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153-598: 768,809 (0.2%) Swedish alone Swedish Americans ( Swedish : Svenskamerikaner ) are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arriving between 1865–1915. These immigrants settled predominantly in the Midwest, particularly in states like Minnesota , Illinois , and Wisconsin , in similarity with other Nordic and Scandinavian Americans . Populations also grew in
306-445: A common gender with the definite suffix -en and the definite article den , in contrast with the neuter gender equivalents -et and det . The verb system was also more complex: it included subjunctive and imperative moods and verbs were conjugated according to person as well as number . By the 16th century, the case and gender systems of the colloquial spoken language and the profane literature had been largely reduced to
459-477: A guttural or "French R" pronunciation in the South Swedish dialects ; consequently, these dialects lack retroflex consonants . Swedish is a stress-timed language, where the time intervals between stressed syllables are equal. However, when casually spoken, it tends to be syllable-timed . Any stressed syllable carries one of two tones , which gives Swedish much of its characteristic sound. Prosody
612-537: A change from tauþr into tuþr . Moreover, the øy diphthong changed into a long, close ø , as in the Old Norse word for "island". By the end of the period, these innovations had affected most of the Runic Swedish-speaking area as well, with the exception of the dialects spoken north and east of Mälardalen where the diphthongs still exist in remote areas. Old Swedish (Swedish: fornsvenska )
765-528: A conversation. Due to the close relation between the Scandinavian languages, a considerable proportion of speakers of Danish and especially Norwegian are able to understand Swedish. There is considerable migration between the Nordic countries , but owing to the similarity between the cultures and languages (with the exception of Finnish ), expatriates generally assimilate quickly and do not stand out as
918-470: A decline in air quality. Other factors negatively affecting Iowa's environment include the extensive use of older coal-fired power plants , fertilizer and pesticide runoff from crop production, and diminishment of the Jordan Aquifer . The 2020–2023 North American drought has affected Iowa particularly: As of January 2024, Iowa was in its 187th consecutive week of at least moderate drought ,
1071-401: A few remain solvent as of 2008. Within the city's largest historic "Swedish" neighborhood—Quinsigamond Village—street signs read like a map of Sweden: Stockholm Street, Halmstad Street, and Malmo Street among others. Worcester's Swedes were historically staunch Republicans and this political loyalty is behind why Worcester remained a Republican stronghold in an otherwise Democratic state well into
1224-747: A group. According to the 2000 United States Census , some 67,000 people over the age of five were reported as Swedish speakers, though without any information on the degree of language proficiency. Similarly, there were 16,915 reported Swedish speakers in Canada from the 2001 census. Although there are no certain numbers, some 40,000 Swedes are estimated to live in the London area in the United Kingdom. Outside Sweden and Finland, there are about 40,000 active learners enrolled in Swedish language courses. In
1377-629: A large proportion of the remaining 100,000 in the Scandinavian countries, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia. Over three million people speak Swedish as a second language, with about 2,410,000 of those in Finland. According to a survey by the European Commission , 44% of respondents from Finland who did not have Swedish as a native language considered themselves to be proficient enough in Swedish to hold
1530-477: A matter-of-fact way, publishing Swedish American literature, and presenting articles on science, technology, and industry in the United States. The community produced numerous writers and journalists, of whom the most famous was poet-historian Carl Sandburg from Illinois. The harsh experiences of the frontier were subjects for novelists and story tellers, Of interest revealing the immigrant experience are
1683-425: A more abstract sense, such as that set of fish; while fisken means "the fish". In certain cases, the definite form indicates possession, e. g., jag måste tvätta hår et ("I must wash my hair"). Adjectives are inflected in two declensions – indefinite and definite – and they must match the noun they modify in gender and number. The indefinite neuter and plural forms of an adjective are usually created by adding
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#17327835104031836-435: A noun. They can double as demonstrative pronouns or demonstrative determiners when used with adverbs such as här ("here") or där ("there") to form den/det här (can also be "denna/detta") ("this"), de här (can also be "dessa") ("these"), den/det där ("that"), and de där ("those"). For example, den där fisken means "that fish" and refers to a specific fish; den fisken is less definite and means "that fish" in
1989-689: A special branch of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland has official status as the regulatory body for Swedish in Finland. Among its highest priorities is to maintain intelligibility with the language spoken in Sweden. It has published Finlandssvensk ordbok , a dictionary about the differences between Swedish in Finland and Sweden. From the 13th to 20th century, there were Swedish-speaking communities in Estonia , particularly on
2142-442: A suffix ( -t or -a ) to the common form of the adjective, e. g., en grön stol (a green chair), ett grönt hus (a green house), and gröna stolar ("green chairs"). The definite form of an adjective is identical to the indefinite plural form, e. g., den gröna stolen ("the green chair"), det gröna huset ("the green house"), and de gröna stolarna ("the green chairs"). Swedish pronouns are similar to those of English. Besides
