Capital of...

[isaklindh 0]

Stockholm has a declared itself The capital of Scandinavia. So my questions are, have you heard of this (you that don't live here)? And do you agree or do you think maybe it should be Oslo or Copenhagen?

[petriknl 15]

Well I could agree but whats the point to name yourself the capital of Scandinavia?

[Krio 624]

Who cares about Scandinavia?

[Gastly 0]

Whats the point of being the capital of a Scandinavia ?

[Odainsaker 2,133]

I might dig a bit into medieval history when all of Scandinavia was on paper kinda sorta united and suggest instead the old town of Kalmar. Of course, the original Kalmar Union didn't last too long even then.

[belfastuniguy 18]

I love Stockholm, wonderful city, been a few times, but don't think they have the right to style themselves the 'capital of Scandinavia'. 

Scandinvia is no longer one country, you also have some wonderful capital cities in that region. Copenhagen is another great European city 

[isaklindh 0]

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy

I love Stockholm, wonderful city, been a few times, but don't think they have the right to style themselves the 'capital of Scandinavia'. 

Scandinvia is no longer one country, you also have some wonderful capital cities in that region. Copenhagen is another great European city 

quote>

 

Well I dont think Scandinavia has ever been one country, altough the political map has changed a couple of times.

And there is actually a couple of reasons that make Stockholm more natural choice for Capital of Scandinavia. It is the biggest city in S, it has the biggest stock exchange and it situated in the centre of S.

[thundercrack83 0]

Sounds like a tourism trick to me. I can see the billboards (in Swedish, of course): "STOCKHOLM: IT'S NOT JUST A SYNDROME, IT'S THE CAPITAL OF SCANDINAVIA!"

[isaklindh 0]

Originally posted by: thundercrack83 Sounds like a tourism trick to me. I can see the billboards (in Swedish, of course): "STOCKHOLM: IT'S NOT JUST A SYNDROME, IT'S THE CAPITAL OF SCANDINAVIA!"quote>

 

Yes of course is it a tourist trick, it was the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce together with the Stockholm Visitors Board (i think) and Stockholm Business Region that switched the slogan from Beauty on Water to The Capital of Scandinavia.

But my question is more if its any truth in it....

And how the Danish and Norwegian people feel about it. I don't think Stockholm called Oslo and Cph and asked what they thought...

[petriknl 15]

Well I guess according to the inventors of the slogan it could be a very attractive one, for tourists and business.

[Glenni 1,444]

Typical swedes,always such big-shots

I'm not going to say Oslo should be,as it is rather small compared to Copenhagen and Stockholm,

but maybe Copenhagen should have that slogan.

[Cjah 15]

Hell yeh....Stockholm has always been the home of some of the finest metal bands of the last decade...it has been the capitol of Rock/Metal since LA lost that title more then a decade ago...

So Stockholm...now Capitol of Scandanavia...makes alot of sense...

it'd be like if Warsaw/Kiev or Budapest were named Capitol of Eastern Europe...

[xiziz 11]

I thought they changed it to "the cultural capital of scandinavia" myself. and i live here XD tuben FTW

I dont really see the point of it, however it is the largest city in scandinavia, and Amon Amarth is from here, so why not.

On and all of scandinavia was united during the Kalmar Union, under denmark ofc. however Karl Gustav kicked out the danes and made sweden independent again soon after(right around year 1500 if i rember corectly, to lazy to go look it up atm)

I like Stockholm, though it feels like the local politicans are trying to infect the city with its own syndrome, ie, there not taking care of it. were literaly bursting at our seems everywhere imo, and the 60ties did make a lot of really ugly buildings all around and even in cbd(h

[isaklindh 0]

Originally posted by: xiziz I thought they changed it to "the cultural capital of scandinavia" myself. and i live here XD tuben FTW

I dont really see the point of it, however it is the largest city in scandinavia, and Amon Amarth is from here, so why not.

On and all of scandinavia was united during the Kalmar Union, under denmark ofc. however Karl Gustav kicked out the danes and made sweden independent again soon after(right around year 1500 if i rember corectly, to lazy to go look it up atm)

I like Stockholm, though it feels like the local politicans are trying to infect the city with its own syndrome, ie, there not taking care of it. were literaly bursting at our seems everywhere imo, and the 60ties did make a lot of really ugly buildings all around and even in cbd(hötorgskraporna anyone...)quote>

 

Well the slogan isnt The Cultural Capital but only The the capital, I guess you havent been to Arlanda Airport or so the latest year, the billboards are everywhere.

I wouldnt call the Kalmar Union a country, because all of the three countries had their own laws etc. It was more of o union as in Kalmar Union.

