The Flower Kings, and Beardfish Progg edit Main article Progg During the s, the progg movement gained popularity Progg, originally an abbreviation of progressiv musik progressive music , was an umbrella term for much of the alternative music of this era Some of those artists were progressive in a musical sense, such as Bo Hansson, Samla Mammas Manna and Träd, Gräs och Stenar Others were progressive mainly in a political usually left wing and lyrical sense, such as Nationalteatern, Blå Tåget and Hoola Bandoola Band One of the most unique progressive music artists in Sweden has been Avant Garde songstress iamamiwhoami Electronic music edit Electronic music in Sweden has been heavily influenced by German electronic music In the synth world, the band S P O C K has been active since the late s One of the most recent bands from Sweden is The Knife, as is Sally Shapiro, which is the pseudonym of producer Johan Agebjörn and a Swedish singer More recently, the Swedish House Mafia including Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Axwell have topped the house music charts and DJ top s around the world In , the Swedish artist Tim Bergling Avicii was voted the th best DJ in the world in the Top DJ poll Other similar artists of note are John Dahlbäck, Eric Prydz, Nause, Albin Myers, the duo Dada Life, Adrian Lux, Basshunter, Otto Knows, Alesso, Rebecca & Fiona, Cazzette, Jakob Liedholm, Sebjak, Icona Pop, Steerner, Will & Dan and Tjernberg The trio Swedish House Mafia is by far the most popular electronic music group from Sweden In the mid to late s Swedish language Eurodance & Eurotrance dance music became internationally popular Most noticeably because In , Basshunter became popular with his eurotrance dance songs, based on long standing themes set in mid to late s computer centric culture Little Dragon is also Swedish There are many techno producers from Sweden, though they are often better known internationally than within Sweden There is even a special Swedish subgenre of techno, the most well known producer within this genre being Adam Beyer head of the Drumcode label with notable artist such as Cari Lekebusch, Joel Mull, Henrik B etc Another well known producer duo is Minilogue which has gained lots of attention worldwide, especially with their release Animals in In addition, Sweden is one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to chiptunes, or bitpop Chip music is music made to run on old game consoles and specialized PCs, like the Amiga, Commodore , or Game Boy The Swedish music scene is led by artists like Slagsmålsklubben, Crazy Q, Coma, Covox, Dubmood, Goto , Maktone, Random, Role Model, Lowe, Zabutom, The Knife, Zeigeist and Machinae Supremacy Elektronmusikstudion EMS , formerly known as Electroacoustic Music in Sweden, is the Swedish national centre for electronic music and sound art The research organisation started in and is based in Stockholm Success in the United States edit During their active career, from to , ABBA placed twenty singles on the Billboard Hot fourteen of which made the top on the

Cashbox Top and ten of which made the Top on both charts A total of four of those singles reached the Top , including Dancing Queen which reached number one in April While Fernando and SOS did not break the Top on the Billboard Hot chart, reaching number and respectively, they did reach the Top on Cashbox Fernando and Record World SOS charts Both Dancing Queen and Take A Chance On Me were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies each The group also had Top singles on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart with two of them, Fernando and The Winner Takes It All , reaching number one Lay All Your Love on Me was ABBA's fourth number one single on a Billboard chart, topping the Hot Dance Club Play chart The singles Dancing Queen and Take a Chance on Me were certified gold more than million copies sold by the RIAA Nine ABBA albums made their way into the top half of the Billboard album chart, with seven of them reaching the Top and four reaching the Top ABBA The Album was the highest charting album of the group's career, peaking at No Five albums received RIAA gold certification more than , copies sold , while three acquired platinum status selling more than one million copies In , the ABBA Gold Greatest Hits collection was released in the United States and has since become a seven time platinum best seller it climbed to number one on the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart and also peaked at number on Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart On March , ABBA was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bee Gees members Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb The ceremony was held at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City The group was represented by Anni Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson ABBA related tributes edit Abbacadabra – A French children's musical based on songs from ABBA Abbaesque – An Irish ABBA tribute band Abba esque – Erasure's EP ABBAmania – An ITV programme and tribute album to Swedish pop band ABBA released in Abbasalutely – A compilation album released in as a tribute album to ABBA A*Teens – A pop music group from Stockholm, Sweden BABBA – An Australian Tribute band, formed in Björn Again – The earliest formed ABBA tribute band Mamma Mia! – Musical stage show based on the songs of ABBA Mamma Mia! The Movie – Film adaption of the musical stage show Gabba – An ABBA Ramones tribute band that covers the former in the style of the latter, the name being a pun on Gabba Gabba Hey Discography edit Main articles ABBA discography and List of songs recorded by ABBA Ring Ring Waterloo ABBA Arrival Technology from Greek t????, techne, art, skill, cunning of hand and ????a, logia is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, etc or it can be embedded in machines, computers, devices and factories, which can be operated by individuals without detailed knowledge of the workings of such things The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools The prehistoric discovery of how to control fire and the later Neolithic Revolution increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans to travel in and control their environment Developments in historic times, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale The steady progress of military technology has brought weapons of ever increasing destructive power, from clubs to nuclear weapons Technology has many effects It has helped develop more advanced economies including today's global economy and has allowed the rise of a leisure class Many technological processes produce unwanted by products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of Earth's environment Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it Neo Luddism, anarcho primitivism, and similar reactionary movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition Until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but st century scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and passed their knowledge to other generations Contents hide Definition and usage Science, engineering and technology History Paleolithic million YA – , BC Stone tools Fire Clothing and shelter Neolithic through classical antiquity , BC – AD Metal tools Energy and transport Medieval and modern history AD – present Philosophy Technicism Optimism Skepticism and critics Appropriate technology Optimism and Skepticism in the st century Complex Technological Systems Competitiveness Project Socrates Other animal species Future technology See also References Further reading Definition and usage The spread of paper and printing to the West, exemplified by the printing press, made it possible for scientists and politicians to communicate their ideas with ease, leading to the Age of Enlightenment an example of technology as a cultural force The use of the term technology has changed significantly over the last years Before the th century, the term was uncommon in English, and usually referred to the description or study of the useful arts The term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology chartered in The term technology rose to prominence in the th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution The term's meanings changed in the early th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which usually translates both terms as technology By the s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts but to the industrial arts themselves In , the American sociologist Read Bain wrote that technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them Bain's definition remains common among scholars today, especially social scientists But equally prominent is the definition of technology as applied science, especially among scientists and engineers, although most social scientists who study technology reject this definition More recently, scholars have borrowed from European philosophers of technique to extend the meaning of technology to various forms of instrumental reason, as in Foucault's work on technologies of the self techniques de soi Dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions The Merriam Webster Dictionary offers a definition of the term the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area and a capability given by the practical application of knowledge Ursula Franklin, in her Real World of Technology lecture, gave another definition of the concept it is practice, the way we do things around here The term is often used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics, rather than technology as a whole Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time, , defines technology in two ways as the pursuit of life by means other than life , and as organized inorganic matter Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real world problems It is a far reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator Tools and machines need not be material virtual technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this definition of technology W Brian Arthur defines technology in a similarly broad way as a means to fulfill a human purpose The word technology can also be used to refer to a collection of techniques In this context, it is the current state of humanity's knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants it includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials When combined with another term, such as medical technology or space technology , it refers to the state of the respective field's knowledge and tools State of the art technology refers to the high technology available to humanity in any field The invention of integrated circuits and the microprocessor here, an Intel chip from led to the modern computer revolution Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture Additionally, technology is the application of math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known A modern example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened barriers to human interaction and, as a result, has helped spawn new subcultures the rise of cyberculture has, at its basis, the development of the Internet and the computer Not all technology enhances culture in a creative way technology can also help facilitate political oppression and war via tools such as guns As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and engineering, each of which formalize some aspects of technological endeavor Science, engineering and technology Antoine Lavoisier conducting an experiment with combustion generated by amplified sun light The distinction between science, engineering and technology is not always clear Science is the reasoned investigation or study of natural phenomena, aimed at discovering enduring principles among elements of the phenomenal world by employing formal techniques such as the scientific method Technologies are not usually exclusively products of science, because they have to satisfy requirements such as utility, usability and safety Engineering is the goal oriented process of designing and making tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena for practical human means, often but not always using results and techniques from science The development of technology may draw upon many fields of knowledge, including scientific, engineering, mathematical, linguistic, and historical knowledge, to achieve some practical result Technology is often a consequence of science and engineering — although technology as a human activity precedes the two fields For example, science might study the flow of electrons in electrical conductors, by using already existing tools and knowledge This new found knowledge may then be used by engineers to create new tools and machines, such as semiconductors, computers, and other forms of advanced technology In this sense, scientists and engineers may both be considered technologists the three fields are often considered as one for the purposes of research and reference The exact relations between science and technology in particular have been debated by scientists, historians, and policymakers in the late th century, in part because the debate can inform the funding of basic and applied science In the immediate wake of World War II, for example, in the United States it was widely considered that technology was simply applied science and that to fund basic science was to reap technological results in due time An articulation of this philosophy could be found explicitly in Vannevar Bush's treatise on postwar science policy, Science—The Endless Frontier New products, new industries, and more jobs require continuous additions to knowledge of the laws of nature This essential new knowledge can be obtained only through basic scientific research In the late s, however, this view came under direct attack, leading towards initiatives to fund science for specific tasks initiatives resisted by the scientific community The issue remains contentious—though most analysts resist the model that technology simply is a result of scientific research History Main articles History of technology, Timeline of historic inventions and Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering Paleolithic million YA – , BC A primitive chopper Further information Outline of prehistoric technology The use of tools by early humans was partly a process of discovery and of evolution Early humans evolved from a species of foraging hominids which were already bipedal, with a brain mass approximately one third of modern humans Tool use remained relatively unchanged for most of early human history Approximately , years ago, the use of tools and complex set of behaviors emerged, believed by many archaeologists to be connected to the emergence of fully modern language Stone tools Hand axes from the Acheulian period A Clovis point, made via pressure flaking Hominids started using primitive stone tools millions of years ago The earliest stone tools were little more than a fractured rock, but approximately , years ago, pressure flaking provided a way to make much finer work Fire Main article Control of fire by early humans The discovery and utilization of fire, a simple energy source with many profound uses, was a turning point in the technological evolution of humankind The exact date of its discovery is not known evidence of burnt animal bones at the Cradle of Humankind suggests that the domestication of fire occurred before , , BC scholarly consensus indicates that Homo erectus had controlled fire by between , BC and , BC Fire, fueled with wood and charcoal, allowed early humans to cook their food to increase its digestibility, improving its nutrient value and broadening the number of foods that could be eaten Clothing and shelter Other technological advances made during the Paleolithic era were clothing and shelter the adoption of both technologies cannot be dated exactly, but they were a key to humanity's progress As the Paleolithic era progressed, dwellings became more sophisticated and more elaborate as early as , BC, humans were constructing temporary wood huts Clothing, adapted from the fur and hides of hunted animals, helped humanity expand into colder regions humans began to migrate out of Africa by , BC and into other continents, such as Eurasia Neolithic through classical antiquity , BC – AD An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools Man's technological ascent began in earnest in what is known as the Neolithic period New stone age The invention of polished stone axes was a major advance that allowed forest clearance on a large scale to create farms Agriculture fed larger populations, and the transition to sedentism allowed simultaneously raising more children, as infants no longer needed to be carried, as nomadic ones must Additionally, children could contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could to the hunter gatherer economy With this increase in population and availability of labor came an increase in labor specialization What triggered the progression from early Neolithic villages to the first cities, such as Uruk, and the first civilizations, such as Sumer, is not specifically known however, the emergence of increasingly hierarchical social structures and specialized labor, of trade and war amongst adjacent cultures, and the need for collective action to overcome environmental challenges such as irrigation, are all thought to have played a role Metal tools Continuing improvements led to the furnace and bellows and provided the ability to smelt and forge native metals naturally occurring in relatively pure form Gold, copper, silver, and lead, were such early metals The advantages of copper tools over stone, bone, and wooden tools were quickly apparent to early humans, and native copper was probably used from near the beginning of Neolithic times about BC Native copper does not naturally occur in large amounts, but copper ores are quite common and some of them produce metal easily when burned in wood or charcoal fires Eventually, the working of metals led to the discovery of alloys such as bronze and brass about BC The first uses of iron alloys such as steel dates to around BC Energy and transport The wheel was invented circa BC Main article History of transport Meanwhile, humans were learning to harness other forms of energy The earliest known use of wind power is the sailboat The earliest record of a ship under sail is shown on an Egyptian pot dating back to BC From prehistoric times, Egyptians probably used the power of the annual flooding of the Nile to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely built irrigation channels and 'catch' basins Similarly, the early peoples of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, learned to use the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for much the same purposes But more extensive use of wind and water and even human power required another invention According to archaeologists, the wheel was invented around B C probably independently and nearly simultaneously in Mesopotamia in present day Iraq , the Northern Caucasus Maykop culture and Central Europe Estimates on when this may have occurred range from to B C , with most experts putting it closer to B C The oldest artifacts with drawings that depict wheeled carts date from about B C however, the wheel may have been in use for millennia before these drawings were made There is also evidence from the same period for the use of the potter's wheel More recently, the oldest known wooden wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana marshes of Slovenia The invention of the wheel revolutionized trade and war It did not take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads Fast rotary potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery But it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy through water wheels, windmills, and even treadmills that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources Medieval and modern history AD – present Main articles Medieval technology, Renaissance technology, Industrial Revolution, Second Industrial Revolution, Information Technology and Productivity improving technologies economic history Innovations continued through the Middle Ages with innovations such as silk, the horse collar and horseshoes in the first few hundred years after the fall of the Roman Empire Medieval technology saw the use of simple machines such as the lever, the screw, and the pulley being combined to form more complicated tools, such as the wheelbarrow, windmills and clocks The Renaissance brought forth many of these innovations, including the printing press which facilitated the greater communication of knowledge , and technology became increasingly