Scandinavia

== Use of ''Nordic countries'' vs. ''Scandinavia'' ==
[[File:Map of Scandinavia.svg|thumb|
{{legend|#ff0000|outline=#aaaaaa|Scandinavia according to the local definition}}
{{legend|#ff8811|outline=#aaaaaa|The extended usage in English, which includes Iceland and the Faroe Islands, [[Åland]] and Finland}}]]
{{further|topic=this terminology|Nordic countries|Fennoscandia}}
The term ''Scandinavia'' (sometimes specified in English as ''Continental Scandinavia'' or ''mainland Scandinavia'') is ordinarily used locally for Denmark, Norway and Sweden as a subset of the Nordic countries (known in Norwegian, [[Danish language|Danish]], and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] as {{lang|sv|Norden}}; {{lang-fi|Pohjoismaat}}, {{lang-is|Norðurlöndin}}, {{lang-fo|Norðurlond}}).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia|title=Scandinavia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572025/Scandinavia.html|access-date=30 January 2007|date=1997–2007|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|quote=Scandinavia (ancient Scandia), name applied collectively to three countries of northern Europe—Norway, Sweden (which together form the Scandinavian Peninsula) and Denmark.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028073547/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572025/Scandinavia.html|archive-date=28 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

However, in English usage, the term ''Scandinavia'' is sometimes used as a synonym or near-synonym for what are known locally as ''Nordic countries''.<ref name="Nordic Council">{{cite web|url=http://www.norden.org/en/fakta-om-norden-1|title=Facts about the Nordic region|date=1 October 2007|publisher=Nordic Council of Ministers & Nordic Council|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208124953/http://www.norden.org/en/fakta-om-norden-1|archive-date=8 February 2018|access-date=25 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/scandinavia|title=Scandinavia|year=2008|encyclopedia=The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary|access-date=9 January 2008|quote=Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden—sometimes also considered to include Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, & Finland.|archive-date=19 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219210721/http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/scandinavia|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>'[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scandinavian Scandinavia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127171335/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scandinavian |date=27 November 2019 }}', ''Collins Cobuild''.</ref><ref name=":2">'[https://web.archive.org/web/20200121034842/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/scandinavia Scandinavia, proper noun]', ''Lexico: Powered by Oxford''.</ref><ref>'[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Scandinavia Scandinavia, geographical name] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023120141/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Scandinavia |date=23 October 2018 }}', ''Merriam Webster''.</ref><ref name=":0">Knut Helle, '[https://books.google.com/books?id=PFBtfXG6fXAC Introduction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118063613/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PFBtfXG6fXAC& |date=18 November 2022 }}', in ''The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Volume I: Prehistory to 1520'', ed. by Knut Helle, E. I. Kouri, and Jens E. Oleson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 1–14 (pp. 1–4).</ref><ref name="eb" /><ref>{{cite book|title=Lonely Planet Scandinavian Europe|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Rough Guide to Scandinavia|year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goscandinavia.com/|title=Official Site of Scandinavian Tourist Board of North America|year=2009|access-date=23 October 2008|archive-date=4 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604225711/http://goscandinavia.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Usage in English is different from usage in the Scandinavian languages themselves (which use ''Scandinavia'' in the narrow meaning), and by the fact that the question of whether a country belongs to Scandinavia is politicised, people from the Nordic world beyond Norway, Denmark and Sweden may be offended at being either included in or excluded from the category of "Scandinavia".<ref name="olwig">Olwig, Kenneth R. "Introduction: The Nature of Cultural Heritage, and the Culture of Natural Heritage—Northern Perspectives on a Contested Patrimony". ''International Journal of Heritage Studies'', Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 3–7.</ref>

''Nordic countries'' is used unambiguously for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, including their associated territories Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands.<ref name="Nordic Council" />