[xiziz 11]

That is ofc true, about kalmar union. i guess the closest we get is during the superpower times of the swedish empire, when finland was still part of sweden and we had parts of norway and denmark(some of which we got to keep even untill today).

I was to Arlanda in June 06, but i flew from Terminal 4 to Ronneby(blekinge) with sas for sweden rock festival(and then back again ofc). so i was there only just in time for my flight and didnt really look at the billboards around there, and i guess those are primarly in Terminal 2 and 5 seeing as those are the primary international terminals.

[belfastuniguy 18]

Originally posted by: isaklindh

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy

I love Stockholm, wonderful city, been a few times, but don't think they have the right to style themselves the 'capital of Scandinavia'. 

Scandinvia is no longer one country, you also have some wonderful capital cities in that region. Copenhagen is another great European city 

quote>

 

Well I dont think Scandinavia has ever been one country, altough the political map has changed a couple of times.

And there is actually a couple of reasons that make Stockholm more natural choice for Capital of Scandinavia. It is the biggest city in S, it has the biggest stock exchange and it situated in the centre of S.quote>

 

I don't think that point holds, yes Stockholm has the largest stock exchange, which only came about with the merge with the Helsinki Stock exchange when taken over by OMX,  yes it could be determined as the centre of Scandinavia, however that doesn't mean it could call itself the capital. For example, Berlin, Beijing and Washington DC  do have even have a stock exchange nor are they at the centre of their respective region. Also in terms of both GDP per capita and GDP PPP both Norway, Denmark and Finland outrank Sweden.

I don't think many care, due to the aforementioned fact that this is a simple tourist slogan, means nothing in what is a region of five nations all with their own identity.

[ExiL3 10]

isaklindh: I don't think you know what you are talking about. It's a common thing to think Finland being a part of Scandinavia, but it isn't. Scandinavia ONLY consists of 3 countries; Denmark, Norway and Sweden. So Stockholm is then actually quite FAR away from being in "central" scandinavia. The Central would lie somewhere in the woods area in north western Sweden, or North Eastern Norway.

Anyhow, talking about the Capital of Scandinavia is bull. There is no such thing, and never will unless Norway buys both Denmark and Sweden, so that is how unlikely that is( cause we tend to use our money wisely compared to the broke Swedes )

Every Scandinavian country has tried to invade each other, have had their grand times when the countries were bigger and so on... Remember, today these are three countries with great bonds. Norway being the richest of them, with the most natural resources and funds, Denmark being quite the historical center, and scientific center, Sweden being the biggest Industry power. I guess there would have to happen a lot of wierd things for these THREE countries to become one power... I don't think it's actually possible...

Edit: I checked out "Stockholms homepage", and it seems to me to nothing else than some publicity thing. Probably much because of Sweden having a problem financially, cause they do have some major issues to solve. Anyhow, as a Norwegian,I think It's a wrong approach, there is no capital of Scandinavia, it's that easy.

take care,

[xiziz 11]

Originally posted by: ExiL3

Edit: I checked out "Stockholms homepage", and it seems to me to nothing else than some publicity thing. Probably much because of Sweden having a problem financially, cause they do have some major issues to solve. Anyhow, as a Norwegian,I think It's a wrong approach, there is no capital of Scandinavia, it's that easy.quote>

Aye, great bonds we have, a thousand years of fighting taught us all that ist no point trying to take eachother backyards XD

Sweden is prettey broke, and especially so Stockholm, well see what the new Rightwing goverment will do, but probably they wont be able to do very much about it, even it it seems there investing a lot in our infrastructure, which makes me happy ^^

[ExiL3 10]

xiziz: heheh, well yeah but our three countries haven't been all that bad against each other compared to many other European countries. The relationship between our countries is good, and have been stable for quite a long time.

I hope to that Sweden recovers from recent financial troubles. One thing though that I have always envied you swedes is that no matter how bad things are, you still strive to better things. Like take infrastructure.

Here in Norway we have too much money on our hands, still our hospitals are over crowded, our roads SUCK, traffic is a living hell in Oslo, people are not take care of when things happen out on our precious oil rigs and so on... great country huh? :S

I am Half Norwegian half Danish, and my name is common in both Denmark and Sweden ( Jesper), so I have always tended to be a bit diplomatic when it comes to our countries relationship. But why not, I have never had any trouble with the Swedes, and your women are FINE (especially when they speak cute swedish), and the Danes are always welcoming the Norwegians and helpful keeping us drunk 24/7.

take care,

[isaklindh 0]

Originally posted by: ExiL3 isaklindh: I don't think you know what you are talking about. It's a common thing to think Finland being a part of Scandinavia, but it isn't. Scandinavia ONLY consists of 3 countries; Denmark, Norway and Sweden. So Stockholm is then actually quite FAR away from being in "central" scandinavia. The Central would lie somewhere in the woods area in north western Sweden, or North Eastern Norway.