associated with science, beginning a cycle of mutual advancement The advancements in technology in this era allowed a more steady supply of food, followed by the wider availability of consumer goods The automobile revolutionized personal transportation Starting in the United Kingdom in the th century, the Industrial Revolution was a period of great technological discovery, particularly in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, mining, metallurgy and transport, driven by the discovery of steam power Technology later took another step with the harnessing of electricity to create such innovations as the electric motor, light bulb and countless others Scientific advancement and the discovery of new concepts later allowed for powered flight, and advancements in medicine, chemistry, physics and engineering The rise in technology has led to the construction of skyscrapers and large cities whose inhabitants rely on automobiles or other powered transit for transportation Communication was also greatly improved with the invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio and television The late th and early th centuries saw a revolution in transportation with the invention of the steam powered ship, train, airplane, and automobile F and F flying over a burning oil field in Kuwait in The th century brought a host of innovations In physics, the discovery of nuclear fission has led to both nuclear weapons and nuclear power Computers were also invented and later miniaturized utilizing transistors and integrated circuits The technology behind got called information technology, and these advancements subsequently led to the creation of the Internet, which ushered in the current Information Age Humans have also been able to explore space with satellites later used for telecommunication and in manned missions going all the way to the moon In medicine, this era brought innovations such as open heart surgery and later stem cell therapy along with new medications and treatments Complex manufacturing and construction techniques and organizations are needed to construct and maintain these new technologies, and entire industries have arisen to support and develop succeeding generations of increasingly more complex tools Modern technology increasingly relies on training and education — their designers, builders, maintainers, and users often require sophisticated general and specific training Moreover, these technologies have become so complex that entire fields have been created to support them, including engineering, medicine, and computer science, and other fields have been made more complex, such as construction, transportation and architecture Philosophy Technicism Generally, technicism is a reliance or confidence in technology as a benefactor of society Taken to extreme, technicism is the belief that humanity will ultimately be able to control the entirety of existence using technology In other words, human beings will someday be able to master all problems and possibly even control the future using technology Some, such as Stephen V Monsma, connect these ideas to the abdication of religion as a higher moral authority Optimism See also Extropianism Optimistic assumptions are made by proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and singularitarianism, which view technological development as generally having beneficial effects for the society and the human condition In these ideologies, technological development is morally good Some critics see these ideologies as examples of scientism and techno utopianism and fear the notion of human enhancement and technological singularity which they support Some have described Karl Marx as a techno optimist Skepticism and critics See also Luddite, Neo luddism, Anarcho primitivism and Bioconservatism Refer to caption Luddites smashing a power loom in On the somewhat skeptical side are certain philosophers like Herbert Marcuse and John Zerzan, who believe that technological societies are inherently flawed They suggest that the inevitable result of such a society is to become evermore technological at the cost of freedom and psychological health Many, such as the Luddites and prominent philosopher Martin Heidegger, hold serious, although not entirely deterministic reservations, about technology see The Question Concerning Technology According to Heidegger scholars Hubert Dreyfus and Charles Spinosa, Heidegger does not oppose technology He hopes to reveal the essence of technology in a way that 'in no way confines us to a stultified compulsion to push on blindly with technology or, what comes to the same thing, to rebel helplessly against it ' Indeed, he promises that 'when we once open ourselves expressly to the essence of technology, we find ourselves unexpectedly taken into a freeing claim ' What this entails is a more complex relationship to technology than either techno optimists or techno pessimists tend to allow Some of the most poignant criticisms of technology are found in what are now considered to be dystopian literary classics, for example Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and other writings, Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four And, in Faust by Goethe, Faust's selling his soul to the devil in return for power over the physical world, is also often interpreted as a metaphor for the adoption of industrial technology More recently, modern works of science fiction, such as those by Philip K Dick and William Gibson, and films e g Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell project highly ambivalent or cautionary attitudes toward technology's impact on human society and identity The late cultural critic Neil Postman distinguished tool using societies from technological societies and, finally, what he called technopolies, that is, societies that are dominated by the ideology of technological and scientific progress, to the exclusion or harm of other cultural practices, values and world views Darin Barney has written about technology's impact on practices of citizenship and democratic culture, suggesting that technology can be construed as an object of political debate, a means or medium of discussion, and a setting for democratic deliberation and citizenship As a setting for democratic culture, Barney suggests that technology tends to make ethical questions, including the question of what a good life consists in, nearly impossible, because they already give an answer to the question a good life is one that includes the use of more and more technology Nikolas Kompridis has also written about the dangers of new technology, such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, synthetic biology and robotics He warns that these technologies introduce unprecedented new challenges to human beings, including the possibility of the permanent alteration of our biological nature These concerns are shared by other philosophers, scientists and public intellectuals who have written about similar issues e g Francis Fukuyama, Jürgen Habermas, William Joy, and Michael Sandel Another prominent critic of technology is Hubert Dreyfus, who has published books On the Internet and What Computers Still Can't Do Another, more infamous anti technological treatise is Industrial Society and Its Future, written by Theodore Kaczynski aka The Unabomber and printed in several major newspapers and later books as part of an effort to end his bombing campaign of the techno industrial infrastructure Appropriate technology See also Technocriticism and Technorealism The notion of appropriate technology, however, was developed in the th century e g , see the work of E F Schumacher and of Jacques Ellul to describe situations where it was not desirable to use very new technologies or those that required access to some centralized infrastructure or parts or skills imported from elsewhere The eco village movement emerged in part due to this concern Optimism and Skepticism in the st century This article mainly focusses on American concerns even if it can reasonably be generalized to other Western countries The inadequate quantity and quality of American jobs is one of the most fundamental economic challenges we face What's the linkage between technology and this fundamental problem —?Bernstein, Jared, It’s Not a Skills Gap That’s Holding Wages Down It’s the Weak Economy, Among Other Things, in The American Prospect, October In his article, Jared Bernstein, a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, questions the widespread idea that automation, and more broadly technological advances have mainly contributed to this growing labor market problem His thesis appears to be a third way between Optimism and Skepticism Basically, he stands for a neutral approach of the linkage between technology and American issues concerning unemployment and eroding wages He uses two main arguments to defend his point First of all, because of recent technological advances, an increasing number of workers are losing their jobs Yet, scientific evidence fails to clearly demonstrate that technology has displaced so many workers that it has created more problems than it has solved Indeed, automation threatens repetitive jobs but higher end jobs are still necessary because they complement technology and manual jobs that requires flexibility judgment and common sense remain hard to be replaced by machines Second, studies have not defined clear links between recent technology advances and the wage trends of the last decades Therefore, according to Jared Bernstein, instead of focusing on technology and its hypothetical influences on current American increasing unemployment and eroding wages, one needs to worry more about bad policy that fails to offset


