The Shortest History of Scandinavia

From the Stone Age to ‘Scandimania’ – a brisk, illuminating journey through 14,000 years of Nordic history

Outsiders have long viewed Scandinavia – comprising Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – as special, starting with the ancient Greeks and their myths of ultima Thule, a place ‘where the Sun goes to rest’. Today, Scandinavia is admired for its universal welfare, equality, peacefulness and untouched nature – not to mention its many cultural touchstones like the Nobel Peace Prizes, ABBA and hygge.

Yet, Nordic history is not without its dark periods: pandemics, the expansionism of the Viking Age, alliances with Nazi Germany in World War II, a twentieth-century eugenics movement and contemporary debates surrounding immigration. In The Shortest History of Scandinavia, historian Mart Kuldkepp masterfully sketches the outlines of Scandinavia’s rich history – from the first known peoples of the region, who followed the ice sheet north as it retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, to modern Scandinavians living in nations that are ranked among the happiest in the world today.

In this short but deeply insightful volume, Kuldkepp illuminates the concept of ‘Nordicness’ – a hard-to-define quality that has nonetheless steered the region to respond to major challenges, actively shaping its own history and exerting a considerable influence on European and global history in the process.