2295-476: A tree, placed in a vase with colored feathers and decorative hanging eggs added. Swedish tradition also found in Swedish American homes has a traditional påskbord , a large meal that is eaten together by families with foods such as deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, meatballs, pickled herring and other fresh fish like salmon. Midsummer is celebrated at the summer solstice, recognizing the longest day of
2448-413: A village, Gammalsvenskby ("Old Swedish Village"). A few elderly people in the village still speak a Swedish dialect and observe the holidays of the Swedish calendar, although their dialect is most likely facing extinction. From 1918 to 1940, when Estonia was independent, the small Swedish community was well treated. Municipalities with a Swedish majority, mainly found along the coast, used Swedish as
2601-569: Is Des Moines . A portion of the larger Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan area extends into three counties of southwest Iowa. Other metropolitan statistical areas in Iowa include Iowa City , Cedar Rapids , Waterloo-Cedar Falls , Ames , Dubuque , Sioux City , and the Iowa portion of the Quad Cities . Iowa is home to 940 small towns, though its population is increasingly urbanized as small communities and rural areas decline in population. During
2754-522: Is a Swedish American community that continues to honor traditions of the old country. Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church was served by a native of Sweden as recently as 1979–1985 (The Rev. Hans Olof Andræ, born 1933 in Vimmerby, Sweden) who was known to occasionally conduct special worship services in Swedish. The largest settlement in New England was Worcester, Massachusetts . Here, Swedes were drawn to
2907-613: Is a line along 43 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. The southern border is the Des Moines River and a not-quite-straight line along approximately 40 degrees 35 minutes north, as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Missouri v. Iowa (1849) after a standoff between Missouri and Iowa known as the Honey War . Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are formed almost entirely by rivers. Carter Lake, Iowa ,
3060-774: Is a lot of research waiting to be done on the more urban and working-class parts of the Swedish immigrant group, where some ended up in slums like Swede Hollow in St. Paul, Minnesota , which had a population of about roughly 1,000 squatters around 1890 (slightly less in 1900, according to the census carried out that year). Child mortality was high and diphtheria and pertussis common. Many also died in work-related accidents. Drunkenness and wife beatings were also common. Swedish housemaids were in high demand in America. Working conditions were far better than in Sweden, in terms of wages, hours of work, benefits, and ability to change positions. During
3213-579: Is categorized as the Central forest-grasslands transition ecoregion. The Northern, drier part of Iowa is categorized as part of the Central tall grasslands . There is a dearth of natural areas in Iowa; less than 1% of the tallgrass prairie that once covered most of Iowa remains intact; only about 5% of the state's prairie pothole wetlands remain, and most of the original forest has been lost. As of 2005 Iowa ranked 49th of U.S. states in public land holdings. Threatened or endangered animals in Iowa include
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#17327835104033366-420: Is celebrated in the United States. Traditionally, Swedes celebrate by dressing up children as little påskhäxor ( Easter witches ) and their then going door to door asking for candy, similarly to Hallowe'en in the U.S. More recently Swedes celebrate a typical American Easter with egg hunts and candy for the little ones to find. Swedish Americans often include påskris (an Easter bush) with twigs cut from
3519-722: Is co- official language . Swedish was long spoken in parts of Estonia , although the current status of the Estonian Swedish speakers is almost extinct. It is also used in the Swedish diaspora , most notably in Oslo , Norway, with more than 50,000 Swedish residents. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages . In the established classification, it belongs to
3672-589: Is derived from the Iowa River , and ultimately from the ethnonym of the indigenous Ioway people . The Ioway are a Chiwere -speaking Siouan Nation , who were once part of the Ho-Chunk Confederation that inhabited the area now corresponding to several Midwest states. The Ioway were one of the many Native American nations whose territory comprised the future state of Iowa before the time of European colonization. When Indigenous peoples of
3825-481: Is generally seen as adding specific Central Swedish features to the new Bible. Though it might seem as if the Bible translation set a very powerful precedent for orthographic standards, spelling actually became more inconsistent during the remainder of the century. It was not until the 17th century that spelling began to be discussed, around the time when the first grammars were written. Capitalization during this time
3978-538: Is marked primarily through suffixes (endings), complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles . The prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a comparatively large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative , a highly variable consonant phoneme . Swedish nouns and adjectives are declined in genders as well as number . Nouns are of common gender ( en form) or neuter gender ( ett form). The gender determines
4131-594: Is notable for the Iowa Caucuses , an influential event in national politics, as well as its high levels of voter turnout and foundational leadership in civil rights including early adoption or support of black suffrage , women's rights , and same-sex marriage . Iowa's standard of living is ranked among the best states and it performs highly on metrics such as governance, education, infrastructure, and safety. Like many other states , Iowa takes its name from its predecessor, Iowa Territory , whose name in turn