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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 lise-pinson little-oral-annie liza-dwyer liza-harper lizzy-borden logan-labrent lois-ayres lola-cait long-jean-silver loni-bunny loni-sanders loona-luxx lorelei-lee lorelei-rand lorena-sanchez lori-alexia lori-blue lorrie-lovett luci-diamond lucie-doll lucie-theodorova lucy-van-dam lydia-baum lynn-franciss lynn-lemay lynn-ray lynn-stevens lynx-canon lysa-thatcher madelina-ray madison-parker magdalena-lynn maggie-randall mai-lin mandi-wine mandy-bright mandy-malone mandy-may mandy-mistery mandy-starr marcia-minor maren margit-ojetz margitta-hofer margo-stevens margot-mahler mariah-cherry marianne-aubert maria-tortuga marie-anne marie-christine-chireix marie-christine-veroda marie-claude-moreau marie-dominique-cabannes marie-france-morel marie-luise-lusewitz marie-sharp marilyn-chambers marilyne-leroy marilyn-gee marilyn-jess marilyn-martyn marilyn-star marina-hedman marion-webb marita-ekberg marita-kemper marlena marlene-willoughby marry-queen martine-grimaud martine-schultz 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 moxxie-maddron mulani-rivera mysti-may nadege-arnaud nadia-styles nadine-bronx nadine-proutnal nadine-roussial nadi-phuket nanci-suiter nancy-hoffman nancy-vee natacha-delyro natalia-wood natalli-diangelo natascha-throat natasha-skyler naudia-nyce nessa-devil nessy-grant nesty nicki-hunter nicky-reed nicole-berg nicole-bernard nicole-black nicole-grey nicole-london nicole-parks nicole-scott nicole-taylor nicolette-fauludi nicole-west nika-blond nika-mamic niki-cole nikita-love nikita-rush nikki-charm nikki-grand nikki-king nikki-knight nikki-randall nikki-rhodes nikki-santana nikki-steele nikki-wilde niko nina-cherry nina-deponca nina-hartley nina-preta oana-efria obaya-roberts olesja-derevko olga-cabaeva olga-conti olga-pechova olga-petrova olivia-alize olivia-del-rio olivia-flores olivia-la-roche olivia-outre ophelia-tozzi orchidea-keresztes orsolya-blonde paige-turner paisley-hunter pamela-bocchi pamela-jennings pamela-mann pamela-stanford pamela-stealt pandora paola-albini 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 sabrina-chimaera sabrina-dawn sabrina-jade sabrina-johnson sabrina-love-cox sabrina-mastrolorenzi sabrina-rose sabrina-scott sabrina-summers sacha-davril sahara sahara-sands sai-tai-tiger samantha-fox samantha-ryan samantha-sterlyng samantha-strong samueline-de-la-rosa sandra-cardinale sandra-de-marco sandra-kalermen sandra-russo sandy-lee sandy-pinney sandy-reed sandy-samuel sandy-style sandy-summers sara-brandy-canyon sara-faye sarah-bernard sarah-cabrera sarah-hevyn sarah-mills sarah-shine sara-sloane sasha sasha-hollander sasha-ligaya sasha-rose satine-phoenix satin-summer savannah-stern savanna-jane scarlet-scarleau scarlet-windsor seka selena serena serena-south severine-amoux shana-evans shanna-mccullough shannon-kelly shannon-rush shantell-day sharon-da-vale sharon-kane sharon-mitchell shaun-michelle shawna-sexton shawnee-cates shay-hendrix shayne-ryder sheena-horne sheer-delight shelby-star shelby-stevens shelly-berlin shelly-lyons sheri-st-clair sheyla-cats shonna-lynn shyla-foxxx shy-love sierra-sinn sierra-skye sigrun-theil silver-starr silvia-bella silvia-saint silvie-de-lux silvy-taylor simone-west sindee-coxx sindy-lange sindy-shy siobhan-hunter skylar-knight skylar-price skyler-dupree smokie-flame smoking-mary-jane solange-shannon sonya-summers sophia-santi sophie-call sophie-duflot sophie-evans sophie-guers stacey-donovan stacy-lords stacy-moran stacy-nichols stacy-silver stacy-thorn starla-fox starr-wood stefania-bruni stella-virgin stephanie-duvalle stephanie-rage stephanie-renee stevie-taylor summer-knight summer-rose sunny-day sunset-thomas sunshine-seiber susan-hart susanne-brend susan-nero susi-hotkiss suzanne-mcbain suzan-nielsen suzie-bartlett suzie-carina suzi-sparks sweet-nice sweety-pie sybille-rossani sylvia-benedict sylvia-bourdon sylvia-brand sylvia-engelmann syreeta-taylor syren-de-mer syvette szabina-black szilvia-lauren tai-ellis taija-rae taisa-banx talia-james tamara-lee tamara-longley tamara-n-joy tamara-west tami-white 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

Centre Party Between and , Sweden began developing the industrialised economy that exists today Strong grassroots movements sprung up in Sweden during the latter half of the th century trade unions, temperance groups, and independent religious groups , creating a strong foundation of democratic principles In The Swedish Social Democratic Party was founded These movements precipitated Sweden's migration into a modern parliamentary democracy, achieved by the time of World War I As the Industrial Revolution progressed during the th century, people gradually moved into cities to work in factories and became involved in socialist unions A communist revolution was avoided in , following the re introduction of parliamentarism, and the country was democratised World War I and World War II Main articles Sweden in World War I and Sweden during World War II Sweden was officially neutral during World War I, although, under German pressure, they did take steps which were detrimental to the Allied powers including mining the Øresund channel, thus closing it to Allied shipping, and allowing the Germans to use Swedish facilities and the Swedish cipher to transmit secret messages to their overseas embassies Sweden also allowed volunteers fighting for the White Guards together with the Germans against the Reds and Russians in the Finnish Civil War, and briefly occupied the Aland islands in co operation with Germany A Swedish soldier during World War II Sweden remained neutral during the conflict As in the first world war, Sweden remained officially neutral during World War II, although its neutrality during World War II has been disputed Sweden was under German influence for much of the war, as ties to the rest of the world were cut off through blockades The Swedish government felt that it was in no position to openly contest Germany, and therefore made some concessions Sweden also supplied steel and machined parts to Germany throughout the war However, Sweden supported Norwegian resistance, and in helped rescue Danish Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps The Swedish government also unofficially supported Finland in the Winter War and the Continuation War by allowing volunteers and materiel to be shipped to Finland During the last year of the war, Sweden began to play a role in humanitarian efforts, and many refugees, among them several thousand Jews from Nazi occupied Europe, were rescued thanks to the Swedish rescue missions to internment camps and partly because Sweden served as a haven for refugees, primarily from the Nordic countries and the Baltic states The Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg and his colleagues ensured the safety of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews Nevertheless, both Swedes and others have argued that Sweden could have done more to oppose the Nazis' war efforts, even if it meant increasing the risk of occupation Post war era Prime Minister Tage Erlander left was Prime Minister under the ruling Swedish Social Democratic Party from to Sweden was officially a neutral country and remained outside NATO and Warsaw Pact membership during the Cold War, but privately Sweden's leadership had strong ties with the United States and other western governments Following the war, Sweden took advantage of an intact industrial base, social stability and its natural resources to expand its industry to supply the rebuilding of Europe Sweden received aid under the Marshall Plan and participated in the Organization of Economic Co operation and Development OECD During most of the post war era, the country was governed by the Swedish Social Democratic Party largely in co operation with trade unions and industry The government actively pursued an internationally competitive manufacturing sector of primarily large corporations Sweden was one of the founding states of the European Free Trade Area During the s the EFTA countries were often referred to as the Outer Seven, as opposed to the Inner Six of the then European Economic Community EEC Sweden, like countries around the globe, entered a period of economic decline and upheaval following the oil embargoes of – and – In the s pillars of Swedish industry were massively restructured by whom Shipbuilding was discontinued, wood pulp was integrated into modernised paper production, the steel industry was concentrated and specialised, and mechanical engineering was robotised Between and the overall tax burden rose by over %, and the growth was low compared to other countries in Western Europe Eventually government began to spend over half of the country's gross domestic product Sweden GDP per capita ranking declined during this time Recent history See also History of Sweden since Sweden joined the European Union in and signed the Lisbon Treaty in Fredrik Reinfeldt's center right government ruled Sweden from until A bursting real estate bubble caused by inadequate controls on lending combined with an international recession and a policy switch from anti unemployment policies to anti inflationary policies resulted in a fiscal crisis in the early s Sweden's GDP declined by around % In , a run on the currency caused the central bank to briefly increase interest rates to % The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness, among them reducing the welfare state and privatising public services and goods Much of the political establishment promoted EU membership, and a referendum passed with % in favour of joining the EU on November Sweden joined the European Union on January Sweden remains non aligned militarily, although it participates in some joint military exercises with NATO and some other countries, in addition to extensive co operation with other European countries in the area of defence technology and defence industry Among others, Swedish companies export weapons that were used by the American military in Iraq Sweden also has a long history of participating in international military operations, including most recently, Afghanistan, where Swedish troops are under NATO command, and in EU sponsored peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Cyprus Sweden also participated in enforcing a UN mandated no fly zone over Libya during the Arab Spring Sweden held the chair of the European Union from July to December In recent decades Sweden has become a more culturally diverse nation due to significant immigration in it was estimated that per cent of the population was foreign born, and an additional per cent of the population were born to two immigrant parents The influx of immigrants has brought new social challenges Violent incidents have periodically occurred including the Stockholm riots which broke out following the police shooting of an elderly Portuguese immigrant In response to these violent events, the far right opposition party, the Swedish Democrats, promoted their anti immigration