A large part of modern-day Finland was part of Sweden for more than four centuries (see: [[Finland under Swedish rule]]), thus to much of the world associating Finland with Scandinavia. But the creation of a Finnish identity is unique in the region in that it was formed in relation to two different imperial models, the Swedish<ref>[http://countrystudies.us/finland/9.htm "Finland and the Swedish Empire"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009181052/http://countrystudies.us/finland/9.htm |date=9 October 2017 }}. ''Country Studies''. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 November 2006.</ref> and the Russian.<ref name="redescriptions">[http://www.jyu.fi/yhtfil/redescriptions/articles_1997.htm "Introduction: Reflections on Political Thought in Finland."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231252/http://www.jyu.fi/yhtfil/redescriptions/articles_1997.htm |date=3 March 2016 }} Editorial. ''Redescriptions, Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History'', 1997, Volume 1, University of Jyväskylä, pp. 6–7: "[T]he populist opposition both to Sweden as a former imperial country and especially to Swedish as the language of the narrow Finnish establishment has also been strong, especially in the inter-war years. [...] Finland as a unitary and homogeneous nation-state was constructed [...] in opposition to the imperial models of Sweden and Russia."</ref><ref>[http://countrystudies.us/finland/11.htm "The Rise of Finnish Nationalism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921072836/http://countrystudies.us/finland/11.htm |date=21 September 2011 }}. ''Country Studies''. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 November 2006: "The eighteenth century had witnessed the appearance of [...] a sense of national identity for the Finnish people, [...] an expression of the Finns' growing doubts about Swedish rule [...] The ethnic self-consciousness of Finnish speakers was given a considerable boost by the Russian conquest of Finland in 1809, because ending the connection with Sweden forced Finns to define themselves with respect to the Russians."</ref><ref>[http://www.jyu.fi/yhtfil/redescriptions/boardeditors.htm Editors and Board] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023918/http://www.jyu.fi/yhtfil/redescriptions/boardeditors.htm |date=4 March 2016 }}, Redescriptions, Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History</ref>

There is also the [[geology|geological]] term ''[[Fennoscandia]]'' (sometimes ''Fennoscandinavia''), which in technical use refers to the Fennoscandian Shield (or ''[[Baltic Shield]]''), that is the Scandinavian Peninsula (Norway and Sweden), Finland and [[Karelia]] (excluding Denmark and other parts of the wider Nordic world). The terms ''Fennoscandia'' and ''Fennoscandinavia'' are sometimes used in a broader, political sense to refer to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.<ref>"[https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/69278 Fennoscandia, n.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728143102/https://www.oed.com/start;jsessionid=3520E198D394BEA1BAC928ACCA39289F?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F69278 |date=28 July 2020 }}", ''Oxford English Dictionary Online'', 2nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2019). Accessed 10 February 2020.</ref>

=== Scandinavian as an ethnic term and as a demonym ===
{{further|topic=this terminology|North Germanic peoples}}
The term ''Scandinavian'' may be used with two principal meanings, in an ethnic or cultural sense and as a modern and more inclusive [[demonym]].

