Greatest Scandinavian contribution(s) to the world

What is/are the greatest Scandinavian contribution(s) to the world


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I don't think so. Actually, the matter on how to name Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland is not steadfast.

You can see free variation of the use of "Scandinavia" and "Nordic countries" to define them, although Scandinavia has indeed a stricter sense (including only the kingdoms, but not Iceland) whereas Nordic countries defines them as a whole.

Considering the contributions above-mentioned, and that even Iceland is mentioned, I think a mention of Finland is due.

Finland has been integrated into the Nordic mainstream of culture and society. They too have famous Children books (Moomin), design (Arabia, Iittala, Marimekko) as well as a Democratic welfare state.

They might actually have even more inventions than Norway, as most inventions there actually seem to be from either Sweden or Denmark.

Just a point of mine.

It's not really a matter of opinion. Scandinvia defines countries of Scandinavian language (a branch of Germanic languages), culture and ancestry. The Finns are an Uralic people, hence not Scandinavian, except if you count the Swedish minority. It's true that Finland used to be part of Sweden for many centuries, but by that logic Belgium is Hispanic then (having been part of the Spanish Empire for as long as Spanish colonies in the Americas).
 
It's not really a matter of opinion. Scandinvia defines countries of Scandinavian language (a branch of Germanic languages), culture and ancestry. The Finns are an Uralic people, hence not Scandinavian, except if you count the Swedish minority. It's true that Finland used to be part of Sweden for many centuries, but by that logic Belgium is Hispanic then (having been part of the Spanish Empire for as long as Spanish colonies in the Americas).

In cases where Finland is included, I usually see the term "Fennoscandia."
 
It's still a little bit strange not to see a single mention of Finland.


If the post were named "What is/are the greatest North Germanic contributions to the world", then yes, no problem. But using the term "Scandinavia" (in the strictest sense, including only Norway, Sweden and Denmark) and seeing Iceland in it, it seems unusual not to see Finland.


Now culture and ancestry. What exactly unites Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden culturally, apart from them all being of Germanic language? Iceland is partly of Celtic origin, and it's been found that 3 quartes of Finns' genetic stock is of European origin.

What unites countries better than shared values, which Finland has with the other Nordics? Estonia is usually paired with Finland merely for their language, mentality and fancy for sauna, as genetically Estonians are of another stock. For that matter, it's worth mentioning the famous "Jante law", which is said to be one of the most important concepts that define the Nordic character, is present in Finland and even on Faroe Islands, but not in Iceland.

Also, comparing the situation of Finland to that of Belgium is not proper. Spanish values didn't get infused into Belgium as Swedish ones did in Finland. It's another situation, better comparable with the case of Slovenia (has received Austrian influence).
 
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Fennoscandia is scholarly, in common and colloquial use I generally see "Scandinavia" or "Nordic countries".
 
Surströmming (pronounced [ˈsʉ̟ːˌʂʈrœmːɪŋ], Swedish for "soured herring"), is fermented Baltic sea herring and is a staple of traditional northern Swedish cuisine since at least the 16th century

Johan August Strindberg (/ˈstrɪndbɜrɡ, ˈstrɪnbɜrɡ/;[1] Swedish pronunciation (help·info); 22 January 1849 – 14 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.[2][3][4]

Carl Larsson (28 May 1853 – 22 January 1919) was a Swedish painter representative of the Arts and Crafts Movement. His many paintings include oils, watercolors, and frescoes. He considered his finest work to be Midvinterblot (Midwinter Sacrifice), a large painting now displayed inside the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts

Carl Linnaeus (/lɪˈnəs/;[1] 23 May[note 1] 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné[2] (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkɑːɭ ˈfɔnː lɪˈneː] (listen)), was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern biological naming scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology.

Gustaf de Laval,Johan Petter Johanson,Nils Bohlin,Emanuel Swedenborg,John Ericsson,Lars Magnus Ericsson,Ninni Kronberg,Iréne Grahn....


Henrik Johan Ibsen (/ˈɪbsən/;[1] Norwegian: [ˈhɛnɾɪk ˈɪpsən]; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre.[
 
Gyms, individual people aren't contributions. Eupedia has separate pages for famous people by country and greatest contributions by country.
 
Gyms, individual people aren't contributions. Eupedia has separate pages for famous people by country and greatest contributions by country.

What do you mean?There are essential contributions behind every name.
It is therefore they are famous.
 
What do you mean?There are essential contributions behind every name.
It is therefore they are famous.

But the question was "What is/are Scandinavia's greatest contribution(s) to the world?". Do you think, for example, that literature is one of Scandinavia's greatest contributions to the world? Is that why you wrote down the names of Strindberg and Ibsen? As Maciamo said, there is a difference between people and the contributions they make.
 

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