policies, while the left wing opposition blamed growing inequality caused by the centre right government's socio economic policies In Stefan Löfven won the General Election and became the new Swedish Prime Minister Geography Main article Geography of Sweden View of the Stora Sjöfallet National Park Situated in Northern Europe, Sweden lies west of the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia, providing a long coastline, and forms the eastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula To the west is the Scandinavian mountain chain Skanderna , a range that separates Sweden from Norway Finland is located to its north east It has maritime borders with Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and it is also linked to Denmark south west by the Öresund Bridge Its border with Norway , km long is the longest uninterrupted border within Europe Sweden lies between latitudes ° and ° N, and mostly between longitudes ° and ° E part of Stora Drammen island is just west of ° At , km , sq mi , Sweden is the th largest country in the world, the th largest country entirely in Europe, and the largest in Northern Europe The lowest elevation in Sweden is in the bay of Lake Hammarsjön, near Kristianstad, at - m - ft below sea level The highest point is Kebnekaise at , m , ft above sea level Sweden has provinces or landskap landscapes , based on culture, geography and history While these provinces serve no political or administrative purpose, they play an important role in people's self identity The provinces are usually grouped together in three large lands, parts, the northern Norrland, the central Svealand and southern Götaland The sparsely populated Norrland encompasses almost % of the country About % of Sweden lies north of the Arctic Circle Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, with increasing forest coverage northward Around % of Sweden's total land area is covered with forests The highest population density is in the Öresund Region in southern Sweden, along the western coast up to central Bohuslän, and in the valley of lake Mälaren and Stockholm Gotland and Öland are Sweden's largest islands Vänern and Vättern are its largest lakes Vänern is the third largest in Europe, after Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega in Russia Climate Most of Sweden has a temperate climate, despite its northern latitude, with four distinct seasons and mild temperatures throughout the year The country can be divided into three types of climate the southernmost part has an oceanic climate, the central part has a humid continental climate and the northernmost part has a subarctic climate However, Sweden is much warmer and drier than other places at a similar latitude, and even somewhat farther south, mainly because of the Gulf Stream For example, central and southern Sweden has much milder winters than many parts of Russia, Canada, and the northern United States Because of its high latitude, the length of daylight varies greatly North of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets for part of each summer, and it never rises for part of each winter In the capital, Stockholm, daylight lasts for more than hours in late June but only around hours in late December Sweden receives between , and , hours of sunshine annually The Scandinavian Mountains Temperatures vary greatly from north to south Southern and central parts of the country have warm summers and cold winters, with average high temperatures of to °C to °F in the summer, and average temperatures of - to °C to °F in the winter, while the northern part of the country has shorter, cooler summers and longer, colder and snowier winters, with temperatures that often drop below freezing from September to May The highest temperature ever recorded in Sweden was °C °F in Målilla in , while the coldest temperature ever recorded was - °C - °F in Vuoggatjålme in Temperatures expected in Sweden are heavily influenced by the large Fennoscandian landmass, as well as continental Europe and western Russia, which allows hot or cool inland air to be easily transported to Sweden That in turn renders most of Sweden's southern areas having warmer summers than almost everywhere in the nearby British Isles, even matching temperatures found along the continental Atlantic coast as far south as in northern Spain In winter however the same high pressure systems sometimes puts the entire country far below freezing temperatures There is some maritime moderation from the Atlantic which renders the Swedish continental climate less severe than that of nearby Russia Even though temperature patterns differ between north and south, the summer climate is surprisingly similar all through the entire country in spite of the large latitudal differences This is due to the south being surrounded by a greater mass of water, with the wider Baltic Sea and the Atlantic air passing over lowland areas from the south west Apart from the ice free Atlantic bringing marine air into Sweden tempering winters, the mildness is further explained by prevailing low pressure systems postponing winter, with the long nights often staying above freezing to the south of the country due to the cloud cover By the time winter finally breaks through, daylight hours rise quickly, ensuring that daytime temperatures soar quickly in spring With the greater number of clear nights, frosts remain commonplace quite far south as late as April The cold winters occur when low pressure systems are weaker An example is that the coldest ever month January in Stockholm was also the sunniest January month on record The relative strength of low and high pressure systems of marine and continental air also define the highly variable summers When hot continental air hits the country, the long days and short nights frequently bring temperatures up to °C °F or above even in coastal areas On average, most of Sweden receives between and mm and in of precipitation each year, making it considerably drier than the global average The south western part of the country receives more precipitation, between , and , mm and in , and some mountain areas in the north are estimated to receive up to , mm in Despite northerly locations, southern and central Sweden may have almost no snow in some winters Most of Sweden is located in the rain shadow of the Scandinavian Mountains through Norway and north west Sweden The blocking of cool and wet air in summer as well as the greater landmass leads to warm and dry summers far north in the country, with quite warm summers at the Bothnia Bay coast at degrees latitude, which is unheard of elsewhere in the world at such northerly coastlines Swedish Meteorological Institute, SMHI's monthly average temperatures of some of their weather stations – for the latest scientific full prefixed thirty year period – Next will be presented in year The weather stations are sorted from south towards north by their numbers stn nr station Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual Malmö Helsingborg Växjö Visby Jönköping Göteborg Skövde Norrköping Örebro Stockholm Bromma Stockholm Arlanda Mora Gävle Sundsvall Östersund Umeå Skellefteå Luleå Haparanda Jokkmokk Tarfala a mountain peak Gällivare Kiruna Politics Constitutional framework Main article Politics of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden since September Sweden has four fundamental laws Swedish grundlagar which together forms the Constitution the Instrument of Government Swedish Regeringsformen , the Act of Succession Swedish Successionsordningen , the Freedom of the Press Act Swedish Tryckfrihetsförordningen , and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression Swedish Yttrandefrihetsgrundlagen The public sector in Sweden is divided into two parts the legal person known as the State Swedish staten b and local authorities c the latter includes regional County Councils Swedish landsting and local Municipalities Swedish kommuner The local authorities, rather than the State, make up the larger part of the public sector in Sweden County Councils and Municipalities are independent of one another, the former merely covers a larger geographical area than the latter The local authorities have self rule, as mandated by the Constitution, and their own tax base Notwithstanding their self rule, local authorities are nevertheless in practice interdependent upon the State, as the parameters of their responsibilities and the extent of their jurisdiction is specified in the Local Government Act Swedish Kommunallagen passed by the Riksdag Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and King Carl XVI Gustaf is the head of state, but the role of the monarch is limited to ceremonial and representative functions Under the provisions of the Instrument of Government, the King lacks any formal political power The King opens the annual Riksdag session, chairs the Special Council held during a change of Government, holds regular Information Councils with the Prime Minister and the Government, chairs the meetings of the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs Swedish Utrikesnämnden , and receives Letters of Credence of foreign ambassadors to Sweden and signs those of Swedish ambassadors sent abroad In addition, the King pays State Visits abroad and receives those incoming as host Apart from strictly official duties, the King and the other members of Royal Family undertake a variety of unofficial and other representative duties within Sweden and abroad Legislative power is vested in the unicameral Riksdag with members General elections are held every four years, on the second Sunday of September Legislation may be initiated by the Government or by members of the Riksdag Members are elected on the basis of proportional representation to a four year term The internal workings of the Riksdag is, in addition to the Instrument of Government, regulated by the Riksdag Act Swedish Riksdagsordningen The fundamental laws can be altered by the Riksdag alone only an absolute majority with two separate votes, separated by a general election in between, is required Rosenbad, in central Stockholm, has been the seat of the Government since The Government Swedish Regeringen operates as a collegial body with collective responsibility and consists of the Prime Minister — appointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the Riksdag following an actual vote in the Riksdag before