4284-568: Is often one of the most noticeable differences between dialects. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages , V2 , which means that the finite verb (V) appears in the second position (2) of a declarative main clause . Swedish morphology is similar to English; that is, words have comparatively few inflections . Swedish has two genders and is generally seen to have two grammatical cases – nominative and genitive (except for pronouns that, as in English, also are inflected in
4437-638: Is one of the official languages of the European Union , and one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries speaking Swedish have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for interpretation or translation costs. The Swedish Language Council ( Språkrådet )
4590-527: Is part of the Driftless Area , consisting of steep hills and valleys which appear as mountainous. Several natural lakes exist, most notably Spirit Lake , West Okoboji Lake , and East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa ( see Iowa Great Lakes ). To the east lies Clear Lake . Man-made lakes include Lake Odessa, Saylorville Lake , Lake Red Rock , Coralville Lake , Lake MacBride, and Rathbun Lake. Before European settlement, 4 to 6 million acres of
4743-637: Is rarely taught in high schools or colleges, and Swedish-language newspapers or magazines are rare. In 2020, Minnesota had the most Swedes, both by number (410,091) and by the percent of the state's population they make up (7.3%). Swedish language Swedish ( endonym : svenska [ˈsvɛ̂nːska] ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family , spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland . It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it
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4896-475: Is termed nusvenska (lit., "Now-Swedish") in linguistics, and started in the last decades of the 19th century. It saw a democratization of the language with a less formal written form that approached the spoken one. The growth of a public school system also led to the evolution of so-called boksvenska (literally, "book Swedish"), especially among the working classes, where spelling to some extent influenced pronunciation, particularly in official contexts. With
5049-588: Is the only city in the state located west of the Missouri River. Iowa has 99 counties , but 100 county seats because Lee County has two. The state capital, Des Moines , is in Polk County . Iowa's bedrock geology generally decreases in age from east to west. In northwest Iowa, Cretaceous bedrock can be 74 million years old; in eastern Iowa Cambrian bedrock dates to c. 500 million years ago. The oldest radiometrically dated bedrock in
5202-464: Is the predominant language; in 19 municipalities , 16 of which are located in Åland , Swedish is the sole official language. Åland county is an autonomous region of Finland. According to a rough estimation, as of 2010 there were up to 300,000 Swedish-speakers living outside Sweden and Finland. The largest populations were in the United States (up to 100,000), the UK, Spain and Germany (c. 30,000 each) and
5355-455: Is the regulator of Swedish in Sweden but does not attempt to enforce control of the language, as for instance the Académie française does for French . However, many organizations and agencies require the use of the council's publication Svenska skrivregler in official contexts, with it otherwise being regarded as a de facto orthographic standard. Among the many organizations that make up
5508-407: Is the sole official language of Åland (an autonomous province under the sovereignty of Finland), where the vast majority of the 26,000 inhabitants speak Swedish as a first language. In Finland as a whole, Swedish is one of the two "national" languages, with the same official status as Finnish (spoken by the majority) at the state level and an official language in some municipalities . Swedish
5661-631: Is the term used for the medieval Swedish language. The start date is usually set to 1225 since this is the year that Västgötalagen ("the Västgöta Law") is believed to have been compiled for the first time. It is among the most important documents of the period written in Latin script and the oldest Swedish law codes . Old Swedish is divided into äldre fornsvenska (1225–1375) and yngre fornsvenska (1375–1526), "older" and "younger" Old Swedish. Important outside influences during this time came with
5814-465: The Gustav Vasa Bible , a translation deemed so successful and influential that, with revisions incorporated in successive editions, it remained the most common Bible translation until 1917. The main translators were Laurentius Andreæ and the brothers Laurentius and Olaus Petri . The Vasa Bible is often considered to be a reasonable compromise between old and new; while not adhering to
5967-660: The 1900 census , though Iowa now has a predominantly urban population. The Iowa Economic Development Authority, created in 2011 has replaced the Iowa Department of Economic Development and its annual reports are a source of economic information. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east along with the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west. The northern boundary
6120-940: The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis , the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia , Chicago's Swedish American Museum , and the Gammelgården Museum in Scandia, Minnesota . The first Swedish Americans were the settlers of New Sweden : a colony established by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1638. It centered around the Delaware Valley including parts of the present-day states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. New Sweden
6273-1000: The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church . Theologically, they were pietistic ; politically they often supported progressive causes and prohibition . In the year 1900, Chicago was the city with the second highest number of Swedes after Stockholm , the capital of Sweden. By then, Swedes in Chicago had founded the Evangelical Covenant Church and established such enduring institutions as Swedish Covenant Hospital and North Park University . Many others settled in Minnesota in particular, followed by Wisconsin ; as well as New York , Pennsylvania , Michigan , Iowa , Nebraska , Kansas and Illinois . Like their Norwegian American and Danish American brethren, many Swedes sought out
