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i. physical geography of sweden.
Area of Sweden, compared with area of France and Switzerland.1
France.
Sweden.
[-Switzerland.-]
{+Switzer-
land.+}
536,000 Sq.kilom.
448,000 Sq.kilom.
41,300
Sq. kilom.
stituted by rivers, and a river, owing to the facility of communication
from one bank to the other, may be deemed rather to unite than
sunder the countries on either side of it. As a matter of fact, previous
to the year 1809 the Finnish frontier lay considerably east of its present
position, away from rivers, the whole of the valley of the river Torne
being then Swedish territory.
The extent of Sweden may be more definitely stated as being between 69° 3’
21" and 55° 20’ 18" N. Lat. and between 11° 6’ 19" and 24" 9’ 11" E. Long, of
Greenwich. The latitude of the Stockholm Observatory is 59° 20’ 34-o", of that
of Uppsala 59° 51’ 29-4", and of that of Lund 55° 41’ 51-e"; the differences of
time from that of Greenwich are: for the Stockholm Observatory 1 hour 12 min.
13-9 9 sec.; for that of Uppsala 1 h. 10 min. 30"15 sec.; for that of Lund 0 h.
52 min. 45-oi sec.
The length of Sweden from north to south is about 1,600 kilom.8 Its
greatest breadth is about 400 kilom. Strelbitsky calculated the boundary-line
to measure 9,817 kilom., 7,624 kilom, of which is coast-line, 536 kilom.
Finnish frontier, and 1,657 kilom. Norwegian frontier. It is, howewer, clear that
all such computations must be largely dependent upon the extent to which the
indentations of the coast-line are regarded, and cannot consequently lay claim to
anything but an approximate accuracy.
The area of Sweden, according to the most recent ordnance survey, amounts
to 44,786,227 hectares; this figure, however, will doubtless be slightly altered as a
result of the mappingwork still in progress. Strelbitsky estimated the area of
Sweden, in the year 1882, at 45,057,530 hectares. The difference between this
and the above figure, it will be seen, is but trifling.
The boundary-line between Sweden and Norway for by far its greatest
extent — from the far north to the northern part of Vermland — is really a
natural boundary, that has its course among the pathless mountains which, being
the highest part of the peninsula, form its chief watershed. The southern
portion, on the other hand, has an historical basis, and along its length lively
intercourse has at all times been carried on between the inhabitants of the two
countries; moreover, the actual course of the boundary has been repeatedly moved
in the past, now to the advantage of one country, now to that of the other.
The Finnish frontier is constituted by the main channels of the rivers Köngämä,
Muonio, and Torne. At Haparanda a piece of Finnish territory has come to be joined
to Sweden, by reason of an alteration that has occurred in the bed of the river.
1 A sq. kilom. = 100 hectares = 0 386 sq. mile. — 1 A kilom. = 0’621 statute mile.
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