an appointment can be made — and other cabinet ministers Swedish Statsråd , appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the Prime Minister The Government is the supreme executive authority and is responsible for its actions to the Riksdag Most of the State administrative authorities Swedish statliga förvaltningsmyndigheter report to the Government, including but not limited to the Armed Forces, the Enforcement Authority, the National Library, the Swedish police and the Tax Agency A unique feature of Swedish State administration is that individual cabinet ministers do not bear any individual ministerial responsibility for the performance of the agencies within their portfolio as the director generals and other heads of government agencies reports directly to the Government as a whole and individual ministers are prohibited to interfere thus the origin of the pejorative in Swedish political parlance term ministerstyre English ministerial rule in matters that are to be handled by the individual agencies, unless otherwise specifically provided for in law The Judiciary is independent from the Riksdag, Government and other State administrative authorities The role of judicial review of legislation is not practised by the courts instead, the Council on Legislation gives non binding opinions on legality There is no stare decisis in that courts are not bound by precedent, although it is influential Political parties and elections The Riksdag chamber, at the time of a vote, in The Swedish Social Democratic Party has played a leading role in Swedish politics since , after the Reformists had confirmed their strength and the left wing revolutionaries formed their own party After , most governments have been dominated by the Social Democrats Only five general elections since World War II— , , , and —have given the assembled bloc of centre right parties enough seats in the Riksdag to form a government For over years,

also led to the dismissal of the embattled Olivares, who was confined to his estates by the king's order and died two years later, broken and mad The Last Spanish Habsburgs edit Main article Habsburg Spain in the seventeenth century Traditionally, historians mark the Battle of Rocroi as the end of Spanish dominance in Europe but the war was not finished and after a severe setback, more Spanish victories followed Supported by the French, the Catalans, Neapolitans, and Portuguese rose up in revolt against the Spanish in the s With the Spanish Netherlands caught between the tightening grip of French and Dutch forces after the Battle of Lens in , the Spanish made peace with the Dutch and recognized the independent United Provinces in the Peace of Westphalia that ended both the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War The meeting of Philip IV of Spain and Louis XIV of France on July at Pheasant Island War with France continued for eleven more years Although France suffered from a civil war from to see Wars of the Fronde , Spain had been exhausted by the Thirty Years' War and the ongoing revolts of Portugal, Catalonia and Naples With the war against the United Provinces at an end in , the Spanish drove the French out of Naples that year and Catalonia in , recaptured Dunkirk and occupied several northern French forts that they held until peace was made but the war came to an end soon after the Battle of the Dunes where the French army under Viscount Turenne retook Dunkirk Spain agreed to the Peace of the Pyrenees in that ceded to France the Spanish Netherlands territory of Artois and the northern Catalan county of Roussillon Portugal had rebelled in under the leadership of John of Braganza, a pretender to the throne He had received widespread support from the Portuguese people, and Spain—which had to deal with rebellions elsewhere, along with the war against France – was unable to respond adequately John mounted the throne as King John IV of Portugal and the Spanish and Portuguese co existed in a de facto state of peace from to When John died in , the Spanish attempted to wrest Portugal from his son Alfonso VI of Portugal but were defeated at Ameixial and Montes Claros , leading to Spain's recognition of Portugal's independence in Spain still had a huge overseas empire, but France was now the dominant power in Europe and the United Provinces were in the Atlantic The Great Plague of Seville – killed up to % of Seville's population citation needed Sevilla, and indeed the economy of Andalucía, would never recover from so complete a devastation Altogether Spain was thought to have lost , people, out of a population of slightly fewer than , , , or nearly % of its entire population Historians reckon the total cost in human lives due to these plagues throughout Spain, throughout the entire th century, to be a minimum of nearly million The regency of the young Spanish king Charles II was incompetent in dealing with the War of Devolution that Louis XIV of France prosecuted against the Spanish Netherlands in – , losing considerable prestige and territory, including the cities of Lille and Charleroi In the Franco Dutch War of – , Spain lost still more territory when it came to the assistance of its former Dutch enemies, most notably Franche Comté In the Nine Years' War – Louis once again invaded the Spanish Netherlands French forces led by the Duke of Luxembourg defeated the Spanish at Fleurus , and subsequently defeated Dutch forces under William III of Orange, who fought on Spain's side The war ended with most of the Spanish Netherlands under French occupation, including the important cities of Ghent and Luxembourg The war revealed to Europe how vulnerable the Spanish defenses and bureaucracy were Also, the ineffective Spanish Habsburg government took no action to improve them The final decades of the th century saw utter decay and stagnation in Spain while the rest of Western Europe went through exciting changes in government and society – the Glorious Revolution in England and the reign of the Sun King in France – Spain remained adrift The Spanish bureaucracy that had built up around the charismatic, industrious, and intelligent Charles I and Philip II demanded a strong and hardworking monarch the weakness and lack of interest of Philip III and Philip IV contributed to Spain's decay Charles II was mentally retarded and impotent He was therefore childless, and in his final will he left his throne to a French prince, the Bourbon Philip of Anjou, rather than to a fellow Habsburg, albeit from Austria This resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession Africa and the Mediterranean edit By the th century, the Ottomans had become an existential threat to Europe Ottoman conquests in Europe made significant gains with a decisive victory at Mohács Charles had preferred to suppress the Ottomans through a considerably more maritime strategy, hampering Ottoman landings on the Venetian territories in the Eastern Mediterranean The coastal villages and towns of Spain, Italy and the Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by Barbary pirates from North Africa the Formentera was even temporarily left by its population and long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants The most famous corsair was the Turkish Barbarossa Redbeard According to Robert C Davis, between million and million Europeans were captured by North African pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and Ottoman Empire between the th and th centuries The reign of Charles V saw a decline in the presence of Spain in the North of Africa, even if Tunis and its port, La Goleta, were taken in One after the other, most of the Spanish possessions were lost Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , Santa Cruz de Mar Pequeña , Algiers , Tripoli , Bujia , and La Goleta and Tunis Only in response to Barbary pirates' raids on the eastern coast of Spain did Charles lead attacks against Tunis and Algiers The Battle of Lepanto , marked the end of the Ottoman naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea In , the Spanish defeated an Ottoman landing on the strategic island of Malta, defended by the Knights of St John Suleiman the Magnificent's death the following year and his succession by his less capable son Selim the Sot emboldened Philip, and he resolved to carry the war to the sultan himself In , Spanish and Venetian warships, joined by volunteers across Europe, led by Charles's illegitimate son Don John of Austria annihilated the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, in what is perhaps the most decisive battle in modern naval history citation needed The battle ended the threat of Ottoman naval hegemony in the Mediterranean This mission marked the height of the respectability of Spain and its sovereign abroad as Philip bore the burden of leading the Counter Reformation The Ottomans recovered soon They reconquered Tunis in , and they helped to restore an ally, Abu Marwan Abd al Malik I Saadi, in the throne of Morocco, in The death of the Persian shah, Tahmasp I was an opportunity for the Ottoman sultan to intervene in that country, so, in was agreed a truce in the Mediterranean with Philip II Nonetheless, the Spanish at Lepanto eliminated the best sailors of the Ottoman fleet, and the Ottoman Empire would never recover in quality what they could in numbers Lepanto was the decisive turning point in control of the Mediterranean away from centuries of Muslim control to European control, initiated by the Spanish Empire and its allies In the first half of the th century, Spanish ships attacked the Anatolian coast, defeating larger Ottoman fleets at the Battle of Cape Celidonia and the Battle of Cape Corvo Larache and La Mamora, in the Moroccan Atlantic coast, and the island of Alhucemas, in the Mediterranean, were taken, but during the second half of the th century, Larache and La Mamora were also lost The New World edit Explorers and conquistadors edit After Columbus, the Spanish colonization of the Americas was led by a series of warrior explorers called conquistadors The Spanish forces, in addition to significant armament and equestrian advantages, exploited the rivalries between competing indigenous peoples, tribes, and nations, some of which were willing to form alliances with the Spanish in order to defeat their more powerful enemies, such as the Aztecs or Incas—a tactic that would be extensively used by later European colonial powers