was designed initially for Australia, where National was still the primary brand used by Matsushita, who had not introduced the Panasonic brand to Australia yet despite its widespread use in other parts of the world such as the United States However, the campaign was also aired in Japan Five commercials, each approximately one minute long, were produced, each using the National Song sung by ABBA, which used the melody and instrumental arrangement of Fernando , adapted with new lyrics promoting National, and working in several slogans used by National in their advertising Political position edit In September , band members Andersson and Ulvaeus criticized the right wing Danish People's Party DF for using the ABBA song Mamma Mia with modified lyrics at rallies The band threatened to file a lawsuit against the DF, saying they never allowed their music to be used politically and that they had absolutely no interest in supporting the party Their record label Universal Music later said that no legal action would be taken because an agreement had been reached Awards and nominations edit Main article ABBA awards and nominations The Music of Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighboring countries in northern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka The accordion, clarinet, fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments The instrumental genre is the biggest one in Swedish traditional music In the s, Swedish youth sparked a roots revival in Swedish folk culture Many joined Spelmanslag folk musicians' clubs and performed on mainstream radio and TV They focused on instrumental polska music, with vocals and influences from other traditional genres becoming more prominent since the s By , the dansband culture also began Swedish music has also included more modern and pop influences On a per capita basis, Sweden is one of the world's most successful exporters of popular music Its most famous export is ABBA, which was a worldwide musical phenomenon Another Swedish artist, DeDe, was so successful in Japan in the late s that she inspired a collectible doll Sweden has also historically dominated the Scandinavian music scene, with Danes and Norwegians listening to music in Swedish rather than the other way around In the late s and early s, Scandinavian death metal bands became very popular with the international heavy metal community Sweden's most classic troubadour was Carl Michael Bellman Others include Evert

Taube, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Fred Åkerström, and Povel Ramel Contents hide Traditional Folk instruments Roots revival Classical Choral Modern Jazz Pop Bubblegum dance Hip hop Rock Reggae Punk rock Heavy metal Progressive and jazz rock music Progg Electronic music See also References External links Traditional edit See also Swedish folk music Swedish folk songs are dominated by ballads and kulning the latter was originally used as a cow herding call and is traditionally sung by women Ballad stories descend from skillingtryck printed songs from the th century Modern bands like Folk och Rackare, Hedningarna and Garmarna incorporated folk songs into their repertoire Folk instruments edit See also Swedish folk music and Riksspelman The fiddle is perhaps the most characteristic and original instrument of the Swedish folk tradition It had arrived by the th century, and became widespread until th century religious fundamentalism preached that most forms of music were sinful and ungodly Despite the oppression, several fiddlers achieved a reputation for their virtuosity, including Jämtland's Lapp Nils, Bingsjö's Pekkos Per and Malung's Lejsme Per Larsson None of these musicians were ever recorded the first major fiddler to be recorded was Hjort Anders Olsson Other early fiddlers of the th century included Nils Agenmark and Päkkos Gustaf There is an extensive traditional repertoire of fiddle tunes, in forms such as the polska and the gånglåt One type fiddle peculiar to Sweden is the låtfiol, a fiddle with two sympathetic strings, similar to the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle The nyckelharpa keyed fiddle is similar to both a fiddle and a hurdy gurdy, and is known from Sweden since at least , when it was carved on a gate in a church in Gotland During the th and th centuries, the nyckelharpa was known throughout Sweden, Denmark and particularly in the province of Uppland The latter has long been a stronghold for nyckelharpa music, including through the s when revival clarification needed , which drew on musicians like Byss Calle from Älvkarleby The instrument played at this time was not the same as that used today August Bohlin and Eric Sahlström made changes to the instrument that made it a chromatic and straight, more violin like instrument In spite of these innovations, the nyckelharpa's popularity declined until the s roots revival The nyckelharpa was a prominent part of several revival groups later in the century, especially Väsen and Hedningarna The Swedish bagpipes säckpipa has been part of a long running folk tradition, passed down orally until the death of Gudmunds Nils Larsson in Later revivalists such as Per Gudmundson added a tuning slide and revitalized the instrument Accordions and harmonicas were an integral part of Swedish folk music from the beginning of the th century, when they contributed to the gammeldans genre The most famous Swedish accordionist is undoubtedly Kalle Jularbo, who was famous throughout the early th century Later, the accordion fell out of favour within the roots revival, and did not return until the very end of the s Roots revival edit See also Swedish folk music In the s, Swedish jazz musicians like Jan Johansson used folk influences in their work, resulting in an early s series of music festivals in Stockholm The Swedish Music Movement reflected a popular trend towards jazz and rock oriented folk music, featuring many performers who brought a new vitality to Swedish folk Classical edit The father of Swedish classical music is often claimed to be Johan Helmich Roman His most famous work is the Drottningholmsmusiken Another influential composer is Carl Michael Bellman, whose patron was the king Gustav III of Sweden Bellmans' songs are often about drinking, prostitution and every day love troubles He was a virtuoso improviser, and his songs, of which Fredmans sånger are the most well known, are widely performed in Europe in different translations Joseph Martin Kraus had a life span very similar to that of Mozart, who lived between to Kraus was an innovative composer, with a music filled with finesse and bold contrasts His harmonic language was very personal, although his ability to develop motives never reached the level of the viennese composers such as Mozart or Haydn In the early romantic era, Franz Berwald was the most prominent of the Swedish composers His music was almost ignored during his lifetime, and he made his living as an orthopedic surgeon He has gained most of his recognition after his death, and composers such as Atterberg and Stenhammar worked hard to raise the interest in Berwalds' music Wilhelm Stenhammar was one of the later national romantic composers He owned a reputation as one of the finest pianist of his time He studied some years in Berlin, where he came in contact with the German high romanticism, such as Bruckner and Wagner, which influenced him a lot when he wrote his three symphonies He also wrote six string quartets, a respectable amount of piano music and one opera, Tyrfing, treating on a Norse mythological subject Another national romantic composer who was also a conductor and violinist, was Hugo Alfvén His orchestration is bright and colorful, reminiscent of that of Richard Strauss, although the harmonic language differs a lot Some of his works, such as the Swedish rhapsodies, are program music, which means music with an underlying program that is meant to be evoked in the listeners mind Alfvén appears as a character in the film The passion of Marie Important composers in the early s are Hilding Rosenberg, Kurt Atterberg, Ture Rangström The best known opera singers were the th century soprano Jenny Lind and the th century tenor Jussi Björling, who had great success abroad as a tenor Also sopranos Christina Nilsson, Birgit Nilsson, and tenor Nicolai Gedda, baritone Håkan Hagegård and the contemporary mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter have become known in the world of opera Trombone virtuoso Christian Lindberg is considered by swedes to be their foremost international classical music personality Evert Taube, Povel Ramel, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Fred Akerstrom are all popular modern troubadours, considered to be classics in Swedish music Sweden also has a prominent choral music tradition, deriving in part from the cultural importance of the Swedish folk songs Choral edit Sweden has a long tradition of professional and amateur choir singing A large percentage of the Swedes sing in amateur choirs in various styles The choirs of Sweden are among the best in the world, with the Radio Choir, owned by Sveriges Radio Swedish public radio being one of the world's top professional classical choirs Lunds Studentsångförening LSS and Orphei Drängar OD are two world class male choirs singing both in Swedish and other languages The world famous choir leader Eric Ericsson started his career as chief conductor of OD in the s Modern edit Jazz edit Well known jazz names include Alice Babs who worked with Duke Ellington for many years from and onwards, Arne Domnerus who has recorded albums with James Moody, Art Farmer and Clifford Brown, Bengt Hallberg, Bobo Stenson, Esbjörn Svensson Trio, composer and jazz musician Georg Riedel, Georg Wadenius, best selling jazz musician Jan Johansson, the jazz duo Koop, Lars Gullin, the multi instrumentalist and composer Magnus Lindgren, singer and actress Monica Zetterlund, Nils Landgren, Putte Wickman, Rolf Ericsson, guitar virtuoso Ulf Wakenius, and Åke Hasselgård Pop edit See also Swedish pop music ABBA is the best known popular music band from Sweden, and the only one that ranks among the best known in the world, composed of members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni Frid Lyngstad, and Benny Andersson With ABBA, Sweden entered into a new era, in which Swedish pop music gained international prominence after winning the Eurovision Song Contest They sold a total of million records around the world, making them the second most successful group ever, after The Beatles and continue to sell to million records a year worldwide After ABBA's win Sweden has won the contest a further five times with Herreys, with Carola Häggkvist, with Charlotte Nilsson, with Loreen and with Måns Zelmerlöw, making them the country with the second highest number of wins behind Ireland ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus have been very successful in musical theatre, with their international hit Mamma Mia!, as well as Chess, and Kristina från Duvemåla, which was a huge success in Sweden An English version is expected to hit Broadway in the near future Some of the most successful post ABBA popular music artists from Sweden are Europe, Roxette, Secret Service band , Agnes, The Wannadies, Ace of Base, Bubbles, Kent, Carola Häggkvist, Army of Lovers, Neneh and Eagle Eye Cherry, Leila K, Robyn, A*Teens, Nanne Grönvall, The Cardigans, Bodies Without Organs, Andreas Johnson, Alcazar and Play A number of renowned rock and pop oriented artists have come out of the country in recent years, including Loreen, Eskobar, Jenny Wilson, bob hund, Clawfinger, The Sounds, Peter Bjorn and John, Miike Snow, The Hives, Hardcore Superstar, Millencolin, Sahara Hotnights, Dungen, Loney, Dear, The Hellacopters, The Ark, Infinite Mass, Mando Diao, Shout Out Louds, Looptroop, José González, Caesars and Supergroupies The Knife and Jens Lekman have both received significant underground acclaim in recent years Such has been the success of music abroad that clubs specializing in Swedish music have sprung up in major cities like Berlin, Barcelona and London Swedish chart toppers Kent are also often regarded as a pop band based on the variety of sounds found on their various albums Some Swedish easy listening contemporary groups and artists who are not as well known internationally but are recognized in Sweden include Gyllene Tider, Peter Jöback, Lill Babs Svensson, Marie Fredriksson, Laleh, Per Gessle, Ted Gärdestad, Helen Sjöholm, Charlotte Perrelli, Loreen, Sanna Nielsen, Lena Philipsson and Patrik Isaksson The Swedish songwriter Max Martin, as well as his late mentor Denniz Pop, is renowned for writing songs for Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears Adam Tensta – hip hop Anna Ternheim – indie pop Agnes Carlsson – pop, electropop, dance Avicii DJ, electronic dance music The Ark pop rock Backyard Babies rock Basshunter – eurodance, techno, trance, Electronic Dance Music, electro, pop BWO – electro, pop, dance Bubbles bubblegum, pop, dance Broder Daniel – indie rock, indie pop Caesars – indie rock The Cardigans – pop rock Dada Life DJ, Electronic Dance Music Dave Castaldo Powerpop, rock Di Leva indie pop, rock El Perro del Mar First Aid Kit Swedish folk duo Fever Ray electronic, ambient Håkan Hellström – indie pop Hardcore superstar sleaze rock, hard rock iamamiwhoami electropop, alternative, experimental Icona Pop dance pop, electropop Jay Jay Johanson experimental, pop Jens Lekman – indie pop Kingqueen – pop Kleerup – pop The Knife – electropop Laleh folk, indie pop Loreen pop Lasse Lindh – indie pop Lazee – hip hop Looptroop Rockers hip hop Lykke Li – electropop, indie pop, experimental Mando Diao – rock pop Måns Zelmerlöw pop Markus Krunegård pop Moneybrother Miike Snow indie pop Otto Knows DJ, Electronic Dance Music The Radio Dept – dream pop, shoegaze Robyn – pop Sally Shapiro – electronic, synthpop Sanna Nielsen Easy Listening, Soft Rock Shout Out Louds indiepop Slagsmålsklubben SMK – bitpop Sophie Zelmani folk, indie pop Suburban Kids with Biblical Names – twee pop, indie pop Supergroupies glam rock, rock Swedish House Mafia electronic dance music group The Tallest Man on Earth – folk Teddybears Teddybears STHLM electronic rock The Tough Alliance – indie pop, electropop Tove Lo – alternative rock, electropop Tove Styrke – electropop Zeigeist – electropop Bubblegum dance edit Scandinavia is considered the bubblegum dance capital of the world Many