Sweden
Meatballs and mashed potatoes with lingonberry jam is a typical lunch meal.

In Sweden we speak Swedish, that's a cool language!
But almost everyone knows how to speak English.

By Marta Ernfors
FOOD
Crispbread, a typical Swedish bread that may be included in breakfast
Jansson's temptation, a kind of potato gratin, is a must on the Christmas dinner table.
The common family structure in Sweden is parents and two kids.
Kid´s Life
Go to school five
days a week.
Afternoon activities are  in sports clubs, outside of school.
Fashion
Socializing
The Swedish National Song
Flag
Sweden´s
National Bird
Language
It´s common to invite friends to your home for small dinner parties. 
Children are always welcome.
Sweden is one of the Nordic countries in Europe.
It is 9 times bigger than Costa Rica and slightly larger than California.
Stockholm
Capital City
A beautiful city by the sea
Sweden is a monarchy with a king and a queen  

But it is the Swedish government, lead by a prime minister, elected every 4th year, who makes the decisions in Sweden.
King Carl XVI Gustaf
Queen Sylvia
Thanks to the warm Gulf Stream passing the coast , Sweden has a temperate climate despite its northern latitude. It has
four distinct seasons and mild temperatures throughout the year.
Climate
Common Blackbird
In the winter Sweden is covered with snow and in the summer it is as warm as in Costa Rica
Sweden has 9.3 million inhabitans compared with Costa Rica's 4.5 million and California's 36.9 million.
Population
Age Structure
0-14 years: 16%
15-64 years: 65% 
65 years and over: 19%
Life expectancy at birth is 81years
Literacy Rate
99% of all Swedes of age 15 and over can read and write,
the rest (the 1%) are illiterate immigrants living in Sweden
Swedish
Design &
Inventions
The distinctive Coca Cola bottle is designed by Swedish-American Alex Samuelson and introduced 1916th 
Celsius thermometer was invented by the Swede Anders Celsius in the 18th century. This thermometer, with a 100-point scale based on water freezing point and up to boiling water, became the international standard.
Blasting explosive dynamite was invented by the Swede Alfred Nobel in the 19th century. With his fortune he founded the Nobel Prize for prize awards in science, literature and peace work. The Nobel Prize is awarded annually on December 10.
Swedish Authors
Selma Lagerlöf
(ex. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils)
Astrid Lindgren
(ex. Pippi Longstocking,
Karlsson-on-the-Roof and
 Six Bullerby Children)
Swedish Music &
Film Industry
Ingmar Bergman, Sven Nykvist, Lasse Hallström, Birgit Nilsson, ABBA, Roxette, Max Martin, Ace of Base and Peter, Bjorn & John etc..
Currently, Sweden is the only
non-English-speaking country in the world with a net export of music.
Economy
Exports
Timber, hydropower, and iron ore are the main exports.
Volvo (cars), Saab Scania (trucks), Ericsson (telecom equipment) and Tetra Pak (food processing and packaging company) multinational companies with Swedish origin.
Import
Machinery, petroleum (oil) and petroleum products, cars, clothing, foodstuffs like fruits (oranges, bananas and other tropical fruits)
The Swedish money is called Krona.
Natural Resources
Ex. iron ore, copper, gold, silver, timber, hydropower
Telecommunictions
Highly developed telecommunications infrastructure; ranked among leading countries for fixed & mobile-telephony, Internet and broadband penetration
Transportations
Highly developed transportations infrastructure such as roads, railroads, airports and ports.
Public transportation, bus, train-service and subway, (subway only in Stockholm) are good, clean and punctual.
9000 BC
-800 AD
Pre-historic
Sweden
800 -
1500 AD
Vikings
1500s 
King
Gustav Vasa
1600s
The Swedish
Empire
1700s
Most concqured
terratories lost 
1814
Sweden´s
last war
1870
-1930
Industrialization
High concentration of petroglyphs throuout the country.
Earliest images comes from 5000 BC
Sea worriers or pirates with advanced ship technology.
King Gustav Vasa unifies the country, which is the fondations of the modern Sweden.

Sweden has since then been non-aligned in peacetime and neutral in wartime, wich means Sweden was not involved in World War l and World War ll.
The agricultural economy is shifting and social welfare develops
Government
Constitutional monarchy
and
Parliamentary democracy 
Monarch:
    King Carl XVI Gustaf
Prime Minister:
       Fredrik Reinfeldt (M)
         main political parties divided in two political blocks, one right and one left.
Moderate Party, allied with the Centre Party, Liberal People´s Party, and the Christian Democrats Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party, allied with Left Party and Green Party
 Elections to the parliament are held every four years
Swedish people in general is interested in design and fashion in particular.
Sweden has many clothes designers, Felippa K, Odd Molly, Johan Lindeberg (Diesel), Björn Borg etc.
Religion
Christian Lutheran 87%
Other 13% (includes Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist)
Sports
&
Recreation
Swedish people in general enjoy outdoor life like
hiking, camping, swimming in the summer season
skiing and skateing in the winter season
Sweden has produced many world famous athletes, among them, alpine skiers Ingmar Stenmark, Pernilla Wiberg & Anja Persson
Tennis players Björn Borg, Mats Wilander & Stefan Edberg
Golf players Jesper Parnevik & Annika Sörenstam
Ice hockey players Börje Salming, Mats Sundin & Peter Forsberg
Soccer players Glenn Hysén, Thomas Brolin & Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Most Important Holidays & Traditions
Påsk (Easter): Painting boiled eggs and decorating houses with twigs of white birch.

Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Night): Celebrated (on April 30) with parties and big bonfires.

Sveriges nationaldag (National Day): Celebrated on June 6

Midsommar (Midsummer): Celebrated with big summer parties (in mid-June) including dancing and singing around the maypole.

Jul (Christmas): Celebrated on Christmas Eve (on December 24) with Christmas dinner and Santa Claus comming with presents.

Nyårsafton (New Year´s Eve): Celebrated (on December 31) with parties and fireworks
Current Events 2010
The Royal wedding in June, where Princess Victoria will merry Daniel Westling from Sweden.
The Parliament election in September where Fredric Reinfeldt leading the right political block will try to keep the power another 4 years.
Links
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sw.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sweden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sweden  
http://www.worldtravelguide.net/country/269/internal_travel/Europe/Sweden.html
http://www.sweden.se  
Winter
Summer
History
Family Structure
Eastern
Christmas
New Year´s Eve 
National Day
Walpurgis Night
Midsummer