The Spanish conquest was also facilitated by the spread of diseases e g smallpox , common in Europe but never present in the New World, which reduced the indigenous populations in the Americas This sometimes caused a labour shortage for plantations and public works and so the colonists informally and gradually, at first, initiated the Atlantic slave trade see Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas Emperor Atahualpa is shown surrounded on his palanquin at the Battle of Cajamarca One of the most accomplished conquistadors was Hernán Cortés, who leading a relatively small Spanish force but with local translators and the crucial support of thousands of native allies, achieved the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the campaigns of – This territory later became the Viceroyalty of New Spain, present day Mexico Of equal importance was the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro, which would become the Viceroyalty of Peru After the conquest of Mexico, rumours of golden cities Quivira and Cíbola in North America and El Dorado in South America motivated several other expeditions Many of those returned without having found their goal, or finding it much less valuable than was hoped Indeed, the New World colonies only began to yield a substantial part of the Crown's revenues with the establishment of mines such as that of Potosí Bolivia and Zacatecas Mexico both started in By the late th century, silver from the Americas accounted for one fifth of Spain's total budget Eventually the world's stock of precious metal was doubled or even tripled by silver from the Americas Official records indicate that at least % of the silver was taken across the Atlantic to Spain and no more than % across the Pacific to China Some modern researchers argue that due to rampant smuggling about % went to China In the th century perhaps , Europeans entered American ports Further Spanish settlements were progressively established in the New World New Granada in the s later in the Viceroyalty of New Granada in and present day Colombia , Lima in as the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Buenos Aires in later in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in , and Santiago in Cristóbal de Olid leads Spanish soldiers with Tlaxcalan allies in the conquests of Jalisco, From Lienzo de Tlaxcala Spanish settlements in Chile before the Destruction of the Seven Cities in , all settlements south Biobío River except those in Chiloé had fallen Florida was colonized in by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés when he founded Saint Augustine and then promptly defeated an attempt led by the French Captain Jean Ribault and of his countrymen to establish a French foothold in Spanish Florida territory Saint Augustine quickly became a strategic defensive base for the Spanish ships full of gold and silver being sent to Spain from its New World dominions The Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan died while in the Philippines commanding a Castilian expedition in which was the first to circumnavigate the globe The Basque commander Juan Sebastián Elcano would lead the expedition to success Therefore, Spain sought to enforce their rights in the Moluccan islands, which led a conflict with the Portuguese, but the issue was resolved with the Treaty of Zaragoza , settling the location of the antimeridian of Tordesillas, which would divide the world into two equal hemispheres Thenceforth, maritime expeditions led to the discovery of several archipelagos in the South Pacific as the Pitcairn Islands, the Marquesas, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands or New Guinea On April , the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Philippines was founded by Miguel López de Legazpi and the service of Manila Galleons was inaugurated The Manilla Galleons shipped goods from all over Asia across the Pacific to Acapulco on the coast of Mexico From there, the goods were transshipped across Mexico to the Spanish treasure fleets, for shipment to Spain The Spanish trading post of Manila was established to facilitate this trade in The control of Guam, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, and Palau was later, from the end of the th century, and remained under Spanish control until Organization and administration edit From the beginning of the exploration and conquest of the Indies, the Crown assumed the control of the venture turning away the Columbus family In the Casa de Contratación House of Trade was founded to control migration to the New World, which was restricted to old Christians especially families and women In addition, the Casa de Contratación took charge of the fiscal organization, and of the organization and judicial control of the trade with the Indies The system of government in Spain was constituted by a polisynodial system of Councils which advised the monarch and made decisions on his behalf about specific matters of government In it was established the Council of the Indies, based in Castile, with the assignment of the governance of the Indies, thus it was responsible for drafting legislation, proposing the appointments to the King and pronouncing judicial sentences as maximum authority in the ultramarine territories, the Council of The Indies took over both the institutions in the Indies as the defense of the interests of the Crown and of the aborigens The Laws of the Indies resulted in the Laws of Burgos, – , which were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in the Americas, particularly with regards to treatment of native Indians They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed the Indian Reductions with attempts of conversion to Catholicism Upon their failure, they were replaced by the New Laws founding of Santiago de Chile Spain passed some laws for the protection of the indigenous peoples of its New World colonies, the first such in the legal thought behind them was the basis of modern international law citation needed Taking advantage of their extreme remoteness, the European colonists revolted when they saw their power being reduced, forcing a partial revoking of these New Laws Later, weaker laws were introduced to protect the indigenous peoples but records show their effect was limited citation needed The restored Encomenderos increasingly used native Indian workforce The politics of implantation of the royal authority opposite to Columbus caused the suppression of the unit of government of the Indies and the appearance of governorates under royal authority These governorates, also called as provinces, were the basic circumscriptions of the territorial government of the Indies, and arose as the territories were conquered and colonized To carry out the expedition entrada , which entailed exploration, conquest, and initial settlement of the territory, the king, as owner of the Indies, agreed capitulación an itemized contract with the specifics of the conditions of the expedition in a particular territory The individual leaders of expeditions adelantados assumed the expenses of the venture and in return received as reward the grant from the government of the conquered territories and in addition, they received instructions about treating the aborigens After the end of the period of conquests, it was necessary to manage extensive and different territories with a strong bureaucracy In the face of the impossibility of the Castilian institutions to take care of the New World affairs, other new institutions were created As the basic political entity it was the governorate, the governors exercised judicial ordinary functions of first instance, and prerogatives of government legislating by ordinances To these political functions of the governor, it could be joined the military ones, according to military requirements, with the rank of Captain general The office of captain general involved to be the supreme military chief of the whole territory and he was responsible for recruiting and providing troops, the fortification of the territory, the supply and the shipbuilding Beginning in in the newly conquered Mexico, government units in the Spanish Empire, from viceroyalties down to governorships provinces , had a royal treasury controlled by a set of officiales reales royal officials There were also sub treasuries at important ports and mining districts The officials of the royal treasury at each level of government typically included two to four positions a tesorero treasurer , the senior official who guarded money on hand and made payments a contador accountant or comptroller , who recorded income and payments, maintained records, and interpreted royal instructions a factor, who guarded weapons and supplies belonging to the king, and disposed of tribute collected in the province and a veedor overseer , who was responsible for contacts with native inhabitants of the province, and collected the king's share of any war booty The veedor, or overseer, position quickly disappeared in most jurisdictions, subsumed into the position of factor Depending on the conditions in a jurisdiction, the position of factor veedor was often eliminated, as well The treasury officials were appointed by the king, and were largely independent of the authority of the viceroy, audencia president or governor On the death, unauthorized absence, retirement or removal of a governor, the treasury officials would jointly govern the province until a new governor appointed by the king could take up his duties Treasury officials were supposed to be paid out of the income from the province, and were normally prohibited from engaging in income producing activities The impossibility of the physical presence of the monarch was replaced by viceroys, the post of viceroy the direct representation of the monarch The functions of the viceroy were governor, captain general, president of the Audiencia, superintendent of the Royal Treasury and vicepatronage of the Church Thus, the territories of the viceroyalties emerged to affirm the authority of the king in a specific territory The territory which comprised the viceroyalty was divided in provinces —also called governorates— headed by the governor In the th century the Spanish overseas territories were divided in two viceroyalties New Spain for North America, Antilles, the Philippines and Venezuela, and Peru for South America, which was divided in the th century