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6426-679: The East Scandinavian languages , together with Danish , separating it from the West Scandinavian languages , consisting of Faroese , Icelandic , and Norwegian . However, more recent analyses divide the North Germanic languages into two groups: Insular Scandinavian (Faroese and Icelandic), and Continental Scandinavian (Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish), based on mutual intelligibility due to heavy influence of East Scandinavian (particularly Danish) on Norwegian during
6579-467: The French vous (see T-V distinction ). Ni wound up being used as a slightly less familiar form of du , the singular second person pronoun, used to address people of lower social status. With the liberalization and radicalization of Swedish society in the 1950s and 1960s, these class distinctions became less important, and du became the standard, even in formal and official contexts. Though
6732-542: The French and Indian War , transferred ownership to their ally, Spain. Spain practiced very loose control over the Iowa region, granting trading licenses to French and British traders, who established trading posts along the Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers . Iowa was part of a territory known as La Louisiane or Louisiana , and European traders were interested in lead and furs obtained by Indigenous people. The Sauk and Meskwaki effectively controlled trade on
6885-845: The Indiana Territory ) that surrendered much of Illinois to the U.S. enraged many Sauk and led to the 1832 Black Hawk War . The Sauk and Meskwaki were forced to sell some of their land in the Mississippi Valley to the U.S. in 1832 in the Black Hawk Purchase Treaty and sold their remaining land in Iowa in 1842, most of them moving to a reservation in Kansas. In 1837, some the Potawatomi from Illinois were resettled in Iowa, while many Meskwaki later returned to Iowa and settled near Tama, Iowa ;
7038-591: The Late Archaic period , Native Americans in Iowa began utilizing domesticated plants. The subsequent Woodland period saw an increased reliance on agriculture and social complexity, with increased use of mounds, ceramics, and specialized subsistence. During the Late Prehistoric period (beginning about AD 900) increased use of maize and social changes led to social flourishing and nucleated settlements. The arrival of European trade goods and diseases in
7191-804: The Meskwaki Settlement remains to this day. In 1856 the Iowa Legislature passed an unprecedented act allowing the Meskwaki to purchase the land. However, in contrast to the unprecedented act of the Iowa Legislature, the United States Federal Government, through the use of Treaties, forced the Ho-Chunk from Iowa in 1848, and forced the Dakota from Iowa by 1858. Western Iowa around modern Council Bluffs
7344-427: The Mississippi River , averages 52 °F (11 °C). Snowfall is common, with Des Moines getting about 26 days of snowfall a year, and other places, such as Shenandoah getting about 11 days of snowfall in a year. Spring ushers in the beginning of the severe weather season. As of 2008, Iowa averaged about 50 days of thunderstorm activity per year. As of 2015, the 30-year annual average of tornadoes in Iowa
7497-502: The Pacific Northwest in the states of Oregon and Washington at the turn of the twentieth century. As a community, Swedish Americans have contributed to various aspects of American life, including politics, the arts, sciences, and business. They brought with them distinct cultural traditions like unique culinary practices, language, and celebrations such as Midsummer . These traditions are preserved by institutions such as
7650-601: The U.S. Congress established the Territory of Iowa . President Martin Van Buren appointed Robert Lucas governor of the territory, which at the time had 22 counties and a population of 23,242. Almost immediately after achieving territorial status, a clamor arose for statehood. On December 28, 1846, Iowa became the 29th state in the Union when President James K. Polk signed Iowa's admission bill into law. Once admitted to
7803-518: The United States , particularly during the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a significant Swedish-speaking immigrant population. This was notably true in states like Minnesota , where many Swedish immigrants settled. By 1940, approximately 6% of Minnesota's population spoke Swedish. Although the use of Swedish has significantly declined, it is not uncommon to find older generations and communities that still retain some use and knowledge of
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#17327835104037956-650: The War of 1812 , and Fort Shelby in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin , also fell to the British. Black Hawk took part in the siege of Fort Madison. Another small military outpost was established along the Mississippi River in present-day Bellevue . This poorly situated stockade was similarly attacked by hundreds of Indigenous people in 1813, but was successfully defended and later abandoned until settlers returned to
8109-529: The fourth most spoken Germanic language , and the first among its type in the Nordic countries overall. Swedish, like the other Nordic languages , is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age . It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish , although the degree of mutual intelligibility is dependent on
8262-596: The interior least tern , piping plover , Indiana bat , pallid sturgeon , the Iowa Pleistocene land snail , Higgins' eye pearly mussel , and the Topeka shiner . Endangered or threatened plants include western prairie fringed orchid , eastern prairie fringed orchid , Mead's milkweed , prairie bush clover , and northern wild monkshood . The explosion in the number of high-density livestock facilities in Iowa has led to increased rural water contamination and