bubblegum dance artists emerged from Sweden, most famously Smile dk formerly known as Smile Smile dk is made famous by the videogame DDR, or Dance Dance Revolution, with their hit called Butterfly , Konami has signed them to include some of their songs in their games Hip hop edit Main article Swedish hip hop While jazz, blues and soul have been around for a long time in Sweden, hip hop is a more recent addition Swedish hip hop emerged in the first half of the s and crossed into the mainstream a decade later Early rappers and crews were Per Cussion, Grandmaster Funk, Ice Cold Rockers and Snoopy Artists that achieved mainstream popularity in the early s include Just D, Infinite Mass and The Latin Kings In the late s there was a second breakthrough and artists like Petter, Ken Ring, Thomas Rusiak, Timbuktu and Looptroop became well known More recent acts worth mentioning are Dim Out, Promoe, Roffe Ruff, Iman Russ, Max Peezay, Snook, Ison & Fille, Advance Patrol, Maskinen, Million Stylez Rebstar and Adam Tensta Most recently, Swedish Swing hip hop jazz has become popular with the band Movits! as a frontrunner in the movement They became popular in America after being featured on The Colbert Report Rock edit The most successful world class rock band to come out of Sweden and Scandinavia as a whole has been the band called Europe They formed in , and went on to achieve huge international success during the s, and continue to release successful albums over years later Europe best known with their song The Final Countdown While rock is not as widespread in Sweden as pop or Metal are, there are some very interesting acts Worth mentioning are The Hellacopters, who have just ended a critically acclaimed year career They are also claimed to be Sweden's loudest export Avatar Swedish band The Ark Backyard Babies Blindside bob hund Broder Daniel Demons Dungen Europe H E A T Hel The Hellacopters The Hives The Knockouts The International Noise Conspiracy Johnossi Kent Lars Demian The Legends Mando Diao Millencolin Neverstore Peter Bjorn and John Refused Sahara Hotnights Sator Shout Out Louds Silent Border The Sounds The Spotnicks Sugarplum Fairy The Soundtrack of Our Lives Takida Timo Räisänen Truckfighters Vains of Jenna The most popular Swedish rock band in Scandinavia today is Kent as reflected in their high record sales and large fanbase Reggae edit Reggae is also a part of modern Swedish music A Swedish reggaemusician of early fame is the Scanian Peps Persson, Bob Marley has once said that there is only one white man that has reggae in his blood and it's Peps Persson Since then, more has happened The Uppsala group Labyrint band is widely spread with their musical mix of rap and reggae called förortsreggae Swedish music producers Soundism are behind Swedish reggae artists Kapten Röd, Papa Dee, Million Stylez, and Chilly & Leafy and more , also records with international artist such as Junior Ketlly, Lady Saw, and Buju Banton Punk rock edit Main article Punk in Sweden The most prominent and important Swedish punk rock band is Ebba Grön – headed by Joakim Thåström Thåström also had two other bands called Imperiet and Peace, Love & Pitbulls but they were very pop influenced and never became anywhere near as popular as Ebba Grön However, Thåström is still big in Sweden, now as a solo artist See also Umeå hardcore Sweden is also home to several influential emo and hardcore punk bands, such as Fireside, Last Days Of April, Satanic Surfers, Kelly and landmark post hardcore band Refused More aggressive early hardcore punk bands include Asta kask, Charta , Mob , Anti Cimex, Totalitär, Homy Hogs, T S T, Headcleaners, and The Shitlickers Some later influential bands of the aggressive sort are for example Disfear, Driller Killer, Wolfbrigade, Loudpipes, Warvictims, Bombshell Rocks, and Raised Fist Heavy metal edit See also Swedish death metal Sweden is known for a large number of heavy metal bands Swedish musicians are credited for creating melodic death metal, also known as Gothenburg metal, in particular the bands In Flames, At The Gates and Dark Tranquility Bathory is credited for helping create black metal, a style that became popular in Norway, as well as pioneering Viking metal, and deceased Black Metal icon Per Yngve Ohlin was from Sweden Dissection is also noted for their large influence on Swedish black metal, in particular melodic black metal The country is also well known for death metal, progressive, doom and power metal bands Opeth in particular have gained worldwide popularity Some of the prominent metal acts are Aeon Amon Amarth Amaranthe Angtoria Arch Enemy Arckanum At the Gates Bathory Beseech Bloodbath Bloodbound Candlemass Cemetary Crashdïet The Crown Cult of Luna Dan Swano Dark Funeral Dark Tranquillity Darkane Deathstars Deranged Diabolique Dismember Dissection Dream Evil Edge of Sanity Entombed Enforcer Europe Evergrey Falconer Ghost Grave HammerFall Hardcore Superstar Hypothermia The Haunted Hypocrisy In Flames In Mourning Kaamos Katatonia Lake of Tears Liers in Wait Lifelover Lord Belial Yngwie Malmsteen Marduk Meshuggah Månegarm Necrophobic Nifelheim Nightingale Nocturnal Rites October Tide One Man Army and the Undead Quartet Opeth Ophthalamia PAIN Pain of Salvation The Project Hate MCMXCIX Raubtier Sabaton Saint Deamon Scar Symmetry Seventh Wonder Shining Skiller Soilwork Sonic Syndicate Steelwing Therion Thyrfing Tiamat Unleashed Stockholm From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Stockholm disambiguation Sthlm redirects here For the Swedish TV series, see Sthlm TV series Stockholm Aerial view of the Old Town, Skeppsbron, Stockholm City Hall, Hötorget buildings, Ericsson Globe and Stockholm Palace Aerial view of the Old Town, Skeppsbron, Stockholm City Hall, Hötorget buildings, Ericsson Globe and Stockholm Palace Official logo of Stockholm Coat of arms Nickname s Eken, The Capital of Scandinavia, the Venice of the North, the Venice of Scandinavia, Mälardrottningen Stockholm is located in Sweden StockholmStockholm Coordinates ° ' ?N ° ' ?ECoordinates ° ' ?N ° ' ?E Country Sweden Province Södermanland and Uppland County Stockholm County Municipalities show First mention Charter th century Area • City km sq mi • Urban km sq mi • Metro , km , sq mi Elevation m ft Population June • City , • Density , km , sq mi • Urban , , • Urban density , km , sq mi • Metro , , • Metro density km sq mi Demonym s Stockholmare Time zone CET UTC+ • Summer DST CEST UTC+ Postal code Area code s + Website www stockholm se Stockholm 'st?kho?m, ho?lm Swedish pronunciation 'st?k?'?lm, 'st?k'h?lm About this sound pronunciation is the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic region, a with , people living in the municipality, approximately million in the urban area, and million in the metropolitan area The city is spread across islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic sea The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in by Birger Jarl It is also the capital of Stockholm County Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the country's GDP, and is among the top regions in Europe by GDP per capita It is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region The city is home to some of Europe's top ranking universities, such as the Karolinska Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall One of the city's most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited non art museum in Scandinavia The Stockholm metro, opened in , is well known for its decoration of the stations it has been called the longest art gallery in the world Sweden's national football arena is located north of the city centre, in Solna Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city The city was the host of the Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Australia Stockholm is the seat of the Government of Sweden and most government agencies, including the highest courts in the Judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister The Government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Minister's residence is adjacent at the Sager House The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and principal workplace of the Swedish monarch, while the Drottningholm Palace, a World Heritage Site on the outskirts of Stockholm, serves as the Royal Family's private residence Contents hide History Geography Location Stockholm Municipality Climate Daylight hours City governance Economy Fibre optic network Education Demographics Culture Literature Architecture Museums Art galleries Suburbs Theatres Amusement park Media Sports Cuisine Yearly events Environment Green city with a national urban park Role model Transport Public transport The City Line Project, or The Green Tunnel Roads Congestion charges Ferries City bikes Airports Inter city trains International rankings Twin cities and towns Gallery See also Notes References External links History edit Main article History of Stockholm Detail of engraving of Stockholm from Suecia antiqua et hodierna by Erik Dahlberg and Willem Swidde, printed in Panorama over Stockholm around as seen from a hot air balloon Kungsträdgården in Stockholm around – After the Ice Age, at around , BC, there had already been vast migrations towards the present day Stockholm area, but as temperatures dropped, inhabitants moved away towards the South Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, and the lands became fertile, some life moved back to the North At the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first occupied in about AD by Vikings Vikings had a positive trade impact on the land because of the trade routes they created Stockholms' location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne The earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from , by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade The first part of the name stock means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word Stock meaning fortification The second part of the name holm means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm The city is said to have been founded by Birger Jarl to protect Sweden from a sea invasion by foreign navies and to stop the pillage of towns such as Sigtuna on Lake Mälaren Stockholm's core of the present Old Town Gamla Stan was built on the central island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid th century onward The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdansk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time citation needed Between and Stockholm's City Council was made up of members, half of whom were selected from the town's German speaking burghers The strategic and economic importance of the city made Stockholm an important factor in relations between the Danish Kings of the Kalmar Union and the national independence movement in the th century The Danish King Christian II was able to enter the city in On November a massacre of opposition figures called the Stockholm Bloodbath took place and set off further uprisings that eventually led to the breakup of the Kalmar Union With the accession of Gustav Vasa in and the establishment of a royal power, the population of Stockholm began to grow, reaching , by The th century saw Sweden grow into a major European power, reflected in the development of the city of Stockholm From to the population multiplied sixfold In Stockholm became the official capital of the Swedish empire Trading rules were also created that gave Stockholm an essential monopoly over trade between foreign merchants and other Swedish and Scandinavian territories In , a plague killed about , percent of the population After the end of the Great Northern War the city stagnated Population growth halted and economic growth slowed The city was in shock after having lost its place as the capital of a Great Power However Stockholm maintained its role as the political centre of Sweden and continued to develop culturally under Gustav III By the second half of the th century, Stockholm had regained its leading economic role New industries emerged and Stockholm was transformed into an important trade and service centre as well as a key gateway point within Sweden The population also grew dramatically during this time, mainly through immigration At the end of the th century, less than % of the residents were Stockholm born Settlement began to expand outside the city limits The th century saw the establishment of a number of scientific institutes, including the Karolinska Institute The General Art and Industrial Exposition was held in Stockholm became a modern, technologically advanced, and ethnically diverse city in the latter half of the th century Many historical buildings were torn down during the modernist era, including substantial parts of the historical district of Klara, and replaced with modern architecture However, in many other parts of Stockholm such as in Gamla Stan, Södermalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen and Vasastan , many old buildings, blocks and streets built before the modernism and functionalism movements took off in Sweden around survived this era of demolition Throughout the century, many industries shifted away from work intensive activities into more high tech and service industry areas Between and , the city expanded very quickly with the creation of additional suburban districts such as Rinkeby and Tensta as a part of the Million Programme Many of these areas have been criticized for being concrete suburbs , dull, grey, low status areas built mainly out of concrete slabs The most common complaints are about the high crime rate and the high racial and social segregation in these areas citation needed Geography edit Main article Geography of Stockholm A degree panorama of Stockholm inner quarters taken from the City Hall tower From left to right Riddarfjärden with Södermalm in the background, Kungsholmen, Klara sjö, Norrmalm with the central station in the foreground, Stockholms ström, Riddarholmen with the Old Town, and again Riddarfjärden with Södermalm Location edit Stockholm is located on Sweden's south central east coast, where the freshwater Lake Mälaren — Sweden's third largest lake — flows out into the Baltic Sea The central parts of the city consist of fourteen islands that are continuous with the Stockholm archipelago The geographical city centre is situated on the water, in Riddarfjärden bay Over % of the city area is made up of waterways and another % is made up of parks and green spaces The biome Stockholm belongs to is the Temperate Deciduous Forest, which means the climate is very similar to that of the Eastern area of the United States The average annual temperature is °C °F The average rainfall is to inches a year The deciduous forest has four distinct seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter In the autumn the leaves change colour During the winter months the trees lose their leaves For details about the other municipalities in the Stockholm area, see the pertinent articles North of Stockholm Municipality Järfälla, Solna, Täby, Sollentuna, Lidingö, Upplands Väsby, Österåker, Sigtuna, Sundbyberg, Danderyd, Vallentuna, Ekerö, Upplands Bro, Vaxholm, and Norrtälje South of Stockholm Huddinge, Nacka, Botkyrka, Haninge, Tyresö, Värmdö, Södertälje, Salem, Nykvarn and Nynäshamn Stockholm Palace Stockholm Municipality edit Main article Stockholm Municipality Stockholm Municipality is an administrative unit defined by geographical borders The semi officially adopted name for the municipality is City of Stockholm Stockholms stad in Swedish As a municipality, the City of Stockholm is subdivided into district councils, which carry responsibility for primary schools, social, leisure and cultural services within their respective areas The municipality is usually described in terms of its three main parts Innerstaden Stockholm City Centre , Söderort Southern Stockholm and Västerort Western Stockholm The districts of these parts are Stockholm City Centre Kungsholmen Norrmalm Södermalm Östermalm Söderort Enskede Årsta Vantör Farsta Hägersten Liljeholmen Skarpnäck Skärholmen Älvsjö Västerort Bromma Hässelby Vällingby Rinkeby Kista Spånga Tensta The modern centrum Norrmalm, concentrated around the town square Sergels torg , is the largest shopping district in Sweden citation needed It is the most central part of Stockholm in business and shopping Climate edit Stockholm, with a February mean of - °C °F , had a humid continental climate Köppen Dfb for the most recent official reference period Due to the city's high northerly latitude, daylight varies widely from more than hours around midsummer, to only around hours in late December Despite its northern location, Stockholm has relatively mild weather compared to other locations at similar latitude, or even farther south With an average of just over hours of sunshine per year, it is also one of the sunniest cities in Northern Europe, receiving more sunshine than Paris, London and a few other major European cities of a more southerly latitude Due to recent mildening of the climate it could be classified as cold marine with significant continental influence if the - °C °F isotherm is used The urban heat island combined with prevailing wind travelling over land rather than sea during summer renders Stockholm to have the warmest summers in the Nordic countries In spite of its mild climate it is actually located further to the north of where areas of Canada are above the arctic tree line at sea level Winter in Stockholm is more than °C milder than in many areas this far north Summers average daytime high temperatures of – °C – °F and lows of around °C °F , but temperatures can reach °C °F on some days Days above °C °F occur on average days per year Days between °C °F and °C °F are relatively common especially in July and August Nighttime lows of above °C °F are rare, with the hot summer nights roaming around to °C to °F Winters generally bring cloudy weather with the most precipitation falling in December and January as rain or as snow The average winter temperatures ranges from - to - °C to °F , and occasionally drop below - °C - °F Spring and autumn are generally cool to mild The climate table below presents weather data from the years – although the official Köppen reference period was from – According to ongoing measurements, the temperature has increased during the years – as compared with the last series This increase averages about °C °F over all months Warming is most pronounced during the winter months, with an increase of more than °C °F in January For the – measurements some further increases have been found, although some months such as June have been relatively flat The highest temperature ever recorded in Stockholm was °C °F on July the lowest was - °C - °F on January The temperature has not dropped to below - °C - °F since January Annual precipitation is mm in with around wet days and light to moderate rainfall throughout the year Snowfall occurs mainly from December through March Snowfall may occasionally occur in late October as well as in April In Stockholm, the aurora borealis can occasionally be observed hide Climate data for Stockholm, - Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C °F Average high °C °F - - Daily mean °C °F - - - Average low °C °F - - - - Record low °C °F - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Average precipitation mm inches Average precipitation days = mm Mean monthly sunshine hours , Source # NOAA Source # SMHI Daylight hours edit Stockholm's location just south of the th latitude means that the number of daylight hours is relatively small during winter — about six hours, while in June and the first half of July, the nights are relatively short, with about hours of daylight Around the Summer solstice the sun never reaches further below the horizon than degrees This gives the sky a bright blue colour in summer, also when looking straight up towards the zenith, with few stars visible This is not to be confused with the Midnight sun, which occurs north of the Polar circle, around degrees farther north City governance edit See also Stockholm Municipality and Stockholm municipal election, The Stockholm City Council essentially function as Stockholm's parliament Its councillors are appointed following general elections, held at the same time as the elections to the Riksdag and county councils The Council convene twice every month at Stockholm City Hall, and the meetings are open to the public The matters on which the councillors decide have generally already been drafted and discussed by various boards and committees Once decisions are referred for practical implementation, the employees of the City administrations and companies take over The elected majority has a Mayor and eight Vice Mayors The Mayor and each majority Vice Mayor is a head of a department, with responsibility for a particular area of operation, such as City Planning The opposition also has four Vice Mayors, but they hold no executive power Together the Mayor and the Vice Mayors form the Council of Mayors, and they prepare matters for the City Executive Board The Mayor holds a special position among the Vice Mayors, chairing both the Council of Mayors and the City Executive Board The City Executive Board is elected by the City Council and can be thought of as the Government The City Executive Board expresses an opinion in all matters decided by the Council and bears the overall responsibility for follow up, evaluation and execution of its decisions The Board is also responsible for financial administration and long term development The City Executive Board consists of members, who represent both the majority and the opposition Its meetings are not open to the public Following the Stockholm municipal election, the city is run by a center left majority and the Mayor of Stockholm is Karin Wanngård from the Social Democrats Economy edit Offices in Kista Headquarters of Ericsson The vast majority of Stockholm residents work in the service industry, which accounts for roughly % of jobs in Stockholm The almost total absence of heavy industry and fossil fuel power plants makes Stockholm one of the world's cleanest metropolises The last decade has seen a significant number of jobs created in high technology companies Large employers include IBM, Ericsson, and Electrolux A major IT centre is located in Kista, in northern Stockholm Stockholm is Sweden's financial centre Major Swedish banks, such as Nordea, Swedbank, Handelsbanken, and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, are headquartered in Stockholm, as are the major insurance companies Skandia, Folksam and Trygg Hansa Stockholm is also home to Sweden's foremost stock exchange, the Stockholm Stock Exchange Stockholmsbörsen Additionally, about % of Swedish companies with more than employees are headquartered in Stockholm Famous clothes retailer H&M is also headquartered in the city In recent years, tourism has played an important part in the city's economy Stockholm County is ranked as the th largest visitor destination in Europe, with over million commercial overnight stays per year Among European cities Stockholm had the th highest growth in number of nights spent in the period The largest companies by number of employees Ericsson — , Posten AB national postal service — , Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken SEB — , Swedbank — , Södersjukhuset Southern Hospital — , MTR Stockholm Stockholm Subway operator — , Nordea — , Handelsbanken — , IBM Svenska — , Capgemini — , Securitas AB — , Veolia Transport — , ISS Facility Services — , Sveriges Television public television — , Nobina Sverige AB — , Sodexo — , Fibre optic network edit The city owned company Stokab started in to build a fiber optic network throughout the municipality as a level playing field for all operators City of Stockholm, Around a decade later, the network was million kilometers long making it the longest optic fiber network in the world and now has over operators and enterprises as customers was the final year of a three year project which brought fiber to % of public housing, meaning an extra , houses were added City of Stockholm, Education edit Main article Education in Stockholm Stockholm School of Economics Research and higher education in the sciences started in Stockholm in the th century, with education in medicine and various research institutions such as the Stockholm Observatory The medical education was eventually formalized in as the Karolinska Institutet The Royal Institute of Technology Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, or KTH was founded in and is currently Scandinavia's largest higher education institute of technology with , students Stockholm University, founded in with university status granted in , has , students as of It also incorporates many historical institutions, such as the Observatory, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, and the botanical garden Bergianska trädgården The Stockholm School of Economics, founded in , is one of the few private institutions of higher education in Sweden In the fine arts, educational institutions include the Royal College of Music, which has a history going back to the conservatory founded as part of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in , the Royal University College of Fine Arts, which has a similar historical association with the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and a foundation date of , and the Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting, which is the continuation of the school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, once attended by Greta Garbo Other schools include the design school Konstfack, founded in , the University College of Opera founded in , but with older roots , the University College of Dance, and the Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut the University College of Music Education The Södertörn University College was founded in as a multi disciplinary institution for southern Metropolitan Stockholm, to balance the many institutions located in the northern part of the region Other institutes of higher education are Military Academy Karlberg, the world's oldest military academy to remain in its original location, inaugurated in and housed in Karlberg Palace Ersta Sköndal University College The Stockholm School of Theology Teologiska Högskolan, Stockholm The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences Gymnastik och idrottshögskolan, or GIH The biggest complaint from students of higher education in Stockholm is the lack of student accommodations, the difficulty in finding other accommodations and the high rent Demographics edit The Stockholm region is home to around % of Sweden's total population, and accounts for about % of its gross domestic product The geographical notion of Stockholm has changed throughout the times By the turn of the th century, Stockholm largely consisted of the area today known as City Centre, roughly km sq mi or one fifth of the current municipal area In the ensuing decades several other areas were incorporated such as Brännkyrka Municipality in , at which time it had , inhabitants, and Spånga in The municipal border was established in with the exception of Hansta, in purchased by Stockholm Municipality from Sollentuna Municipality and today a nature reserve Largest groups of foreign residents Nationality Population Finland , Iraq , Iran , Poland , Turkey , Somalia , Chile , Germany , Serbia , France , Of the population of , in , , were men and , women The average age is years % of the population is between and years , people, or % of the population, over the age were unmarried , people, or % of the population, were married , , or % of the population, had been married but divorced Approximately % of Stockholm's residents are of an immigrant or non Swedish background Residents of Stockholm are known as Stockholmers Some of the suburbs have large populations of immigrants Languages spoken in Greater Stockholm outside of Swedish include Finnish and English, as well as Bosnian, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, Dutch, Spanish, Serbian and Croatian As of December , there were , foreign born persons in Stockholm The largest group of them are the Finns , , followed by Iraqis , and Iranian people , The entire Stockholm metropolitan area, consisting of municipalities, has a population of over , million, making it the most populous city in the Nordic region The Stockholm urban area, defined only for statistical purposes, had a total population of , , in In the following municipalities some of the districts are contained within the Stockholm urban area, though not all Stockholm urban area municipalities Municipality Population Stockholm , Botkyrka , Danderyd , Haninge , Huddinge , Järfälla , Nacka , Sollentuna , Solna , Sundbyberg , Tyresö , Stockholm Municipality population development years – Culture edit View from the harbour of Skeppsbron Apart from being Sweden's capital, Stockholm houses many national cultural institutions The Stockholm region is home to three of Sweden's World Heritage Sites – spots judged as invaluable places that belong to all of humanity The Drottningholm Palace, Skogskyrkogården The Woodland Cemetery and Birka In , Stockholm was named European Capital of Culture Literature edit Authors connected to Stockholm include the poet and songwriter Carl Michael Bellman – , novelist and dramatist August Strindberg – , and novelist Hjalmar Söderberg – , all of whom made Stockholm part of their works Other authors with notable heritage in Stockholm were the Nobel Prize laureate Eyvind Johnson – and the popular poet and composer Evert Taube – The novelist Per Anders Fogelström – wrote a popular series of historical novels depicting life in Stockholm from the mid th to mid th century Architecture edit Strandvägen as seen from the island of Djurgården Djurgårdsbron Gamla stan Kornhamnstorg Main article Architecture in Stockholm See also Historical fires of Stockholm The city's oldest section is Gamla Stan Old Town , located on the original small islands of the city's earliest settlements and still featuring the medieval street layout Some notable buildings of Gamla Stan are the large German Church Tyska kyrkan and several mansions and palaces the Riddarhuset the House of Nobility , the Bonde Palace, the Tessin Palace and the Oxenstierna Palace The oldest building in Stockholm is the Riddarholmskyrkan from the late th century After a fire in when the original medieval castle was destroyed, Stockholm Palace was erected in a baroque style Storkyrkan Cathedral, the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Stockholm, stands next to the castle It was founded in the th century but is clad in a baroque exterior dating to the th century As early as the th century, the city had expanded outside of its original borders Some pre industrial, small scale buildings from this era can still be found in Södermalm During the th century and the age of industrialization Stockholm grew rapidly, with plans and architecture inspired by the large cities of the continent such as Berlin and Vienna Notable works of this time period include public buildings such as the Royal Swedish Opera and private developments such as the luxury housing developments on Strandvägen In the th century, a nationalistic push spurred a new architectural style inspired by medieval and renaissance ancestry as well as influences of the Jugend Art Nouveau style A key landmark of Stockholm, the Stockholm City Hall, was erected by architect Ragnar Östberg Other notable works of these times are the Stockholm Public Library and the World Heritage Site Skogskyrkogården Söder Torn, an meter tall building in Södermalm In the s modernism characterized the development of the city as it grew New residential areas sprang up such as the development on Gärdet while industrial development added to the growth, such as the KF manufacturing industries on Kvarnholmen located in the Nacka Municipality In the s, suburban development entered a new phase with the introduction of the Stockholm metro The modernist developments of Vällingby and Farsta were internationally praised In the s this suburban development continued but with the aesthetic of the times, the industrialized and mass produced blocks of flats received a large amount of criticism At the same time that this suburban development was taking place, the most central areas of the inner city were being redesigned, known as Norrmalmsregleringen Sergels Torg, with its five high rise office towers was created in the s, followed by the total clearance of large areas to make room for new development projects The most notable buildings from this period is the ensemble of the House of Culture, City Theatre and National Bank at Sergels Torg, designed by architect Peter Celsing In the s, the planning ideas of modernism were starting to be questioned, resulting in suburbs with a denser planning, such as Skarpnäck In the s this idea was taken further with the development of and old industrial area close to the inner city, resulting in a sort of mix of modernistic and urban planning in the new area of Hammarby Sjöstad The municipality has appointed an official board of beauty called Skönhetsrådet to protect and preserve the beauty of the city Stockholm's architecture along with Visby, Gotland provided the inspiration for Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki as he sought to evoke an idealized city untouched by World War His creation, called Koriko, draws directly from what Miyazaki felt was Stockholm's sense of well established architectural unity, vibrancy, independence, and safety One of the most unusual pieces of architecture in Stockholm is the Jumbohostel, housed in a converted Boeing located at Stockholm Arlanda Airport Museums edit Main article List of museums in Stockholm Nationalmuseum Stockholm is one of the most crowded museum cities in the world with around museums, visited by millions of people every year The most renowned national museum is the Nationalmuseum, citation needed with Sweden's largest collection of art , paintings and , objects of art handicraft The


abby-lane abby-rode abigail-clayton ada-tauler addie-juniper addison-cain adele-wiesenthal adeline-lange adeline-pollicina adriana-amante adrianna-laurenti adrianna-russo agnes agnes-ardant agnes-zalontai aimee-addison aisha-sun aja aleena-ferari alessandra-schiavo aletta-ocean alexandra-nice alexandria-cass alexa-parks alex-dane alex-foxe alexia-knight alexis-devell alexis-firestone alexis-greco alexis-payne alexis-x alex-storm alex-white aliana-love alice-springs alicia-alighatti alicia-monet alicia-rio alicyn-sterling alighiera-olena ali-moore aline-santos alissa-ashley allysin-chaynes alysin-embers alyssa-love alyssa-reece amanda-addams amanda-blake amanda-blue amanda-jane-adams amanda-rae amanda-stone amanda-tyler amber-hunt amberlina-lynn amber-lynn amber-michaels amber-peach amber-wild amber-woods ambrosia-fox amia-miley ami-rodgers amy-allison amy-brooke amy-rose amy-starz anastasia-christ anastasia-sands andrea-adams andrea-brittian andrea-lange andrea-true andy angel angela-baron angela-summers angel-barrett angel-cash angel-cruz angel-cummings angel-ducharme angelica-sin angelika-reschner angelina-brasini angelina-korrs angelina-valentine angel-kelly angel-long angel-west angie-knight anita-andic anita-blond anita-cannibal anita-dark anna-belle anna-malle anna-nikova anna-pierce anna-ventura anna-veruska anne-bie-warburg anne-libert anne-magle anne-sand annette-haven annie-sprinkle ann-kiray ann-marie-michelle antonia-dorian april-flowers april-may april-west arcadia-lake ariana-bali ariana-jollee arlana-blue ashley-anne ashley-brooks ashley-coda ashley-fires ashley-lauren ashley-long ashley-marie ashley-nicole ashley-perk ashley-renee ashley-robbins ashley-welles ashley-wells ashley-winger ashlyn-gere astrid-bone athena-star aubrey-nichols aurora aurora-snow autumn-bliss autumn-rayne ava-devine ava-lauren avalon ava-marteens avy-lee-roth bailey-monroe bambi-allen barbara-bourbon barbara-boutet barbara-dare barbara-doll barbara-moose barbarella barbie-angel barbie-doll barett-moore bea-fiedler beata beatrice-poggi beatrice-valle becky-savage becky-sunshine belinda-butterfield bella-donna bethany-sweet beverly-bliss beverly-glen biggi-stenzhorn bionca black-widow blond-cat blondi blue-angel bobbi-bliss bobbi-dean bobbie-burns bonnie-holiday brandee brandi-edwards brandy-alexandre brandy-dean brandy-lee brandy-smile brandy-wine bree-anthony breezy-lane brenda-basse briana-blair bridgette-belle bridgette-monet bridgette-monroe bridget-waters brigitte-lahaie brigitte-monnin brigitte-verbecq brittany brittany-stryker britt-corvin britt-morgan bronze brooke-bennett brooke-fields brooke-haven brooke-west brook-van-buuren buffy-davis bunnie-blake bunny-bleu bunny-hatton busty-belle cali-caramel calisyn-heart cameo cameron-love camila-sampaio camilla-rhodes camille-morgan camrie-foxxx candace-daley candi candida-royalle candie-evens candi-summers candy-apples candy-barr candy-hill candy-samples candy-stanton cara-lott caressa-savage carmel-nougat carmen-blonde carmen-de-la-torre carmen-moore carmen-rose carol-connors carol-cross carol-cummings carole-dubois carole-gire carole-pierac carol-titian carolyn-connoly carolyn-monroe carrie-cruise cassandra-leigh cassidy cassie-courtland cataline-bullock catherine-count catherine-crystal catherine-ringer catherine-tailleferre cathy-delorme cathy-menard cathy-stewart celeste-fox celine-gallone chanel-preston chanel-price chantal-virapin chanta-rose chantelle-stevens charisma charisma-cole charlie-latour charlie-waters charlotte-de-castille charmane-star chasey-lain chayse-manhattan chaz-vincent chelsea-sinclaire chennin-blanc cheri-janvier cheri-taylor cherry-hill chessie-moore cheyenne-hunter cheyenne-silver china-lee china-leigh china-moon chloe-cruize chloe-dior chloe-kez chloe-stevens chris-collins chris-jordan chris-petersen chrissie-beauchamp christa-abel christa-ludwig christie-ford christi-lake christina-berg christina-blond christina-evol christina-skye christine-black christine-chavert christine-neona christine-rigoler christy-canyon cicciolina cindi-stephens cindy-carver cindy-crawford cindy-more cindy-shepard cindy-wong cinthya-marinho clair-dia claire-robbins claude-janna claudia-jackson claudia-jamsson claudia-mehringer claudia-nero claudia-van-statt claudia-zante claudine-beccarie clea-carson cleo-nichole cleo-patra cody-lane cody-love cody-nicole coffee-brown colleen-brennan connie-bennett connie-peterson constance-money copper-penny coreena corey-everson corinne-lemoine corneliah cory-everson cory-wolf courtney courtney-cummz courtney-james cris-cassidy crissy-moran cris-taliana crystal-breeze crystal-dawn crystal-holland crystal-knight crystal-lake crystal-lovin crystal-sync csilla-kalnay cuban-bee cynara-fox cyndee-summers cynthia-black cynthia-brooks cynthia-hammers cynthia-lavigne dagmar-lost daisy-layne dallas-miko dana-dylan dana-lynn danica-rhea daniela-nanou daniela-schiffer daniele-troeger daniella daniella-schiffer danielle danielle-foxxx danielle-rodgers danny-ricci danyel-cheeks daphne daphne-rosen darby-lloyd-rains darla-crane darla-delovely davia-ardell dayton-rain debbie-northrup debbie-revenge debbie-van-gils debi-diamond debi-jointed debra-lynn deidra-hopkins deidre-holland delania-raffino delia-moore delphine-thail delta-force delta-white demi-moor denice-klarskov denise-derringer denise-dior denise-sloan desiree-cousteau desiree-foxx desiree-lane desiree-west deva-station devin-devasquez devinn-lane devon-shire dia diana-holt diana-kisabonyi diana-siefert diana-stevenson diane-dubois diane-richards diane-sloan diane-suresne dido-angel dillan-lauren dina-deville dina-jewel dina-pearl ditty-blue diva divinity-love djiana dolly-darkley dominique dominique-dewitt dominique-saint-claire donna-hart donna-marie dorle-buchner dorothy-lemay dorothy-onan drea drimla dru-berrymore dusty-rose dyanna-lauren ebony-ayes edina-blond edita-ungerova edwige-faillel eileen-wells elaine-southern elena-berkova elena-maria-ricci eleonore-melzer elisabeth-bure elis-black elise elise-di-medici elle-devyne elle-rio elodie-delage elsa-maroussia elza-brown emili-doll emily-evermoore emily-george emily-jewel emmanuelle-pareze envy-mi erica-boyer erica-eaton erica-havens erica-idol erica-lauren erika-bella erika-cool erika-heaven erika-lockett esme-monroe eva-allen eva-angel eva-dionisio eva-gross eva-kleber eva-lux eva-uettori eve-laurence evelyne-lang evie-delatosso fabiana-venturi faith-stevens fallon fanny-garreau fanny-steel faye-runaway flame flick-shagwell flore-soller flower france-lomay france-quenie francoise frankie-leigh gabriella gabriella-mirelba gabriella-vincze gail-force gail-palmer gail-sterling georgette-saunders georgia-peach georgina-spelvin gia-givanna gianna-lynn gili-sky gina-carrera gina-gianetti gina-janssen gina-lee gina-martell gina-valentino ginger-jay ginger-lee ginger-lynn ginny-noack giovanna gisela-schwarz giselle-monet gladys-laroche gloria-leonard gloria-todd golden-jade greta-carlson greta-milos guia-lauri-filzi gwenda-farnel hare-krane harley-raine hayley-jade hazel-young heather-deeley heather-ellis heather-hart heather-lere heather-lyn heather-manfield heather-thomas heather-torrance heather-wayne heather-young helen-madigan helen-thomas helga-sven helga-wild hillary-summers holly-hollywood holly-joy holly-page holly-ryder honey-winter hottie-hollie hyapatia-lee ida-fabry ildiko-smits illana-moor ines-ridere ingrid-choray isabella-dior isabella-soprano isabelle-allay isabelle-brell isabelle-marchall isobel-wren iveta ivette-blanche jackie-right jacqueline-lorians jacy-allen jada-stevens jade-east jade-hsu jade-marcela jade-summers jade-wong jahn-gold jamie-brooks jamie-james jamie-summers jana-irrova jana-mrazkova jane-baker jane-darling jane-iwanoff jane-lindsay jane-lixx janet-jacme janey-robbins jasmine-delatori jayden-simone jaylyn-rose jayna-woods jazella-moore jazmin-luna-gold jean-afrique jeanette-littledove jeanie-marie-sullivan jean-jennings jeanna-fine jeannie-pepper jenna-jameson jenna-jane jenna-presley jenna-wells jennifer-haussmann jennifer-janes jennifer-jordan jennifer-morante jennifer-noxt jennifer-stewart jennifer-welles jennifer-west jenny jenny-feeling jenny-fields jenny-wings jersey-jaxin jesie-st-james jesse-capelli jessica-bangkok jessica-bogart jessica-darlin jessica-fiorentino jessica-gabriel jessica-laine jessica-may jessica-road jessica-wylde jessi-foster jill-ferari jill-kelly joana-redgrave joan-devlon joanna-storm joanna-sweet jody-maxwell joelle-lequement joelle-petinot johnni-black jordana-james jordan-green jordan-nevaeh jordan-star josephine-carrington joslyn-james julia-chanel julia-dal-fuoco juliana-grandi julia-paes julia-parton julia-perrin julia-swen julia-thomas julie-meadows julie-rage julie-simone juliet-anderson juliet-graham juliette-carelton kacey-jordan kagney-linn-karter kaitlyn-ashley kalena-rios kami-andrews kamila-smith kandee-licks kandi-barbour kapri-styles kara-nox karen-summer kari-foxx karine-gambier karin-schubert karli-sweet karmen-kennedy karol-castro kascha kassi-nova kat kate-frost kate-jones kathia-nobili kathleen-gentry kathleen-white kathy-divan kathy-harcourt kathy-heart kathy-kash katie-cummings katja-love kat-langer katrina-isis katrina-kraven katy-borman katy-caro kaycee-dean kayla-kupcakes kay-parker k-c-valentine keama-kim keira-moon keisha keli-richards kelli-tyler kelly-adams kelly-blue kelly-broox kelly-hearn kelly-kay kelly-kline kelly-nichols kelly-royce kelly-skyline kendra-kay kenzi-marie keri-windsor ketthy-divan kianna-dior kiley-heart kim-alexis kimber-blake kimberly-carson kimberly-kane kimberly-kyle kim-de-place kim-holland kimi-gee kimkim-de kim-kitaine kimmie-lee kimmy-nipples kina-kara kira-eggers kira-red kirsty-waay kitty-langdon kitty-lynxxx kitty-marie kitty-shayne kitty-yung kora-cummings kris-lara krista-lane krista-maze kristara-barrington kristarah-knight kristi-klenot kristina-blonde kristina-king kristina-klevits kristina-soderszk kristine-heller kristin-steen krisztina-ventura krystal-de-boor krystal-steal kylee-karr kylee-nash kylie-brooks kylie-channel kylie-haze kylie-wylde kym-wilde kyoto-sun lachelle-marie lacy-rose lady-amanda-wyldefyre lady-stephanie laetitia-bisset lana-burner lana-cox lana-wood lara-amour lara-roxx lara-stevens lataya-roxx latoya laura-clair laura-lazare laura-lion laura-may laura-orsolya laura-paouck laura-zanzibar lauren-black laurence-boutin lauren-montgomery laurien-dominique laurien-wilde laurie-smith lauryl-canyon lauryn-may leah-wilde lea-magic lea-martini leanna-foxxx lee-caroll leigh-livingston leilani lenora-bruce leslie-winston lesllie-bovee letizia-bruni lexi-lane lexi-matthews lezley-zen lia-fire liliane-gray liliane-lemieuvre lili-marlene lily-gilder lily-labeau lily-rodgers lily-valentine linda-shaw linda-vale linda-wong linnea-quigley lisa-bright lisa-de-leeuw lisa-k-loring lisa-lake lisa-melendez lisa-sue-corey 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maryanne-fisher mary-hubay mary-ramunno mary-stuart mascha-mouton maud-kennedy mauvais-denoir maxine-tyler maya-black maya-france megan-leigh megan-martinez megan-reece mei-ling melanie-hotlips melanie-scott melba-cruz melinda-russell melissa-bonsardo melissa-del-prado melissa-golden melissa-martinez melissa-melendez melissa-monet mercedes-dragon mercedes-lynn merle-michaels mesha-lynn mia-beck mia-lina mia-smiles michele-raven michelle-aston michelle-ferrari michelle-greco michelle-maren michelle-maylene michelle-monroe micki-lynn mika-barthel mika-tan mikki-taylor mimi-morgan mindy-rae ming-toy miranda-stevens miss-bunny miss-meadow miss-pomodoro missy missy-graham missy-stone missy-vega misti-jane mistress-candice misty-anderson misty-dawn misty-rain misty-regan mona-lisa mona-page moni monica-baal monica-swinn monika-peta monika-sandmayr monika-unco monique-bruno monique-cardin monique-charell monique-demoan monique-gabrielle monique-la-belle morgan-fairlane morrigan-hel 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pascale-vital pat-manning pat-rhea patricia-dale patricia-diamond patricia-kennedy patricia-rhomberg patrizia-predan patti-cakes patti-petite paula-brasile paula-harlow paula-morton paula-price paula-winters pauline-teutscher penelope-pumpkins penelope-valentin petra-hermanova petra-lamas peyton-lafferty phaedra-grant pia-snow piper-fawn pipi-anderson porsche-lynn porsha-carrera precious-silver priscillia-lenn purple-passion queeny-love rachel-ashley rachel-love rachel-luv rachel-roxxx rachel-ryan rachel-ryder racquel-darrian rane-revere raven reagan-maddux rebecca-bardoux regan-anthony regine-bardot regula-mertens reina-leone reka-gabor renae-cruz renee-foxx renee-lovins renee-morgan renee-perez renee-summers renee-tiffany rhonda-jo-petty rikki-blake riley-ray rio-mariah rita-ricardo roberta-gemma roberta-pedon robin-byrd robin-cannes robin-everett robin-sane rochell-starr rosa-lee-kimball rosemarie roxanne-blaze roxanne-hall roxanne-rollan ruby-richards sabina-k sabre 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tammy tammy-lee tammy-reynolds tania-lorenzo tantala-ray tanya-danielle tanya-fox tanya-foxx tanya-lawson tanya-valis tara-aire tasha-voux tatjana-belousova tatjana-skomorokhova tawnee-lee tawny-pearl tayla-rox taylor-wane teddi-austin teddi-barrett tera-bond tera-heart tera-joy teresa-may teresa-orlowski teri-diver teri-weigel terri-dolan terri-hall tess-ferre tess-newheart thais-vieira tia-cherry tianna tiara tiffany-blake tiffany-clark tiffany-duponte tiffany-rayne tiffany-rousso tiffany-storm tiffany-towers tiffany-tyler tiger-lily tigr timea-vagvoelgyi tina-blair tina-burner tina-evil tina-gabriel tina-loren tina-marie tina-russell tish-ambrose tommi-rose tonisha-mills topsy-curvey tori-secrets tori-sinclair tori-welles tracey-adams traci-lords traci-topps traci-winn tracy-duzit tracy-love tracy-williams tricia-devereaux tricia-yen trinity-loren trisha-rey trista-post trixie-tyler ultramax ursula-gaussmann ursula-moore uschi-karnat valentina valerie-leveau valery-hilton vanessa-chase vanessa-del-rio vanessa-michaels vanessa-ozdanic vanilla-deville velvet-summers veri-knotty veronica-dol veronica-hart veronica-hill veronica-rayne veronica-sage veronika-vanoza via-paxton vicky-lindsay vicky-vicci victoria-evans victoria-gold victoria-knight victoria-luna victoria-paris victoria-slick victoria-zdrok viper virginie-caprice vivian-valentine vivien-martines wendi-white wendy-divine whitney-banks whitney-fears whitney-wonders wonder-tracey wow-nikki xanthia-berstein yasmine-fitzgerald yelena-shieffer yvonne-green zara-whites zsanett-egerhazi zuzie-boobies

collection dates back to the days of Gustav Vasa in the th century, and has since been expanded with works by artists such as Rembrandt, and Antoine Watteau, as well as constituting a main part of Sweden's art heritage, manifested in the works of Alexander Roslin, Anders Zorn, Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Larsson, Carl Fredrik Hill and Ernst Josephson The Museum of Modern Art, or Moderna Museet, is Sweden's national museum of modern art It has works by famous modern artists such as Picasso and Salvador Dalí Other notable museums Stockholm City Museum Fotografiska, museum of photography Skansen, the archetype of open air museums, inaugurated Nordic Museum, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden Royal Coin Cabinet, dedicated to the history of money The Vasa Museum, now with the reconstruction of the missing parts of the Vasa Ship Swedish Museum of Natural History Art galleries edit Stockholm has a vibrant art scene with a number of internationally recognized art centres and commercial galleries Amongst others privately sponsored initiatives such as Bonniers Konsthall, Magasin , and state supported institutions such as Tensta Konsthall and Index all show leading international and national artists In the last few years a gallery district has emerged around Hudiksvallsgatan where leading galleries such as Andréhn Schiptjenko, Brändström & Stene have located Other important commercial galleries include Nordenhake, Milliken Gallery and Galleri Magnus Karlsson Suburbs edit The Stockholm suburbs are places with diverse cultural background Some areas in the inner suburbs, including those of Skärholmen, Tensta, Jordbro, Fittja, Husby, Brandbergen, Rinkeby, Rissne, Hallonbergen, Kista, Hagsätra, Hässelby, Farsta, Rågsved, Flemingsberg, and the outer suburb of Södertälje, have high percentages of immigrants or second generation immigrants These mainly come from the Middle East Assyrians, Syriacs, Turks and Kurds and former Yugoslavia, but there are also immigrants from Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America citation needed Other parts of the inner suburbs, such as Täby, Danderyd, Lidingö, Flysta and, as well as some of the suburbs mentioned above, have a majority of ethnic Swedes Theatres edit Royal Dramatic Theatre, one of Stockholm's many theatres Distinguished among Stockholm's many theatres are the Royal Dramatic Theatre Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern , one of Europe's most renowned theatres, and the Royal Swedish Opera, inaugurated in Other notable theatres are the Stockholm City Theatre Stockholms stadsteater , the Peoples Opera Folkoperan , the Modern Theatre of Dance Moderna dansteatern , the China Theatre, the Göta Lejon Theatre, the Mosebacke Theatre, and the Oscar Theatre Amusement park edit Gröna Lund is an amusement park located on the island of Djurgården The Amusement park has over attractions and many restaurants It is a popular tourist attraction and visited by thousands of people every day It is open from the end of April to the middle of September Gröna Lund also serves as a concert venue Media edit Bookpublisher, Norstedt Building, seen from Vasabron, in Riddarholmen Stockholm is the media centre of Sweden It has four nationwide daily newspapers and is also the central location of the publicly funded radio SR and television SVT In addition, all other major television channels have their base in Stockholm, such as TV , TV and TV All major magazines are also located to Stockholm, as are the largest literature publisher, the Bonnier group The hit PC game Minecraft was created in Stockholm by Markus 'Notch' Persson in Sports edit Friends Arena, the largest retractable roof multi purpose stadium in Europe, with a capacity of , spectators Stockholm Globe City, contains a number of sport venues, office areas and shopping centres The most popular spectator sports are football and ice hockey The three most popular football clubs in Stockholm are AIK, Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby IF, who all play in the first tier, Allsvenskan AIK play at Sweden's national stadium for football, Friends Arena in Solna, with a capacity of , Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby play at Tele Arena in Johanneshov, with a capacity of , spectators All three clubs have ice hockey teams Djurgården plays in the first tier, AIK in the second and Hammarby in the third tier Historically, the city was the host of the Summer Olympics From those days stem the Stockholms Olympiastadion which has since hosted numerous sports events, notably football and athletics Other major sport arenas are Friends Arena the new national football stadium, Stockholm Globe Arena, a multi sport arena and one of the largest spherical buildings in the world and the nearby indoor arena Hovet Beside the Summer Olympics, Stockholm hosted the Summer Olympics Equestrian Games and the UEFA Euro The city was also second runner up in the Summer Olympics bids Stockholm also hosted all but one of the Nordic Games, a winter multi sport event that predated the Winter Olympics In , the Stockholms Kungar Rugby League club were formed They are Stockholms first Rugby League team and will play in Sweden's National Rugby League championship Cuisine edit There are over restaurants in Stockholm Due to immigration, the city has plenty of restaurants with all kinds of food from all over the world such as American fast food, Asian, Italian, Turkish, French, Greek, Scandinavian, Spanish, and Middle Eastern cuisine Cafeterias and bars are easy to find everywhere in the city As of Stockholm boasts a total of eight Michelin star restaurants, two of which have two stars Stockholm Marathon, on Djurgårdsbron, Yearly events edit Stockholm Jazz Festival is one of Sweden's oldest festivals The festival takes place at Skeppsholmen in July Stockholm Pride is the largest Pride event in the Nordic countries and takes place in the last week of July every year The Stockholm Pride festival always ends with a parade and in , , people marched with the parade and about , watched The Stockholm Marathon takes place on a Saturday in early June each year The Nobel Banquet takes place at Stockholm City Hall every year on December The Stockholm Culture Festival Swe Stockholms kulturfestival is a summer festival held annually around the middle of August The Stockholm Water Festival Swe Vattenfestivalen was a popular summer festival held annually in Stockholm between and Manifestation disambiguation needed a yearly ecumenical Christian festival with up to , participants Summerburst Music festival Environment edit Park on the island of Djurgården in central Stockholm Green city with a national urban park edit Stockholm is one of the cleanest capitals in the world The city was granted the European Green Capital Award by the EU Commission this was Europe’s first green capital Applicant cities were evaluated in several ways climate change, local transport, public green areas, air quality, noise, waste, water consumption, waste water treatment, sustainable utilisation of land, biodiversity and environmental management Out of participant cities, eight finalists were chosen Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bristol, Copenhagen, Freiburg, Hamburg, Münster, and Oslo Some of the reasons why Stockholm won the European Green Capital Award were its integrated administrative system, which ensures that environmental aspects are considered in budgets, operational planning, reporting, and monitoring its cut in carbon dioxide emissions by % per capita in ten years and its decision towards being fossil fuel free by Stockholm has long demonstrated concern for the environment The city’s current environmental program is the fifth since the first one was established in the mid s In , Stockholm passed the title of European Green Capital to Hamburg, Germany Role model edit In the beginning of , Stockholm launched the program Professional Study Visits in order to share the city’s green best practices The program provides visitors with the opportunity to learn how to address issues such as waste management, urban planning, carbon dioxide emissions, and sustainable and efficient transportation system, among others According to the European Cities Monitor , Stockholm is the best city in terms of freedom from pollution Surrounded by nature reserves, Stockholm has around , green spaces, which corresponds to % of the city’s area Founded in , the Royal National City Park is the world’s first legally protected national urban park For a description of the formation process, value assets and implementation of the legal protection of The Royal National Urban Park, see Schantz The water in Stockholm is so clean that people can dive and fish in the centre of the city In fact the waters of downtown Stockholm serve as spawning grounds for multiple fish species including trout and salmon As for carbon dioxide emissions, the government goal is to have only clean vehicles in the city by Transport