Audiencias, the High Courts edit On the other hand, the Audiencias were constituted as a key administrative institution due to receive the confidence of the Crown as depositaries of an impartial authority opposite to conquerors and settlers Their main function was that of being a court of justice of second instance —court of appeal— in penal and civil matters, but also the Audiencias were courts the first instance in the city where it had its headquarters, and also in the cases involving the Royal Treasury Besides court of justice, the Audiencias had functions of government as counterweight the authority of the viceroys, since they could communicate with both the Council of the Indies and the king without the requirement of requesting authorization from the viceroy This direct correspondence of the Audiencia with the Council of The Indies made possible that the Council gave to the Audiencia all kinds of orientations about general aspects of government The fact that the presidents were not habitually either magistrates or lawyers, but men clad in sword and cape, caused that they did not have any vote in court cases, and the court did not submit to their authority, but in representation that of the king Thus, the authority of the president, when he was not a magistrate, was void in judicial matter and merely signed the verdicts The Audiencias chaired by the viceroy were called viceregal Audiencias, and the chaired ones by a governor captain general were the pretorial Audiencias As the pretorial Audiencias were chaired by a governor captain general, this situation caused to appear the post of president governor of major districts, with direct rule over a province and superior control of other provinces included inside the territorial district of the Audiencia, so that they exercised functions similar to the viceroys Thus, another administrative division appeared while the territories in charge of a governor were the minor provinces, the juridisdiccional scope of the Audiencias constituted the major provinces Former Viceregal Palace and seat of the Audiencia of Mexico, nowadays, the National Palace The members oidores of the Audiencia met with the president in a committee called royal agreement real acuerdo , to take measurements for the government concerning the review of bylaws, appointments of commissioners jueces pesquisidores , or retention of bulls, but the advice did not correspond to the Audiencia as institution but to its members as reputable people The decisions of the royal agreement were established in the concerted writs autos acordados , nevertheless, there were matters as dispatching the issues of government, in which the Audiencia could not interfere either with the viceroy or the president governor This way, the control of the Audiencias over the viceroys enabled to the Crown to control the functions of government of the viceroys While the viceregal and pretorial Audiencias were chaired by men clad in sword and cape, the presidents of the subordinated Audiencias were magistrates, so that, in the juridisdiccional scope of the subordinated Audiencias, the functions of government, Treasury and war belonged to the viceroy Therefore, in these sections of the viceroyalties there were no governors captains general but Audiencias, and the presidency gave them the name, for example in Charcas and Quito Although there were accumulated in the same person the offices of viceroy, governor, captain general and president of the Audiencia, each of them had different jurisdictional areas The jurisdiction of the viceregal Audiencia, whose president was the viceroy, ended face up to the jurisdiction of other Audiencias inside the same viceroyalty as the pretorial Audiencias chaired by a governor captain general, who had administrative, political and military authority, as the subordinated Audiencias, whose president did not have this administrative, political and military authority Therefore, as governor, the direct administration of the province where was placed the viceregal capital belonged to the viceroy nevertheless, with respect to the other governorates of the viceroyalty, his function was mere oversight or general inspection over the management of political affairs The imprecision in defining the powers of the viceroy and those of the provincial governors allowed the Crown to control their officials In the viceroyalty of New Spain, the Audiencia of Mexico, chaired by the viceroy, ended its jurisdiction face up to the jurisdiction of other Audiencias of Guatemala – , of Manila – , of Guadalajara established in Compostela in and transferred in to Guadalajara and that of Santo Domingo The viceroy of New Spain as governor only had jurisdiction over a more reduced governorate of New Spain, and as captain general his authority did not comprise either the captaincies of Yucatán or the New Kingdom of León, but it comprised the military command over the governorate of Nueva Galicia, which was a territory under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Guadalajara, until in the captaincy general was attached to the governor of this province of Nueva Galicia In the viceroyalty of Peru, the viceroy presided the Audiencia of Lima , and the jurisdiction of this Audiencia ended face up to the jurisdictions of the pretorial Audiencias of Panama – – , of Santa Fe de Bogotá , of Santiago de Chile in Concepción between and , and in Santiago de Chile since , and that of Buenos Aires – , whose presidents were also both governors and captains general, and in addition to these Audiencias, the viceroyalty comprised the subordinated Audiencias of Charcas La Plata and Quito Cabildos or town councils edit The settlers came from Spain had to settle in towns, where the local government belonged to the Cabildo The Cabildo was composed by a variable number of aldermen regidores , around a dozen, depending on the size of the town, also two municipal judges alcaldes menores , who were judges of first instance, and also other officials as police chief, inspector of supplies, court clerk, and a public herald They were in charge of distributing land to the neighbors, establishing local taxes, dealing with the public order, inspecting jails and hospitals, preserving the roads and public works such as irrigation ditchs and bridges, supervising the public health, regulating the festive activities, monitoring market prices, or the protection of Indians Since the end of the reign of Philip II, the municipal offices, including the aldermen, were auctioned to alleviate the need for money of the Crown, even the offices could also be sold, which became hereditary, so that the government of the cities went on to hands of urban oligarchies In order to control the municipal life, the Crown ordered the appointment of corregidores and alcaldes mayores to exert greater political control and judicial functions in minor districts Their functions were governing the respective municipalities, administering of justice and being appellate judges in the alcaldes menores?' judgments, but only the corregidor could preside over the cabildo However, both charges were also put up for sale freely since the late th century The Spanish Empire reform and recovery – edit Under the Treaties of Utrecht April , the European powers decided what the fate of Spain would be, in terms of the continental balance of power The French prince Philippe of Anjou, grandchild of Louis XIV of France, became the new Bourbon king Philip V He retained the Spanish overseas empire, but ceded the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia to Austria Sicily and parts of Milan to the Duchy of Savoy and Gibraltar and Minorca to the Kingdom of Great Britain Moreover, Philip V granted the British the exclusive right to slave trading in Spanish America for thirty years, the so called asiento, as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions, openings, as Fernand Braudel remarked, for both licit and illicit smuggling Brudel p The Battle of Cape Passaro, August Spain's economic and demographic recovery had begun slowly in the last decades of the Habsburg reign, as was evident from the growth of its trading convoys and much more rapid growth of illicit trade during the period, though this growth was slower than in its northern rivals who had gained increasing illicit access to its empire's markets Critically, this recovery was not translated into institutional improvement because of the incompetent leadership of the unfortunate last Habsburg This legacy of neglect was reflected in the early years of Bourbon rule in which the military was ill advisedly pitched into battle against the Quadruple Alliance – Following the war, the new Bourbon monarchy would take a much more cautious approach to international relations, built upon a family alliance with Bourbon France, and continuing to follow a program of institutional renewal Bourbon Reforms edit Main article Bourbon Reforms At the beginning of his reign, due to French influence and the War of the Spanish Succession, king Philip V, initiated organizational reforms headed for a government more executive, giving priority to the direct decision of the monarch, opposite to the deliberative way of the polisynodial system of Councils The 'so called Spanish Bourbons' broadest intentions were to break the power of the entrenched aristocracy of the Criollos in America locally born colonials of European descent , and, eventually, loosen the territorial control of the Society of Jesus over the virtually independent theocracies citation needed of Guarani Misiones the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America in In addition to the established consulados of Mexico City and Lima, firmly in the control of local landowners, a new rival consulado was set up at Vera Cruz Immediately, Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies and created first a Honduras Company , a Caracas company, the Guipuzcoana Company and—the most successful one—a Havana Company In – , the structures for governing the Indies, the Consejo de Indias and the Casa de Contratación that governed investments in the cumbersome escorted fleets were transferred from Seville to Cádiz, which became the one port for all Indies trading see flota system Individual sailings at regular intervals were slow to displace the old habit of armed convoys, but by the s there were regular packet ships plying the Atlantic between Cádiz and