8415-581: The nationalist ideas that emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the languages have separate orthographies , dictionaries, grammars, and regulatory bodies. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are thus from a linguistic perspective more accurately described as a dialect continuum of Scandinavian (North Germanic), and some of the dialects, such as those on the border between Norway and Sweden, especially parts of Bohuslän , Dalsland , western Värmland , western Dalarna , Härjedalen , Jämtland , and Scania , could be described as intermediate dialects of
8568-410: The object form) – although it is debated if the genitive in Swedish should be seen as a genitive case or just the nominative plus the so-called genitive s , then seen as a clitic . Swedish has two grammatical numbers – plural and singular . Adjectives have discrete comparative and superlative forms and are also inflected according to gender, number and definiteness . The definiteness of nouns
8721-541: The 1850s. An early community of Swedish immigrants (1848) became established in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York stemming from the port of Buffalo connecting the Erie Canal with the Great Lakes. Jamestown, New York , became a principal Swedish American city during the peak of Swedish immigration. The Swedish American community in this area often served as a stepping stone for immigrants who settled in
8874-463: The 1860–1890 era, there was little assimilation into American society. The Swedish Americans attached relatively little significance to the American dimension of their ethnicity; instead they relied on an extant Swedish literature. There was a relatively weak Swedish American institutional structure before 1890, and Swedish Americans were somewhat insecure in their social-economic status in America. An increasingly large Swedish American community fostered
9027-554: The 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana ; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France . After the Louisiana Purchase , pioneers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt . In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy began to transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services , information technology , biotechnology , and green energy production. Politically, Iowa
9180-399: The 1950s, when their use was removed from all official recommendations. A very significant change in Swedish occurred in the late 1960s, with the so-called du-reformen . Previously, the proper way to address people of the same or higher social status had been by title and surname. The use of herr ("Mr." or "Sir"), fru ("Mrs." or "Ma'am") or fröken ("Miss") was considered
9333-496: The 1950s. Many Swedes also came to the Pacific Northwest during the turn of the 20th century, along with Norwegians and Finns , settling in Washington and Oregon . According to research by the Oregon Historical Society , Swedish immigrants "felt a kinship with the natural surroundings and economic opportunities in the Pacific Northwest," and the region experienced a significant influx of Swedish and Scandinavian immigrants between 1890 and 1910. Notable influence can be felt in
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#17327835104039486-422: The 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse , evolved into Old Norse. This language underwent more changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, which resulted in the appearance of two similar dialects: Old West Norse (Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland) and Old East Norse (Denmark and Sweden). The dialects of Old East Norse spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish , while
9639-563: The Americas first arrived in what is now Iowa more than 13,000 years ago, they were hunters and gatherers living in a Pleistocene glacial landscape. By the time European explorers and traders visited Iowa, Native Americans were largely settled farmers with complex economic, social, and political systems. This transformation happened gradually. During the Archaic period (10,500 to 2,800 years ago), Native Americans adapted to local environments and ecosystems, slowly becoming more sedentary as populations increased. More than 3,000 years ago, during
9792-404: The Army of the Potomac in Virginia and fought under Union General Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley . Many died and were buried at Andersonville. They marched on General Nathaniel Banks ' ill-starred expedition to the Red River. Twenty-seven Iowans have been awarded the Medal of Honor , the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government, which was first awarded in
9945-497: The Catholic Columbus, Swedish America could use its culture to stress its position as loyal adherents to the larger Protestant American society. In 1896 the Vasa Order of America , a Swedish-American fraternal organization, was founded to provide ethnic identity and social services such as health insurance and death subsidies, operates numerous social and recreational opportunities, and maintains contact with fellow lodges in Sweden. Johannes and Helga Hoving were its leaders, calling for
10098-451: The Civil War. Iowa had several brigadier generals and four major generals— Grenville Mellen Dodge , Samuel R. Curtis , Francis J. Herron , and Frederick Steele —and saw many of its generals go on to state and national prominence following the war. Following the Civil War, Iowa's population continued to grow dramatically, from 674,913 people in 1860 to 1,624,615 in 1880. The American Civil War briefly brought higher profits. In 1917,
10251-417: The Depression. The crisis spurred a major, decade-long population decline. After bottoming out in the 1980s, Iowa's economy began to reduce its dependence on agriculture. By the early 21st century, it was characterized by a mix of manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services. The population of Iowa has increased at a slower rate than the U.S. as a whole since at least
10404-454: The Indochina War. An exception was required for this resettlement as State Dept policy at the time forbid resettlement of large groups of refugees in concentrated communities; an exception was ultimately granted and 1200 Tai Dam were resettled in Iowa. Since then Iowa has accepted thousands of refugees from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Bhutan, and Burma. The farm crisis of the 1980s caused a major recession in Iowa, causing poverty not seen since