Anyhow, talking about the Capital of Scandinavia is bull. There is no such thing, and never will unless Norway buys both Denmark and Sweden, so that is how unlikely that is( cause we tend to use our money wisely compared to the broke Swedes )

Every Scandinavian country has tried to invade each other, have had their grand times when the countries were bigger and so on... Remember, today these are three countries with great bonds. Norway being the richest of them, with the most natural resources and funds, Denmark being quite the historical center, and scientific center, Sweden being the biggest Industry power. I guess there would have to happen a lot of wierd things for these THREE countries to become one power... I don't think it's actually possible...

Edit: I checked out "Stockholms homepage", and it seems to me to nothing else than some publicity thing. Probably much because of Sweden having a problem financially, cause they do have some major issues to solve. Anyhow, as a Norwegian,I think It's a wrong approach, there is no capital of Scandinavia, it's that easy.

take care,quote>

 

Well yes Stockholm isnt i the centre, sorry for that, but my point was that it is in the central area. But so is Gothenburg and Oslo.

Just for the record I know the doffrence between The Nordic and Scandinavia.

Hmmm I don't know what exactly you mean by Scandinavia, but last i checked the geografical area scandinavia was the same as the Scandinavian Peninsula, that is Norway, Sweden and the north parts of Finland but NOT Denmark. 

But the cultural term Scandinavia often include Denmark and exclude all parts of Finland.

About the term capital, i don't think or hope for some sort of unification for the 3/4/5 Scandinavian/Nordic countries, but, I wonder if it is correct to think (and do commercial for it) that Stockholm is or at least could be called the Capital of Scandinavia. Or if it is so far from the truth that it should be Oslo or whatever.

Like Brussels could be called the Capital of Europe but so could London or Paris....

[isaklindh 0]

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy

Originally posted by: isaklindh

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy

I love Stockholm, wonderful city, been a few times, but don't think they have the right to style themselves the 'capital of Scandinavia'. 

Scandinvia is no longer one country, you also have some wonderful capital cities in that region. Copenhagen is another great European city 

quote>

 

Well I dont think Scandinavia has ever been one country, altough the political map has changed a couple of times.

And there is actually a couple of reasons that make Stockholm more natural choice for Capital of Scandinavia. It is the biggest city in S, it has the biggest stock exchange and it situated in the centre of S.quote>

 

I don't think that point holds, yes Stockholm has the largest stock exchange, which only came about with the merge with the Helsinki Stock exchange when taken over by OMX,  yes it could be determined as the centre of Scandinavia, however that doesn't mean it could call itself the capital. For example, Berlin, Beijing and Washington DC  do have even have a stock exchange nor are they at the centre of their respective region. Also in terms of both GDP per capita and GDP PPP both Norway, Denmark and Finland outrank Sweden.

I don't think many care, due to the aforementioned fact that this is a simple tourist slogan, means nothing in what is a region of five nations all with their own identity.quote>

 

Stockholm have and had before the merge of the Helsinki and Cphg exchanges the biggest stock exchange of the three countries, but the Helsinki Stock Exchange had the biggest and highest valued single company, Nokia.

[ExiL3 10]

isaklindh: ah, I see your point more clearly now. About Scandinavia, I know it can be hard to define Scandinavia on the map. These are the facts though:

- Scandinavia is, when it's only written "Scandinavia" and nothing else, the three Nordic Kingdoms(monarchies) Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

- Finno-Scandinavia is the same area, but here we are also talking about Finland. (I guess the Finnish like to be a part of our "community" more than just being a country between Scandinavia and Russia.

- Nordic Countries; are more or less the northern European countries. Here we are talking about: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

- The Nordics: Is more or less the same as "the Nordic Countries" but also include the Islands in the North Sea.

hmm... can't remember any more definitions at the moment, but I hope that explained what I meant by Scandinavia.

edit: I don't see a point about bringing in Stock exchanges and riches. If it's about that, Norway out ranks all the countries almost COMBINED. Norway could actually "theoretically" buy Sweden and still have money left (on our oil surplus fond).

Still, I think it is an interesting thought, if there should be a capital though it would have to be a NEW city. Built perhaps in Skagerak between Sweden, Denmark and Norway, on a artificial Island. The weather would have been hell, but anyway that is the only solution I can come up with quickly...

[isaklindh 0]

I wouldnt call that facts though...

This is what swedish wikipedia says about Scandinavia, http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandinavien.

"I strikt geografisk bemärkelse omfattar området

[ExiL3 10]

Isaklindh: Well there you go, different sources different "facts"... As I said the definition of Scandinavia can be tricky.

