Scandinavian Peninsula

Scandinavian Peninsula
	Scandinavian Peninsula in winter 2003
Geography
Location	Northern Europe
Coordinates	63°00′N 14°00′E / 63.000°N 14.000°E
Adjacent to	Arctic Sea, Atlantic Ocean
Area	750,000 km2 (290,000 sq mi)
Highest elevation	2,469 m (8100 ft)
Highest point	Galdhøpiggen
Administration
	Norway
	Mainland
	Sweden
	Mainland
	Finland
	Parts of Lapland

The Scandinavian Peninsula^[1] is located in Northern Europe, and roughly comprises the mainlands of Sweden, Norway and the northwestern area of Finland.

The name of the peninsula is derived from the term Scandinavia, the cultural region of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. That cultural name is in turn derived from the name of Scania, the region at the southern extremity of the peninsula which was for centuries a part of Denmark, which is the ancestral home of the Danes, and is now part of Sweden.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The Scandinavian Peninsula is the largest of the peninsulas of Europe, with a greater area than the Balkan, Iberian and Italian peninsulas. During the Ice Ages, the sea level of the Atlantic Ocean dropped so much that the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland disappeared, and the countries now surrounding them, including Germany, Poland, the other Baltic countries and Scandinavia, were directly joined by land.

^ (Swedish: Skandinaviska halvön; Norwegian: Den skandinaviske halvøy (Bokmål) or Den skandinaviske halvøya (Nynorsk); Finnish: Skandinavian niemimaa)
^ Helle, Knut (2003). "Introduction". The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. Ed. E. I. Kouri et al. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-47299-7. p. XXII. "The name Scandinavia was used by classical authors in the first centuries of the Christian era to identify Skåne and the mainland further north which they believed to be an island."
^ Olwig, Kenneth R. "Introduction: The Nature of Cultural Heritage, and the Culture of Natural Heritage—Northern Perspectives on a Contested Patrimony". International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2005, p. 3: The very name 'Scandinavia' is of cultural origin, since it derives from the Scanians or Scandians (the Latinized spelling of "Skåninger"), a people who long ago lent their name to all of Scandinavia, perhaps because they lived centrally, at the southern tip of the peninsula."
^ Østergård, Uffe (1997). "The Geopolitics of Nordic Identity – From Composite States to Nation States". The Cultural Construction of Norden. Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth (eds.), Oslo: Scandinavian University Press 1997, 25–71.

[1] (Swedish: Skandinaviska halvön; Norwegian: Den skandinaviske halvøy (Bokmål) or Den skandinaviske halvøya (Nynorsk); Finnish: Skandinavian niemimaa)

[2] Helle, Knut (2003). "Introduction". The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. Ed. E. I. Kouri et al. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-47299-7. p. XXII. "The name Scandinavia was used by classical authors in the first centuries of the Christian era to identify Skåne and the mainland further north which they believed to be an island."

[3] Olwig, Kenneth R. "Introduction: The Nature of Cultural Heritage, and the Culture of Natural Heritage—Northern Perspectives on a Contested Patrimony". International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2005, p. 3: The very name 'Scandinavia' is of cultural origin, since it derives from the Scanians or Scandians (the Latinized spelling of "Skåninger"), a people who long ago lent their name to all of Scandinavia, perhaps because they lived centrally, at the southern tip of the peninsula."

[4] Østergård, Uffe (1997). "The Geopolitics of Nordic Identity – From Composite States to Nation States". The Cultural Construction of Norden. Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth (eds.), Oslo: Scandinavian University Press 1997, 25–71.

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