10557-408: The Louisiana Purchase into two parts—the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana, with present-day Iowa falling in the latter. The Indiana Territory , created in 1800, exercised jurisdiction over this portion of the District; William Henry Harrison was its first governor. Much of Iowa was mapped by Zebulon Pike in 1805, but it was not until the construction of Fort Madison in 1808 that
10710-481: The Midwest, especially early communities in Illinois and Minnesota, as well as Massachusetts. In the east, New England became a destination for many skilled industrial workers and Swedish centers developed in areas such as Jamestown, New York ; Providence, Rhode Island , and Boston . A small Swedish settlement was also started in New Sweden, Maine . 51 Swedish settlers came to the wooded area, led by W. W. Thomas, who called them mina barn i skogen ('my children in
10863-410: The Mississippi in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Among the early traders on the Mississippi were Julien Dubuque , Robert de la Salle , and Paul Marin . Along the Missouri River at least five French and English trading houses were built before 1808. In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte took control of Louisiana from Spain in a treaty . After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase , Congress divided
11016-471: The Modern Swedish period were the gradual assimilation of several different consonant clusters into the fricative [ʃ] and later into [ɧ] . There was also the gradual softening of [ɡ] and [k] into [j] and the fricative [ɕ] before front vowels . The velar fricative [ɣ] was also transformed into the corresponding plosive [ɡ] . The period that includes Swedish as it is spoken today
11169-483: The Protohistoric period led to dramatic population shifts and economic and social upheaval, with the arrival of new tribes and early European explorers and traders. There were numerous native American tribes living in Iowa at the time of early European exploration. Tribes which were probably descendants of the prehistoric Oneota include the Dakota , Ho-Chunk , Ioway , and Otoe . Tribes which arrived in Iowa in
11322-601: The Swedish Language Council, the Swedish Academy (established 1786) is arguably the most influential. Its primary instruments are the spelling dictionary Svenska Akademiens ordlista ( SAOL , currently in its 14th edition) and the dictionary Svenska Akademiens Ordbok , in addition to various books on grammar, spelling and manuals of style. Although the dictionaries have a prescriptive element, they mainly describe current usage. In Finland,
11475-518: The U.S. established tenuous military control over the region. Fort Madison was built to control trade and establish U.S. dominance over the Upper Mississippi, but it was poorly designed and disliked by the Sauk and Meskwaki, many of whom allied with the British, who had not abandoned claims to the territory. Fort Madison was defeated by British-supported Indigenous people in 1813 during
11628-605: The U.S. have retained a few distinctive characteristics. For example Silverhill, Alabama ; Lindstrom, Minnesota ; Karlstad, Minnesota ; Gothenburg, Nebraska ; Andover, Illinois ; Kingsburg, California ; and Bishop Hill, Illinois . Lindsborg, Kansas , is representative. It was founded by Lutheran pietists in 1869 on land purchased from the Kansas Pacific Railroad; the First Swedish Agricultural Company of Chicago spearheaded
11781-434: The U.S. population is said to have Fennoscandinavian ancestry (which also includes Norwegian Americans , Danish Americans , Finnish Americans , and Icelandic Americans ). According to the 2005 American Community Survey, only 56,324 Americans continue to speak the Swedish language at home, down from 67,655 in 2000, most of whom are recent immigrants. Swedish American communities typically switched to English by 1920. Swedish
11934-403: The Union, the state's boundary issues resolved, and most of its land purchased from Natives, Iowa set its direction to development and organized campaigns for settlers and investors, boasting the young frontier state's rich farmlands, fine citizens, free and open society, and good government. Iowa has a long tradition of state and county fairs. The first and second Iowa State Fairs were held in
12087-455: The United States entered World War I and farmers as well as all Iowans experienced a wartime economy. For farmers, the change was significant. Since the beginning of the war in 1914, Iowa farmers had experienced economic prosperity, which lasted until the end of the war. In the economic sector, Iowa also has undergone considerable change. Beginning with the first industries developed in the 1830s, which were mainly for processing materials grown in
12240-579: The United States in pursuit of continued economic success. Swedish Americans formed their own social identity within the U.S. during the period through their memberships of social clubs and their deliberate membership or non-membership in different ethnically based institutions. The story of A. V. Swanson, who in 1911 left Bjuv at age 20 and settled in Ames, Iowa, eight years later is a case study in farming and business success. The Swedish group was, as many other emigrant groups, highly differentiated. There still
12393-425: The United States though somewhat differently, such as Påsk ( Easter ), Första Maj ( May Day / International Workers' Day / Labor Day ), Jul ( Christmas / Yule Eve and Day), and New Year's Eve . Swedish Americans can celebrate with various Swedish Heritage societies across the country who try to keep the Swedish traditions alive. Swedish Easter is celebrated around the first week of April, when Easter
12546-560: The Year is awarded through Vasa Order of America District Lodges 19 and 20 in Sweden. Formal church membership in 1936 was reported as: The affiliated membership of a church is much larger than the formal membership. Other churches Until 2000, the Church of Sweden was the official state church of Sweden. The Nobel Conference is an academic conference held annually at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota . Founded in 1963,