Though it does state "in cultural terms it includes Sweden, Norway and Denmark" just like I said. Though the Geographical term, I didn't mention, cause I have never heard of Scandinavia in a "Geographical term"

Here is from the English version of Wikipedia:

-"Scandinavia is a historical and geographical region centered on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It is most commonly defined as the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, with Finland and Iceland sometimes included as well."

-"As a cultural and historical concept, Scandinavia can include Finland as well (of the larger region Fenno-Scandinavia),"

- you see, I wasn't wrong It depends on sources.

Though I seem to be wrong about the baltic countries, as you said Estonia see themselves as a Nordic country, I have also heard the same about Lithuania and Latvia, but I was wrong.

take care,

[isaklindh 0]

Originally posted by: ExiL3 Isaklindh: Well there you go, different sources different "facts"... As I said the definition of Scandinavia can be tricky.

Though it does state "in cultural terms it includes Sweden, Norway and Denmark" just like I said. Though the Geographical term, I didn't mention, cause I have never heard of Scandinavia in a "Geographical term"

Here is from the English version of Wikipedia:

-"Scandinavia is a historical and geographical region centered on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It is most commonly defined as the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, with Finland and Iceland sometimes included as well."

-"As a cultural and historical concept, Scandinavia can include Finland as well (of the larger region Fenno-Scandinavia),"

- you see, I wasn't wrong It depends on sources.

Though I seem to be wrong about the baltic countries, as you said Estonia see themselves as a Nordic country, I have also heard the same about Lithuania and Latvia, but I was wrong.

take care,

quote>

 

Weird of Wikipedia, that they don't check with themselves so to speak.

So we are both right/wrong.

Anyhow....

[isaklindh 0]

Stockholm states itself as the Capital of Scandinavia and to make it more easy I am going to list some facts that I think gives Stockholm an advantage in the question. And it seems as many doesnt care about this question dont bother telling me that, I am more interested in if you Norwegian,Danish and Finnish think it should be Oslo, Cph or Helsinki. Yes after discussing with ExiL3 I am going to go with Fennoscandia so Finland is included.

Highest population in Fennoscandia

Longest metro system in Fennoscandia, 108 km, (6th longest in europe)

Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the urban area

Largest single institution of higher education in medicine in the world (Karolinska Institutet)

Scandinavia's largest higher education institute of technology 

One of the worlds largest IT centres

It is one of the most crowded museum-towns in the world with about 70 museums

[ExiL3 10]

Well... Norway is the best country to live in, in the world (given this title for the 4th time in a row by the UN). And We are much richer than the bankrupt Swedes

nah, I don't really care. Actually I think if there was supposed a "Capital of Sweden" it would have to be a NEW city. Built, f.ex in the Skagerak I don't know, sorry it might not be the answer you looked for,...

take care,

[AlexNielsen7 2]

Stockholm the capitol for Scandinavia? No, I don't think so.

But if I had to choose one, I would without doubt, choose Copenhagen over Stockholm and Oslo. Being a Copenhagen citizen and pure-blooded Scandinavian, I have visited both Stockholm and Oslo several times (I actually have family/relations of some sort in both cities), and i feel home in all three, they are very much alike in both size and style. Still, I'll vote for Copenhagen because it is simply the best located of the three.. Copenhagen is only like 400-500km away from  Berlin and Hamburg, and a of course, the rest of central Europe. We have the largest airport in Scandinavia and a very busy seaport. With the Øresunds Bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark, Copenhagen with Malmö, we also have the largest population around the city (more than 2.000.000, if you count Malmö in) Besides that, our city is one of the fastest growing in Europe (measured in newly started constructions). The Ørestads region, just south of downtown Copenhagen, is a very ambitious and sucessfull project, much like the Canary Warf in London, attracting loads of business' from all over Europe. But an actual "capital", not really, more like a center of commerce or something. But if Stockholm declaire themselves the capitol, they have my blessing

God bless Scandinavia (and the Vikings of course!)

[Duke87 1,070]

The fact that it's self-declared makes it completely invalid, if you ask me. I can declare myself the king of Manhattan College; that doesn't make it true.

I don't really claim to know much about Stockholm as a city, though I do know that I wouldn't go and visit Sweeden of you paid me too. I refuse to support them and their crazy ultra-socialist government. Call it a personal boycott.

[JanYpe 17]

Originally posted by: Duke87 The fact that it's self-declared makes it completely invalid, if you ask me. I can declare myself the king of Manhattan College; that doesn't make it true.

I don't really claim to know much about Stockholm as a city, though I do know that I wouldn't go and visit Sweeden of you paid me too. I refuse to support them and their crazy ultra-socialist government. Call it a personal boycott.quote>

That has to be the dumbest, most pointless thing I've read all week. There isn't a in the world large enough to describe it.