==== As an ethnic or cultural term ====
In the ethnic or cultural sense the term "Scandinavian" traditionally refers to [[North Germanic peoples|speakers of Scandinavian languages]], who are mainly descendants of the peoples historically known as [[Norsemen]], but also to some extent of immigrants and others who have been assimilated into that culture and language. In this sense the term refers primarily to native [[Danes]], [[Norwegians]] and [[Swedes]] as well as descendants of Scandinavian settlers such as the [[Icelanders]] and the [[Faroe Islanders|Faroese]]. The term is also used in this ethnic sense, to refer to the modern descendants of the Norse, in studies of linguistics and culture.<ref name="North Germanic">{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Arthur Garfield|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/englishlanguager00leed|chapter-url-access=registration|title=English Language Reader: Introductory Essays and Exercises|publisher=[[Dodd, Mead & Co.|Dodd, Mead]]|year=1963|editor-last=Lee|editor-first=Donald Woodward|editor-link=Donald Woodward Lee|chapter=The Indo-European Language Family|quote=North Germanic, or Scandinavian, or Norse, peoples, as they are variously called, became a distinctive people...|author-link=Arthur Garfield Kennedy}}; {{cite book|last=Spaeth|first=John Duncan Ernst|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924013338623|title=Old English Poetry|date=1921|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|quote=The main divisions of Germanic are: 1. East Germanic, including the Goths, both Ostrogoths and Visigoths. 2. North Germanic, including the Scandinavians, Danes, Icelanders, Swedes, "Norsemen." 3. West Germanic. The Old English (Anglo-Saxons) belong to this division, of which the continental representatives are the Teutonic peoples, High and Low Franks and Saxons, Alemanni, etc.|author-link=John Duncan Spaeth}}; {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Stith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLhPAQAAMAAJ|title=Our Heritage of World Literature|date=1995|publisher=Cordon Company|isbn=978-0809310913|quote=The North Germanic, or Scandinavian group, consists of the Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, and Icelanders.|author-link=Stith Thompson|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132224/https://books.google.com/books?id=sLhPAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Eric Valentine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVQKAQAAIAAJ|title=An Introduction to Old Norse|last2=Taylor|first2=A. R.|date=1962|publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-811105-4|quote=Norse was the language spoken by the North Germanic peoples (Scandinavians) from the time when Norse first became differentiated from the speech of the other Germanic peoples|author-link1=E. V. Gordon|author-link2=A. R. Taylor|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132232/https://books.google.com/books?id=lVQKAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last=Ränk|first=Gustav|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLvWAAAAMAAJ|title=Old Estonia, The People and Culture|date=1976|publisher=[[Indiana University]]|isbn=9780877501909|quote=Contacts are not impossible also with the Northern Germanic peoples, i.e., with the Scandinavians directly across the sea...|author-link=Gustav Ränk|access-date=23 April 2023|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423142202/https://books.google.com/books?id=tLvWAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last1=Barbour|first1=Stephen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFr2IjGftNMC|title=Variation in German: A Critical Approach to German Sociolinguistics|last2=Stevenson|first2=Patrick|date=1990|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521357043|quote=For the period when the existence of the Germanic tribes is first clearly recorded by Roman writers, archaeological evidence suggests five tribal groups, with perhaps five incipient distinct Germanic languages, as follows: (1) North Germanic tribes (Scandinavians)...|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132240/https://books.google.com/books?id=BFr2IjGftNMC|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last=Diringer|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cFdiAAAAMAAJ|title=The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind|date=1948|publisher=[[Philosophical Library]]|quote="Old Norse" was spoken by the North Germanic or Scandinavian peoples|author-link=David Diringer}}; {{cite book|last1=Bolling|first1=George Melville|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7QoAQAAIAAJ|title=Language|last2=Bloch|first2=Bernard|date=1968|publisher=[[Linguistic Society of America]]|quote=Northern Germanic peoples, i.e. the Scandinavians...|author-link1=George Bolling|author-link2=Bernard Bloch (linguist)|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132223/https://books.google.com/books?id=y7QoAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last=Jones|first=Gwyn|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofvikings00jone_0|url-access=registration|title=A History of the Vikings|date=2001|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0192801340|quote=North Germanic (Scandinavian) peoples...|author-link=Gwyn Jones (author)}}.</ref>

==== As a demonym ====
Additionally the term Scandinavian is used demonymically to refer to all modern inhabitants or citizens of Scandinavian countries. Within Scandinavia the demonymic term primarily refers to inhabitants or citizens of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In English usage inhabitants or citizens of Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Finland are sometimes included as well. English general dictionaries often define the noun ''Scandinavian'' demonymically as meaning any inhabitant of Scandinavia (which might be narrowly conceived or broadly conceived).<ref name=":1">'[https://web.archive.org/web/20200519233752/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/scandinavian Scandinavian, noun]', ''Lexico: Powered By Oxford''.</ref><ref>'[[mwod:Scandinavian|Scandinavian noun]]', ''Merriam-Webster''.</ref><ref>'[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scandinavian Scandinavian 2. countable noun] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127171335/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scandinavian |date=27 November 2019 }}', ''Collins Cobuild''.</ref> There is a certain ambiguity and political contestation as to which peoples should be referred to as Scandinavian in this broader sense. [[Sámi]] people who live in Norway and Sweden are generally included as Scandinavians in the demonymic sense; the Sámi of Finland may be included in English usage, but usually not in local usage; the Sámi of Russia are not included. However, the use of the term "Scandinavian" with reference to the Sámi is complicated by the historical attempts by Scandinavian majority peoples and governments in Norway and Sweden to assimilate the [[Sámi]] people into the Scandinavian culture and languages, making the inclusion of the Sámi as "Scandinavians" controversial among many Sámi. Modern Sámi politicians and organizations often stress the status of the Sámi as a people separate from and equal to the Scandinavians, with their own language and culture, and are apprehensive about being included as "Scandinavians" in light of earlier Scandinavian assimilation policies.<ref>Mathisen, Stein R. 2004. "Ethnic Identities in Global and Local Discourses: Contested Narratives of Sámi Ethnic Heritage". In Cultural Identity in Transition: Contemporary Conditions, Practices and Politics of a Global Phenomenon. Edited by Jari Kupiainen, Erkki Sevänen, John A. Stotesbury. Atlantic.</ref><ref>Birgitta Jahreskog, The Sami national minority in Sweden, Rättsfonden, 2009, {{ISBN|9780391026872}}</ref>