12699-569: The activities and attractions used to enhance the Swedish image. The Lindsborg plan is representative of growing national interest in ethnic heritage, historic preservation, and small-town nostalgia in the late 20th century. Several holidays celebrated in Sweden have been brought to the United States by Swedish Americans. These include Trettondagen ( Epiphany ), Tjugondedag Knut ( Saint Canute's Day ), Fettisdagen ( Shrove Tuesday ), Valborg ( Walpurgis Night ), Midsummer and Lucia ( Saint Lucy's Day ). Some are already celebrated in
12852-502: The administrative language and Swedish-Estonian culture saw an upswing. However, most Swedish-speaking people fled to Sweden before the end of World War II , that is, before the invasion of Estonia by the Soviet army in 1944. Only a handful of speakers remain. Swedish dialects have either 17 or 18 vowel phonemes , 9 long and 9 short. As in the other Germanic languages, including English, most long vowels are phonetically paired with one of
13005-405: The agrarian lifestyle they had left behind in Sweden, as many immigrants settled on farms throughout the Midwest. There are towns scattered throughout the Midwest, such as Lindsborg, Kansas and Lindström, Minnesota , that to this day continue to celebrate their Swedish heritage. The port of New York, imports of Swedish iron, and the prevalence of Swedish mariners factored in making New York City
13158-527: The area in the mid-1830s. After the war, the U.S. re-established control of the region through the construction of Fort Armstrong , Fort Snelling in Minnesota , and Fort Atkinson in Nebraska . The United States encouraged settlement of the east side of the Mississippi and removal of Indians to the west. A disputed 1804 treaty between Quashquame and William Henry Harrison (then governor of
13311-550: The area, Iowa has experienced a gradual increase in the number of business and manufacturing operations. The transition from an agricultural economy to a mixed economy happened slowly. The Great Depression and World War II accelerated the shift away from smallholder farming to larger farms, and began a trend of urbanization. The period after World War II witnessed a particular increase in manufacturing operations. In 1975, Governor Robert D. Ray petitioned President Ford to allow Iowa to accept and resettle Tai Dam refugees fleeing
13464-648: The armed forces, over one-sixth of whom were killed before the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox . Most fought in the great campaigns in the Mississippi Valley and in the South . Iowa troops fought at Wilson's Creek in Missouri , Pea Ridge in Arkansas , Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Rossville Gap as well as Vicksburg, Iuka, and Corinth. They served with
13617-740: The city's wire and abrasive industries. By the early 20th century numerous churches, organizations, businesses, and benevolent associations had been organized – among them, the Swedish Cemetery Corporation (1885), the Swedish Lutheran Old People's Home (1920), Fairlawn Hospital (1921), and the Scandinavian Athletic Club (1923). These institutions survive today, although some have mainstreamed their names. Numerous local lodges of national Swedish American organizations also flourished and
13770-504: The colloquial spoken language of its day, it was not overly conservative in its use of archaic forms. It was a major step towards a more consistent Swedish orthography . It established the use of the vowels "å", "ä", and "ö", and the spelling "ck" in place of "kk", distinguishing it clearly from the Danish Bible, perhaps intentionally, given the ongoing rivalry between the countries. All three translators came from central Sweden, which
13923-648: The colonization. Known today as Little Sweden, Lindsborg is the economic and spiritual center of the Smoky Valley. The rise of agribusiness , the decline of the family farm, the arrival of nearby discount stores, and the "economic bypass" of the new interstate system wrought economic havoc on this community. By the 1970s Lindsborg residents pulled together a unique combination of musical, artistic, intellectual, and ethnic strengths to reinvent their town. The Sandzén Gallery, Runbeck Mill, Swedish Pavilion, historical museum at Bethany College, and Messiah Festival were among
14076-1076: The conference links a general audience with the world's foremost scholars and researchers in conversations centered on contemporary issues related to the natural and social sciences. It is the first ongoing academic conference in the United States to have the official authorization of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. A few small towns in the U.S. have retained a few visible Swedish characteristics. Some examples include Silverhill, Alabama ; Cambridge, Minnesota ; Lindstrom, Minnesota ; Karlstad, Minnesota ; Scandia, Minnesota ; Lindsborg, Kansas ; Gothenburg, Nebraska ; Oakland, Nebraska ; Andover, Illinois ; Kingsburg, California ; Bishop Hill, Illinois ; Jamestown, New York ; Mount Jewett, PA , Wilcox, PA , and Westby, Wisconsin , as well as significant areas of central Texas, including New Sweden and Georgetown, and areas in northern Maine: New Sweden, Stockholm, Jemptland, and Westmanland. Around 3.9% of
14229-403: The declension of the adjectives . For example, the word fisk ("fish") is a noun of common gender ( en fisk ) and can have the following forms: The definite singular form of a noun is created by adding a suffix ( -en , -n , -et or -t ), depending on its gender and if the noun ends in a vowel or not. The definite articles den , det , and de are used for variations to the definitiveness of
14382-508: The dialect and accent of the speaker. Standard Swedish , spoken by most Swedes , is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century, and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties and rural dialects still exist, the written language is uniform and standardized . Swedish is the most widely spoken second language in Finland where its status
