Scandinavia and the Baltic States

• see also:
  • geography, travel and leisure main index
  • Europe
  • Eastern Europe
  • Northern Asia - Russia

Iceland:

• capital: Reykjavik
• area:   102,829 sq.km
• pop:  0.28m (2000)
• govt: constitutional republic
• currency: Icelandic krona
• language: Icelandic
• religion: Evangelical Lutheran 95%
• geography:
•  

Denmark:

• capital: Copenhagen
• area:   43,094 sq.km
• pop:  5.3m (2000)
• govt: constitutional monarchy
  • royal residences:
    • Amalienborg
    • Fredensborg Palace - country mansion built at end of an 18thC war with Sweden
    • Frederiksborg Palace - 17thC
  • monarchs:
    • current: Queen Margrethe
    • future: Crown Prince Frederik m. Mary Donaldson from Tasmania in June 2004
    • Danish monarchs trace themselves back to Gorm the Old who died c940AD & his son, Bluetooth
• currency: Danish krone
• language: Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (Eskimo dialect)
• religion: Evangelical Lutheran 91%, Catholic & Protestant 2%
• geography:
  • one of Europe's most fragmented land masses, between the North Sea & the Baltic Sea
  • to the south is a land frontier of 68km with Germany 
• external territories include Greenland & Faroe Islands
• getting there:
  • Copenhagen has air connections with most European centres
  • the quickest from Australia is either via Vienna (with Austrian Airlines) or via London
• visa: Australian passport holders do not need a visa

Norway:

• capital: Oslo
• area:   324,220 sq.km
• pop:  4.5m (2000)
• govt: hereditary constitutional monarchy
• currency: Norwegian krone
• language: Norwegian, Lapp, Finnish minorities
• religion: Evangelical Lutheran 94%, Catholic & Protestant 4%
• geography:

Sweden:

• capital: Stockholm
• area:   449,964 sq.km
• pop: 8.9m (2000)
• govt: constitutional monarchy
• currency: Swedish krona
• language: Swedish 91%, Finnish 3%, Lappish
• religion: Evangelical Lutheran 95%, Catholic 1.5%
• geography:

Finland:

• capital: Helsinki
• area:  337,030 sq.km
• pop:  5.2m (2000)
• govt: constitutional republic
• currency: euro
• language: Finnish, Swedish
• religion: Lutheran 97%
• geography:

Estonia:

• capital: Tallinn
• area:   45,226sq.km
• pop:  1.4m (2000) 
• govt: republic (conquered by USSR in 1940, independence 1991)
• currency: rouble, Estonian kroon
• language: Estonian, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Finnish
• religion: Evangelical Lutheran
• geography:

Latvia:

• capital: Riga
• area:   64,589sq.km
• pop:  2.4m (2000)
• govt: parliamentary democracy (assigned to USSR 1940-91)
• currency: Latvian lat
• language: Latvian, Lettish, Lithuanian, Russian
• religion: Evangelical Lutheran
• geography:

Lithuania:

• capital: Vilnius
• area:   65,200sq.km
• pop:  3.6m (2000)
• govt: republic  (assigned to USSR 1940-91)
• currency: Lithuanian litas
• language: Lithuanian, Polish, Russian
• religion: Catholic with Protestant, Russian Orthodox & Jewish minorities
• geography: