Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic The Battle of Malmö

I can't resist this. Just because Artemis said that Sweden and Norway have been conquered by Denmark, I feel the need to insist that Sweden has never been really conqured by Denmark, although Sweden and Denmark (and Norway) were joined in a union, the Union of Kalmar, between 1397 and 1523.

But Sweden and Denmark have often been at war with each other.



Here comes the Danish armada, on its way to attacking Sweden!

During the 17th century there was a particularly large number of battles between Denmark and Sweden. One of them was the battle of Malmö in 1677. I can't find a picture of it, but this is a map of Malmö from 1652, twenty-five years before the Battle of Malmö:

Map of Malmö from 1652

Would you believe that in 1652, Malmö belonged to Denmark? Malmö is situated in the very southernmost part of Sweden, and for centuries this part of Scandinavia belonged to Denmark. (And by the way, the southernmost region of Sweden is called Skåne, or Scania in English. But did you know that the word Scandinavia is derived from Scania? Scania was the first part of Scandinavia that the more southerly Europeans from the European continent encountered when they ventured north, and so they named all of Scandinavia after Scania!)

Here is a link showing Sweden in blue and yellow, as in the Swedish flag. But the southernmost part of Sweden is Skåne, Scania, colored red and yellow here as in the inofficial Scanian flag. You have to scroll down to see Skåne, or Scania.

Like I said, Malmö belonged to Denmark in 1652. In 1658 Sweden wrested Scania from Denmark, and Malmö became a part of Sweden. And then in 1677 the Danes came to Malmö to take it back. But the people of Malmö were not interested in more war, and to avoid that, they opposed the Danes. Malmö was surrounded by a wall and a canal, which you may be able to see on the map. In the upper left corner you can see the Castle of Malmö. This is what the Castle of Malmö looks like today:



Anyway, back to the map from 1652. To the upper right on the map you have the Eastern Gate of Malmö, and here is where the Battle of Malmö was fought back in 1677. The people of Malmö pushed the charging Danes into the canal and that way they defended their city!



The former Eastern Gate of Malmö, now called Drottningtorget (the Queen's Square).

Oh, and Malmö has grown quite a bit since 1652. I think there were almost certainly no more than 3,000 people in Malmö in 1652, probably less. Today the population is 300,000, and this is Malmö of today:



Here is a picture of an outdoor concert in Stortorget, the Large Square, of Malmö. You can see a statue of a king on a horse. The king is Karl X, the king who wrested Malmö from Denmark in 1658.

Ann