8000 BC Hunter-gatherers move throughout Scandinavia in the wake of retreating ice sheets; the Sami (Lapp) people are thought to descend from these early settlers.

1500 BC Germanic tribes in southern Sweden develop trading links with the European lands to the south, from which they came.

AD 750 Battle of Bråvalla; the Svear emerge as the dominant tribe and give their name to the country (Sverige).

800-1000 Swedish “Vikings” travel east via the great rivers of eastern Europe, as far as Constantinople.

1397 Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Sweden and Norway under Queen Margaret of Denmark.

1523 Gustav Vasa establishes Sweden's independence; becomes King Gustav I; Lutheran Protestantism becomes the country's main religion.

1658 Treaty of Roskilde secures all of southern Swedish mainland from Danish control.

1814 Sweden wins control of Norway from Denmark.

1905 Norway achieves independence from Sweden.

1914-18 Sweden remains neutral during World War I.

1939-45 Sweden again remains neutral during World War II.

1946 Sweden maintains neutrality but joins the United Nations.

1989 The Sami people are granted their own parliament, known as the Sametinget.

1995 Sweden joins the European Union.

1998 Stockholm is named Cultural Capital of Europe.

2000 The 10-mile Öresund tunnel and bridge linking Malmö and Copenhagen opens.