edit Public transport edit Main article Public transport in Stockholm Greater Stockholm's commuter train Stockholm has an extensive public transport system, one that, by at least one measure, is the most expensive in the world It consists of the Stockholm Metro Tunnelbana two urban rail systems, Roslagsbanan and Saltsjöbanan and a suburban rail system the Stockholm commuter rail pendeltåg , three light rail systems Nockebybanan, Lidingöbanan, and Tvärbanan a tramway Spårväg City a large number of bus lines, and the inner city boat line Djurgårdsfärjan All the land based public transport in Stockholm County, except the airport buses trains, is organized by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik SL , with the operation and maintenance of the public transport services delegated to several contractors, such as MTR who operate the metro and Veolia Transport who operate the suburban railways except for the commuter rail The archipelago boat traffic is handled by Waxholmsbolaget Near geographically accurate map of the Stockholm Metro It has stations and a total system length of km mi which makes it one of the longest metro networks in Europe SL has a common ticket system in the entire Stockholm County, which allows for easy travel between different modes of transport The tickets are of two main types, single ticket and travel cards, both allowing for unlimited travel with SL in the entire Stockholm County for the duration of the ticket validity Starting April , a new zone system A, B, C and price system applies for single tickets Single tickets are now available in forms of cash ticket, individual unit pre paid tickets, pre paid ticket slips of , sms ticket and machine ticket Cash tickets bought at the point of travel are the most expensive and pre paid tickets slips of are the cheapest A single ticket is valid for one hour The duration of the travel card validity depends on the exact type they are available from hours up to a year A day card costs SEK EUR USD Tickets of all these types are available with reduced prices for persons under and over years of age The City Line Project, or The Green Tunnel edit Main article Stockholm City Line With an estimated cost of SEK billion January price level , which equals billion US dollars, the City Line, an environmentally certified project, comprises a km mi long commuter train tunnel in rock and water beneath Stockholm, with two new stations Stockholm City and Stockholm Odenplan , and a km mi long railway bridge at Årsta The City Line is being built by the Swedish Transport Administration in co operation with the City of Stockholm, Stockholm County Council, and Stockholm Transport, SL As Stockholm Central Station is overloaded, the purpose of this project is to double the city’s track capacity and improve service efficiency Operations are scheduled to begin in Between Riddarholmen and Söder Mälarstrand, the City Line will run through a submerged concrete tunnel As a green project, the City Line includes the purification of waste water noise reduction through sound attenuating tracks the use of synthetic diesel, which provides users with clean air and the recycling of excavated rocks Roads edit Stockholm is at the junction of the European routes E , E and E A half completed motorway ring road exists on the south and west sides of the City Centre A north section of the ring road will open for traffic in while the final subsea eastern section is being discussed as a future project A bypass motorway for traffic between Northern and Southern Sweden will be built west of Stockholm The many islands and waterways make extensions of the road system both complicated and expensive, and new motorways are often built as systems of tunnels and bridges Congestion charges edit Main article Stockholm congestion tax Stockholm has a congestion pricing system, Stockholm congestion tax, in use on a permanent basis since August , after having had a seven month trial period in the first half of The City Centre is within the congestion tax zone All the entrances and exits of this area have unmanned control points operating with automatic number plate recognition All vehicles entering or exiting the congestion tax affected area, with a few exceptions, have to pay – SEK – EUR, – USD depending on the time of day between and The maximum tax amount per vehicle per day is SEK EUR, Payment is done by various means within days after one has passed one of the control points one cannot pay at the control points After the trial period was over, consultative referendums were held in Stockholm Municipality and several other municipalities in Stockholm County The then reigning government cabinet Persson stated that they would only take into consideration the results of the referendum in Stockholm Municipality The opposition parties Alliance for Sweden stated that they were to form a cabinet after the general election—which was held the same day as the congestion tax referendums—they would take into consideration the referendums held in several of the other municipalities as well The results of the referendums were that the Stockholm Municipality voted for the congestion tax, but all the other municipalities voted against it The opposition parties won the general election and a few days before they formed government cabinet Reinfeldt they announced that the congestion tax would be reintroduced in Stockholm, but that the revenue would go entirely to road construction in and around Stockholm During the trial period and according to the agenda of the previous government the revenue went entirely to public transport Ferries edit Stockholm has regular ferry lines to Helsinki and Turku in Finland commonly called Finlandsfärjan Tallinn, Estonia Riga, Latvia, Åland islands and to Saint Petersburg The large Stockholm archipelago is served by the Waxholmsbolaget archipelago boats City bikes edit Between April and October, during the warmer months, it is possible to rent Stockholm City Bikes by purchasing a bike card online or through retailers Cards allow users to rent bikes from any Stockholm City Bikes stand spread across the city and return them in any stand There are two types of cards the Season Card valid from April to October and the day card When their validity runs out they can be reactivated and are therefore reusable Bikes can be used for up to three hours per loan and can be rented from Monday to Sunday from am to pm Airports edit Venice of the North Steenwijk is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland It is the largest town of the municipality Steenwijk received city rights in In the Eighty Years' War – it was conquered by the Spaniards in , but regained by the Dutch in Steenwijk was a separate municipality until , when it merged with Brederwiede and IJsselham The new municipality was first named Steenwijk , but was renamed in to Steenwijkerland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The term Venice of the North refers to various cities in northern Europe that contain canals, comparing them to Venice, Italy, which is renowned for its canals see Grand Canal Amsterdam Birmingham Giethoorn Dutch pronunciation '?it?o?rn is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, about km southwest of Steenwijk Contents hide The Eighty Years' War or Dutch War of Independence – was a revolt of the Seventeen Provinces against the political and religious hegemony of Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands After the initial stages, Philip II deployed his armies and regained control over most of the rebelling provinces However, under the leadership of the exiled William the Silent, the northern provinces continued their resistance and managed to oust the Habsburg armies and, in , established the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands The war continued in other areas, although the heartland of the republic was no longer threatened After a year truce, hostilities broke out again around which can be said to coincide with the Thirty Years' War An end was reached in with the Peace of Münster a treaty part of the Peace of Westphalia , when the Dutch Republic was recognised as an independent country Contents hide Causes of the war Prelude First forty years – Twelve Years' Truce Resumption of the war Dutch intervention in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War – The Republic under siege – The Republic sallies forth – Franco Dutch Alliance – Endgame – The Peace of Münster Aftermath New border between North and South Political situation Maps of the shifting front of the war See also References Sources External links Causes of the war edit In the decades preceding the war, the Dutch had become increasingly discontented with Habsburg rule A major cause of this discontent was the heavy level of taxation imposed on the population, while support and guidance from the government was hampered by the size of the Habsburg empire At that time, the Seventeen Provinces were known in the empire as De landen van herwaarts over and in French as Les pays de par deça those lands around there In practice, this meant that the Dutch provinces were being continually criticised for acting without permission from the throne, while it was impractical for them to try to gain permission for actions, as requests sent to the throne would take at least four weeks for a response to return This unrest was further amplified by the presence of Spanish troops brought in to oversee order citation needed Spain also attempted a policy of strict religious uniformity for the Catholic Church within its domains, and enforced it with the Inquisition The Reformation meanwhile produced a number of Protestant denominations, which gained followers in the Seventeen Provinces These included the Lutheran movement of Martin Luther, the Anabaptist movement of the Dutch reformer Menno Simons, and the Reformed teachings of John Calvin This growth would lead to the Beeldenstorm, the Iconoclastic Fury of which had seen many churches in northern Europe stripped of their Catholic statuary and religious decoration Prelude edit Main article Causes of the Dutch revolt In October , Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire began the gradual abdication of his several crowns His son Philip II took over as sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands, which at the time was a personal union of seventeen provinces with little in common beyond their sovereign and a constitutional framework This framework, assembled during the preceding reigns of Burgundian and Habsburg rulers, divided power between city governments, local nobility, provincial States, royal stadtholders, the States General of the Netherlands, and the central government possibly represented by a Regent assisted by three councils the Council of State, the Privy Council and the Council of Finances The balance of power was heavily weighted toward the local and regional governments Philip II of Spain berating William the Silent Prince of Orange by Cornelis Kruseman, painting from th century This scene was purported to have happened on the dock in Flushing when Philip departed the Netherlands Philip did not govern in person but appointed Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy as governor general to lead the central government In he appointed his half sister Margaret of Parma as the first Regent, who governed in close co operation with Netherlandish nobles like William, Prince of Orange, Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, and Lamoral, Count of Egmont Philip introduced a number of councillors in the Council of State, foremost among these Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, a French born cardinal who gained considerable influence in the Council, much to the chagrin of the Dutch council members When Philip left for Spain in political tension was increased by religious policies Not having the liberal mindedness of his father Charles V, Philip was a fervent enemy of the Protestant movements of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Anabaptists Charles had outlawed heresy in special placards that made it a capital offence, to be prosecuted by a Netherlandish version of the Inquisition, leading to the executions of over , people between and Towards the end of Charles' reign enforcement had reportedly become lax Philip, however, insisted on rigorous enforcement, which caused widespread unrest To support and strengthen the attempts at Counter Reformation Philip launched a wholesale organisational reform of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands in , which resulted in the inclusion of fourteen dioceses instead of the old three The new hierarchy was to be headed by Granvelle as archbishop of the new archdiocese of Mechelen The reform was especially unpopular with the old church hierarchy, as the new dioceses were to be financed by the transfer of a number of rich abbeys Granvelle became the focus of the opposition against the new governmental structures and the Dutch nobles under the leadership of Orange engineered his recall in After the recall of Granvelle, Orange persuaded Margaret and the Council to ask for a moderation of the placards against heresy Philip delayed his response, and in this interval the opposition to his religious policies gained more widespread support Philip finally rejected the request for moderation in his Letters from the Segovia Woods of October In response, a group of members of the lesser nobility, among whom were Louis of Nassau, a younger brother of Orange, and the brothers John and Philip of St Aldegonde, prepared a petition for Philip that sought the abolition of the Inquisition This Compromise of Nobles was supported by about nobles, both Catholic and Protestant, and was presented to Margaret on April Impressed by the massive support for the compromise, she suspended the placards, awaiting Philip's final ruling First forty years – edit Main articles Eighty Years' War – and Dutch Revolt icon This section requires expansion April Twelve Years' Truce edit Main articles Twelve Years' Truce and Synod of Dort The cost of fortress building and the upkeep of the large standing armies put both Spain and the Republic under severe fiscal strain Also because of the slump in trade that was caused by the efficient trade embargo since and Spanish privateering, the Dutch regents estimated that they could not safely increase the already heavy burden of taxation The Spanish