 | 1 May | Same-sex marriage legalized in Sweden |
| 2010 | | Military conscription paused |
| 2018 | | Military conscription reactivated |
| 2024 | 7 March | Sweden joins in NATO |