offensive from to , taking Ostend, Oldenzaal, Lochem, Lingen, Rijnberk and Groenlo, further increased the pressure In September , Oldenbarnevelt therefore urged the States of Holland to seek an accommodation with Spain This met with a surprisingly favourable reception from Spain, as Philip III and the Duke of Lerma had already resolved to concede sovereignty, if that proved inevitable to halt the war What prompted them to this concession was the inroads that the Dutch East India Company or VOC , that had been chartered by the States General in , had been making in the Portuguese empire's sphere of influence in the East Indies After all, since there had been a union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal The conquest of a number of Portuguese possessions in Ambon, Ternate and Tidore in by the VOC caused such consternation that a Spanish presence was quickly established to counterbalance Dutch gains Philip wanted this stopped, and Oldenbarnevelt seemed initially amenable to suggestions that the VOC be suppressed and another project to charter a similar Dutch company for the Americas be aborted On instructions from Madrid, therefore the Archdukes secretly declared in March that they were willing to negotiate a peace with the States General, as representatives of free lands over which they made no claim A ceasefire in the Netherlands was signed in April However, the negotiations were almost aborted immediately when it was discovered that the Dutch had made no concessions in writing in the armistice agreement, and it therefore appeared that Spain had conceded a major point without obtaining anything in return, which was seen as a major humiliation for the Crown About the same time the news was received of a major defeat a Dutch fleet under admiral Jacob van Heemskerk had dealt the Spanish navy in the Battle of Gibraltar of April The Spanish indignation grew even more, when it transpired that Oldenbarnevelt's verbal undertakings to suppress the VOC proved worthless, as he simply could not deliver on such a promise in view of the political situation in the Republic This apparent deception put paid to the prospects of a permanent peace, so the only feasible outcome of the negotiations might be a truce of limited duration Oldenbarnevelt's peace initiatives met with stringent opposition from Maurice, Amsterdam, and Zeeland for different reasons Zeeland, for instance, was making good money in the trade with the enemy across the blockaded Scheldt, and stood to lose from a truce during which trade relations would be normalised The opposition engaged in a lively pamphlet war to influence public opinion, but Oldenbarnevelt managed to persuade the Holland regents He pointed out that a truce would lessen the fiscal pressures help revive Dutch commerce with the Iberian Peninsula, which had by default fallen almost exclusively into English hands, after the peace James I of England concluded in with Spain and free the hands of the Dutch elsewhere in Europe as in the Sound where Denmark at the time was hindering the Dutch Baltic trade to defend their commercial interests by force if necessary He argued also that the loss of trade with the Indies would be outweighed by the positive effects on European trade of a lifting of the embargoes Spain now offered a truce with a duration of twelve years, provided the Republic would grant freedom of worship for Catholics Again, Oldenbarnevelt had to refuse this concession as the political situation in the Republic made that impossible He was able to offer a short truce until in the Indies, and the suppression of the proposed Dutch West India Company for the time being Philip grudgingly accepted and the Truce was signed at Antwerp on April , marking the official recognition by Spain of the Republic as a diplomatic entity as if it were a sovereign state The Dutch Revolt had officially ended The immediate result for the Republic was that it was now also officially recognised by other European states as a sovereign nation In France and England received Dutch resident ambassadors, and soon after diplomatic relations were opened with the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Morocco, and the Ottoman Porte Diplomatic recognition also enabled the Republic to start building a network of consulates across Europe But the Republic felt free in its relations with other European powers, as when it forced James I to back down in a conflict over English unfinished cloth in with an economic boycott The Truce also had negative effects Dutch long distance trade to the Indies and the Americas suffered, because the Spanish and Portuguese colonialists were given a respite to improve their defences overseas The official embargo on trade with the Americas had ended, but the colonists now imposed their own unofficial one, limiting Dutch trade with Caracas and the Amazon region Temporary setbacks in the Indies caused the price of VOC shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange to fall from a high of in to after the Truce started The Zeeland transit traffic to the Southern Netherlands declined sharply On the other hand, the lifting of the Dutch blockade of Antwerp and the Flemish coast helped revive the trade in Flemish textile products, just as the Flemish textile industry experienced a revival itself This worked to the detriment of the recently booming Dutch textile industry Wages of predominantly former Flemish textile workers in cities like Leiden plummeted as a result The political unrest this economic downturn caused, helped aggravate the political crisis that the Oldenbarnevelt regime faced during the latter part of the Truce This crisis followed from dissension about the religious policy of the Holland regents, but became conflated with the monarchical aspirations of the stadtholders, especially Maurice Everybody in Dutch Calvinist circles of whatever hue agreed that the True Religion should be supported by the State Local authorities therefore paid for the upkeep of the churches of the Dutch Reformed Church, the only officially recognised religion since the States of Holland had prohibited other kinds of worship in , and for the Livings of its preachers and schoolmasters This meant that the church was a Public Church In a theological quarrel developed between two Leiden professors, Jacobus Arminius and Franciscus Gomarus The result of the argument was that outsiders who started to take sides, and that this led to often physical abuse by, and of, the contestants The partisans of Arminius therefore addressed the Five articles of Remonstrance to the States of Holland, in which they exposited their viewpoints on Calvinist doctrine, and asked the States to take a standpoint To help the States decide a disputation between two six man teams of Arminians and Gomarists was held before the States in July , in which the Gomarists presented a Counter Remonstrance , in which they gave their arguments against the Remonstrants' doctrinal position, at the same time asking the States to back off, and leave the matter to a National Synod Unfortunately, the States did not take this sensible suggestion possibly because they suspected that such a Synod would result in the condemnation of the Remonstrants as heretics on a majority vote, a result they wanted to avoid While the States of Holland were dithering about a decision, unrest about the quarrel began to spread around the Republic, disturbing the public peace and causing political problems in that the regents began to take sides, often in favour of the Remonstrants, whereas the common people, incited by the dominees, often opted for the Counter Remonstrant viewpoint The eminent Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius, after a visit to England in an abortive effort to dissuade James I from intervening in the quarrel, came up with what he viewed as a solution In his view, a public church must of necessity be a big tent that would accommodate as many believers as possible He believed that this was the case in the Church of England that allowed all kinds of doctrinal variations under its wing, from crypto Catholics to Puritans The Dutch partisans like the Puritans , however, envisaged a church of pure believers themselves , in which there would be no place for unbelievers , like their opponents To achieve Grotius' lofty ideal it would be necessary to tone down the doctrinal differences, affording toleration of different viewpoints, except in relation to the most basic tenets of the Christian faith like belief in the Trinity that everybody would accept he therefore drew the line at Socinianism Disagreements about less basic tenets, like the ones that divided Remonstrants and Counter Remonstrants, should be left to an individual's conscience in accordance with the freedom of conscience enshrined in the Union of Utrecht Grotius knew full well that neither party was ready to concede this and he therefore proposed to legislate his proposal in the form of a States of Holland resolution that would, up to a point, curtail freedom of expression i e the freedom to hurl anathemas at ones opponents in such a way as to restore public order The resolution would define matters that would be open to debate, and matters that would not be Preachers who would defy the States in this matter could then be disciplined by the authorities, if need be by depriving them of their Livings Oldenbarnevelt supported Grotius in this policy though it could be seen as an assault on the autonomy of the Public Church and together they managed to drive the placard through in against opposition from many sides Initially, and superficially, the policy seemed to work, but eventually it ended in the ruin of the Oldenbarnevelt regime This was due to the following factors First, Oldenbarnevelt failed in maintaining unity on his policy in the States of Holland Amsterdam opposed him , and thereby weakened the hegemonic position of Holland in the Republic as a whole Secondly, though the States put their thumb in the scales in favour of the Remonstrants with this policy as those, being a minority, were in danger of being driven out of the public church , the Counter Remonstrants maintained their strength among dominees and schoolmasters, and so indirectly among the common people Finally, the social unrest as a consequence of deteriorating economic circumstances for the staunchly strict Calvinist ex Flemish labourers who opted en masse for the Counter Remonstrants destabilised the State in – Mob violence in many Holland and Utrecht cities against Remonstrant regents ensued The federal garrisons and civic militias refused to intervene to protect the regents a pattern we also observe at the end of the First and Second Stadtholderless Periods, when likewise States Party regimes were overturned The Remonstrant regents now felt so threatened that they resorted to the desperate measure of the so called Sharp Resolution of the States of Holland of August , which authorised city governments to raise mercenary troops, called waardgelders, outside the federal army or civic militias, to maintain public order This drew an immediate protest from Maurice and from the other provinces on constitutional grounds They asserted that the Union of Utrecht prohibited the raising of troops by individual cities without consent from the States General Even more threatening to the federal supremacy had been the provision in the Sharp Resolution that asserted that units in the federal army paid for the account of Holland owed their primary allegiance to that province This was a restatement of Holland's old constitutional position that the provinces were supremely sovereign, and the Union no more than a confederation of sovereign provinces Maurice, and the other provinces except Utrecht , now claimed that the States General possessed an overriding sovereignty in matters of common defence and foreign policy Disarming the waardgelders in Utrecht, July , by Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot Many expected a military coup after the cities of Leiden and Utrecht actually raised corps of waardgelders and used them to purge the civic militias of Counter Remonstrant sympathizers Maurice proceeded cautiously, however, preferring to undermine the political support of the Oldenbarnevelt regime in Holland A revolutionary situation developed in a number of cities in Holland where Remonstrant town councils were overturned by popular intervention To counter this, the Remonstrant regents proposed in January to withhold part of Holland's contribution to the Generality budget and use the money to raise more waardgelder companies Maurice now mobilised the support of the five provinces opposing Holland and Utrecht for a States General resolution disbanding the waardgelders This was voted through on July , with five votes to two, Holland and Utrecht opposing Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius, in desperation, now overplayed their hand appealing to the requirement for unanimity in the Union treaty, they sent a delegation to the federal troops in Utrecht that were supposed to disarm the waardgelders in that city with instructions that their first allegiance was to the province that paid them, and that they were to ignore instructions by the stadtholder in case of conflict This intervention was construed by their opponents as treason Prince Maurice now brought up additional federal troops to Utrecht and started to disarm the waardgelders there on July There was no resistance The political opposition to his actions imploded as Oldenbarnevelt's Utrecht ally, Gilles van Ledenberg, advocaat of the Utrecht States, fled to Holland Perceiving that resistance was useless, Oldenbarnevelt and his Remonstrant allies now capitulated Leiden disbanded its waardgelders voluntarily in August, and Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius acquiesced in the convening of a National Synod to arbitrate the Arminian controversy On August , however, the States General passed a secret resolution to authorise Maurice to arrest Oldenbarnevelt, Grotius, Ledenberg and Rombout Hogerbeets This was justified with an appeal to the asserted residual sovereignty of the States General that overrode that of the States of Holland After the arrest these leaders of the Oldenbarnevelt regime were indicted for high treason and brought before an ad hoc tribunal consisting mostly of opponents of the accused The trial took a long time Meanwhile, Maurice proceeded to purge the Holland ridderschap and the vroedschappen of a number of cities that had been governed by Remonstrant regents up to then He replaced the old regents with adherents of the Counter Remonstrant faction, often nouveau riche merchants that had little experience in government affairs These purges constituted a political revolution and ensured that his Orangist regime would be securely in charge of the Republic for the next years Henceforth the stadtholder, not the Advocate of Holland, would direct the affairs of the Republic, mainly through his parliamentary managers in the Holland ridderschap The Holland leadership was emasculated by making sure that the position of Grand Pensionary would henceforth be filled by a succession of mediocre, incompetent and pliable Orangists, at least up to the appointment of Johan de Witt in Meanwhile the National Synod was convened in the city of Dordrecht in November The deliberations of this august body progressed slowly Only in the Spring of did it get around to condemning the Remonstrants for heresy, and casting them out of the Public Church A more lasting accomplishment of the Synod was that it commissioned an authorized translation of the Bible in Dutch, a language that the translators had to make up from Hollandic, Brabantish and Flemish elements the translations therefore contributed mightily to the unification of the Dutch language The trial of Oldenbarnevelt cum suis ended soon afterwards In view of the composition of the tribunal the result was a foregone conclusion, even though the defendants put up a spirited defence After all, they were the most eminent jurists in the Republic The defence primarily rejected the competence of the court and furthermore claimed that treason against the Generality was not possible, because the federal state did not exist apart from the sovereign provinces The court rejected the latter argument, claiming that in actuality sovereignty was divided between the Generality and the provinces In its view, the Sharp Resolution contravened the Union of Utrecht and could therefore be construed as high treason However, as an illustration of the muddled procedures , when Oldenbarnevelt was convicted on May , it was not of this high treason, but of a contrived charge of conniving with Spain This Oldenbarnevelt kept denying till his last breath, when he was beheaded the next day He refused to ask for mercy, to Maurice's annoyance, and he received none, despite the fact that Maurice's stepmother Louise de Coligny, and the French ambassador pleaded for Oldenbarnevelt's life Ledenberg equally received a death sentence, but committed suicide Hogerbeets and Grotius were sentenced to life imprisonment Resumption of the war edit Dutch intervention in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War – edit Main article Thirty Years' War It is impossible to know whether the course of history would have been different without the overthrow of the Oldenbarnevelt regime and the judicial murder of the old statesman editorializing However, it is true that Oldenbarnevelt's diplomatic acumen and his restraint were sorely missed in the following months and years when the new Dutch regime became embroiled in a dangerous military adventure in the Holy Roman Empire citation needed Oldenbarnevelt had no ambition to have the Republic become the leading power of Protestant Europe, and he had shown admirable restraint when, in , the Republic had felt constrained to intervene militarily in the Jülich Cleves crisis opposite Spain Though there had been a danger of armed conflict between the Spanish and Dutch forces involved in the crisis, both sides took care to avoid each other, respecting each other's spheres of influence The new regime in The Hague felt differently, however While civil war was avoided in the Republic, a civil war did start in the Bohemian Kingdom with the Second defenestration of Prague on May The Bohemian insurgents were now pitted against their king, Ferdinand, who would soon succeed his uncle Matthias the former States General governor general of the Netherlands as Holy Roman Emperor They cast about for support in this struggle and on the Protestant side only the Republic was able and willing to provide it This took the form of support for Frederick V, Elector Palatine, a nephew of Prince Maurice and a son in law of James I, when Frederick accepted the Crown of Bohemia the insurgents offered him he was crowned on November His father in law had sought to restrain him from doing this, warning that he could not count on English aid, but Maurice encouraged him in every way, providing a large subsidy and promising Dutch armed assistance The Dutch had therefore a large role in precipitating the Thirty Years' War Maurice's motivation was the desire to manoeuvre the Republic in a better position in case the war with Spain would resume after

the expiration of the Truce in It was not a foregone conclusion that the Truce would not be renewed, but it had become less likely, as both in Spain and in the Republic more hard line factions had come to power Though civil war had been avoided in the Republic, national unity had been bought with much bitterness on the losing Remonstrant side, and Maurice for the moment had to garrison several former Remonstrant dominated cities to guard against insurrection This encouraged the Spanish government, perceiving internal weakness in the Republic, to choose a bolder policy in the Bohemian question than they otherwise might have done The Bohemian war therefore soon degenerated into a proxy war between Spain and the Republic Even after the Battle of White Mountain of November , which ended disastrously for the Protestant army one eighth of which was in the Dutch pay , the Dutch continued to support Frederick militarily, both in Bohemia and in the Palatinate Maurice also provided diplomatic support, pressing both the Protestant German princes and James I to come to Frederick's aid When James sent , English troops in September , those were armed and transported by the Dutch, and their advance covered by a Dutch cavalry column Detail from a pamphlet about the Winter King In the end the Dutch intervention was in vain After just a few months, Frederick and his wife Elizabeth fled into exile at The Hague, where they became known as the Winter King and Queen for their brief reign Maurice pressed Frederick in vain to at least defend the Palatinate against the Spanish troops under Spinola and Tilly This round of the war went to Spain and the Imperial forces in Germany James held this against Maurice for his incitement of the losing side with promises that he could not keep There was continual contact between Maurice and the government in Brussels during and regarding a possible renewal of the Truce Albert was in favour of it, especially after Maurice falsely gave him the impression that a peace would be possible on the basis of a token recognition by the Republic of the sovereignty of the king of Spain When Albert sent the chancellor of Brabant, Petrus Peckius, to The Hague to negotiate with the States General on this basis, he fell into this trap and innocently started talking about this recognition, instantly alienating his hosts Nothing was as certain to unite the northern provinces as the suggestion that they should abandon their hard fought sovereignty If this incident had not come up, the negotiations might well have been successful as a number of the provinces were amenable to simply renewing the Truce on the old terms Now the formal negotiations were broken off, however, and Maurice was authorised to conduct further negotiations in secret His attempts to get a better deal met with counter demands from the new Spanish government for more substantive Dutch concessions, however The Spaniards demanded Dutch evacuation of the West and East Indies lifting of the restrictions on Antwerp's trade by way of the Scheldt and toleration of the public practice of the Catholic religion in the Republic These demands were unacceptable to Maurice and the Truce expired in April The war did not immediately resume, however Maurice continued sending secret offers to Isabella after Albert had died in July through the intermediary of the Flemish painter and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens Though the contents of these offers which amounted to a version of the concessions demanded by Spain were not known in the Republic, the fact of the secret negotiations became known, and disquieted the proponents of restarting the war, like the investors in the Dutch West India Company, that after a long delay was now finally about to be founded with as a main objective bringing the war to the Spanish Americas Opposition against the peace feelers therefore mounted, and nothing came of them The Republic under siege – edit Another reason the war did not immediately resume was that king Philip III died shortly before the Truce ended He was succeeded by his year old son Philip IV, and the new government under Gaspar de Guzmán, Count Duke of Olivares had to get settled The view in the Spanish government was that the Truce had been ruinous to Spain in an economic sense In this view the Truce had enabled the Dutch to gain very unequal advantages in the trade with the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean, owing to their mercantile prowess On the other hand, the continued blockade of Antwerp had contributed to that city's steep decline in importance hence the demand for the lifting of the closing of the Scheldt The shift in the terms of trade between Spain and the Republic had resulted in a permanent trade deficit for Spain, that naturally translated itself into a drain of Spanish silver to the Republic The Truce had also given a further impetus to the Dutch penetration of the East Indies, and in a naval expedition under Joris van Spilbergen had raided the West Coast of Spanish South America Spain felt threatened by these incursions and wanted to put a stop to them Finally, the economic advantages had given the Republic the financial wherewithal to build a large navy during the Truce, and enlarge its standing army to a size where it could rival the Spanish military might This increased military power appeared to be directed principally to thwart Spain's policy objectives, as witnessed by the Dutch interventions in Germany in and , and the Dutch alliance with the enemies of Spain in the Mediterranean, like Venice and the Sultan of Morocco The three conditions Spain had set for a continuation of the Truce had been intended to remedy these disadvantages of the Truce the demand for freedom of worship for Catholics being made as a matter of principle, but also to mobilise the still sizeable Catholic minority in the Republic and so destabilise it politically Siege of Breda by Jacques Callot Despite the unfortunate impression the opening speech of chancellor Peckius had made at the negotiations about the renewal of the Truce, the objective of Spain and the regime in Brussels was not a war of reconquest of the Republic Instead the options considered in Madrid were either a limited exercise of the force of weapons, to capture a few of the strategic points the republic had recently acquired like Cleves , combined with measures of economic warfare, or reliance on economic warfare alone In the event Spain opted for the first alternative Immediately after the expiration of the Truce in April , all Dutch ships were ordered out of Spanish ports and the stringent trade embargoes of before were renewed After an interval to rebuild the strength of the Army of Flanders, Spinola opened a number of land offensives, in which he captured the fortress of Jülich garrisoned by the Dutch since in , and Steenbergen in Brabant, before laying siege to the important fortress city of Bergen op Zoom This proved a costly fiasco as Spinola's besieging army of , melted away through disease and desertion He therefore had to lift the siege after a few months The strategic import of this humiliating experience was that the Spanish government now concluded that besieging the strong Dutch fortresses was a waste of time and money and decided to henceforth solely depend on the economic warfare weapon The subsequent success of Spinola's siege of Breda did not change this decision, and Spain adopted a defensive stance militarily in the Netherlands However, the economic warfare was intensified in a way that amounted to a veritable siege of the Republic as a whole In the first place, the naval war intensified The Spanish navy harassed Dutch shipping that had to sail through the Strait of Gibraltar to Italy and the Levant, thereby forcing the Dutch to sail in convoys with naval escorts The cost of this was born by the merchants in the form of a special tax, used to finance the Dutch navy, but this increased the shipping rates the Dutch had to charge,and their maritime insurance premiums also were higher, thus making Dutch shipping less competitive Spain also increased the presence of its navy in Dutch home waters, in the form of the armada of Flanders, and the great number of privateers, the Dunkirkers, both based in the Southern Netherlands Though these Spanish naval forces were not strong enough to contest Dutch naval supremacy, Spain waged a very successful Guerre de Course, especially against the Dutch herring fisheries, despite attempts by the Dutch to blockade the Flemish coast Main article Economic history of the Netherlands – The herring trade, an important pillar of the Dutch economy, was hurt much by the other Spanish forms of economic warfare, the embargo on salt for preserving herring, and the blockade of the inland waterways to the Dutch hinterland, which were an important transportation route for Dutch transit trade The Dutch were used to procuring their salt from Portugal and the Caribbean islands Alternative salt supplies were available from France, but the French salt had a high magnesium content, which made it less suitable for herring preservation When the supplies in the Spanish sphere of influence were cut off, the Dutch economy was therefore dealt a heavy blow The salt embargo was just a part of the more general embargo on Dutch shipping and trade that Spain instituted after The bite of this embargo grew only gradually, because the Dutch at first tried to evade it by putting their trade in neutral bottoms, like the ships of the Hanseatic League and England Spanish merchants tried to