14535-541: The dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish . The dialects are described as "runic" because the main body of text appears in the runic alphabet . Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, which had only 16 letters. Because the number of runes was limited, some runes were used for a range of phonemes , such as
14688-799: The dynamics of economic and cultural assimilation and the " American Dream " in one small city. Most Swedes in McKeesport, Pennsylvania , between 1880 and 1920 were permanent settlers rather than temporary migrants. Many ended up comfortably off and a few became prosperous. They judged their success against Swedes in Sweden, not McKeesporters of other nationalities. They had no illusions about American life but they chose to stay and confront difficult living and working conditions rather than move on or return to Sweden where good jobs were scarce and paid much less. Many of their children were upwardly socially mobile, and America offered girls in particular greater opportunities than Sweden did. The immigrants greatly valued
14841-437: The expense of more rural counties. Iowa, in common with other Midwestern states (especially Kansas , Nebraska , North Dakota , and South Dakota ), is feeling the brunt of rural flight , although Iowa has been gaining population since approximately 1990. Some smaller communities, such as Denison and Storm Lake , have mitigated this population loss through gains in immigrant laborers. Another demographic problem for Iowa
14994-588: The fairgrounds were being used as an army supply depot; and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States . Iowa supported the Union during the Civil War , voting heavily for Abraham Lincoln , though there was an antiwar " Copperhead " movement in the state, caused partially by a drop in crop prices caused by the war. There were no battles in the state, although the Battle of Athens , Missouri, 1861,
15147-545: The firm establishment of the Christian church and various monastic orders, introducing many Greek and Latin loanwords. With the rise of Hanseatic power in the late 13th and early 14th century, Middle Low German became very influential. The Hanseatic league provided Swedish commerce and administration with a large number of Low German -speaking immigrants. Many became quite influential members of Swedish medieval society, and brought terms from their native languages into
15300-464: The first waves of migration the Swedes were also subjected to certain stereotypes and prejudices. The expression "dumb Swede" was established as they had difficulty learning English. There were entertainment shows which used a character called "John Johnsson" when poking fun at Swedes. He was dumb, clumsy, drank too much and talked with a funny accent. Many also complained about the smell of the Swedes that
15453-468: The growth of an institutional structure—a Swedish-language press, churches and colleges, and ethnic organizations—that placed a premium on sponsoring a sense of Swedishness in the United States. Blanck (2006) argues that after 1890 there emerged a self-confident Americanized generation. At prestigious Augustana College , for example, American-born students began to predominate after 1890. The students mostly had white-collar or professional backgrounds; few were
15606-430: The industrialization and urbanization of Sweden well under way by the last decades of the 19th century, a new breed of authors made their mark on Swedish literature . Many scholars, politicians and other public figures had a great influence on the emerging national language, among them prolific authors like the poet Gustaf Fröding , Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf and radical writer and playwright August Strindberg . It
15759-614: The islands (e. g., Hiiumaa , Vormsi , Ruhnu ; in Swedish, known as Dagö , Ormsö , Runö , respectively) along the coast of the Baltic , communities that today have all disappeared. The Swedish-speaking minority was represented in parliament , and entitled to use their native language in parliamentary debates. After the loss of Estonia to the Russian Empire in the early 18th century, around 1,000 Estonian Swedish speakers were forced to march to southern Ukraine , where they founded
15912-484: The language, particularly in rural communities like Lindström and Scandia . Swedish is the official main language of Sweden. Swedish is also one of two official languages of Finland. In Sweden, it has long been used in local and state government, and most of the educational system, but remained only a de facto primary language with no official status in law until 2009. A bill was proposed in 2005 that would have made Swedish an official language, but failed to pass by
16065-490: The last millennium and divergence from both Faroese and Icelandic. By many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. However, because of several hundred years of sometimes quite intense rivalry between Denmark and Sweden, including a long series of wars from the 16th to 18th centuries, and
16218-493: The late prehistoric or protohistoric periods include the Illiniwek , Meskwaki , Omaha , and Sauk . The first known European explorers to document Iowa were Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet who traveled the Mississippi River in 1673 documenting several Indigenous villages on the Iowa side. The area of Iowa was claimed for France and remained a French territory until 1763. The French, before their impending defeat in
16371-403: The longest stretch since the 1950s. 96% of areas are affected by drought. Iowa has a humid continental climate throughout the state ( Köppen climate classification Dfa ) with extremes of both heat and cold. The average annual temperature at Des Moines is 50 °F (10 °C); for some locations in the north, such as Mason City, the figure is about 45 °F (7 °C), while Keokuk , on
16524-662: The lower Hudson Valley, was stabbed to death by Albert Cornelis Wantenaer. Present day reminders of the history of New Sweden are reflected in the presence of the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia, Fort Christina State Park in Wilmington, Delaware, Governor Printz Park , and the Printzhof in Essington, Pennsylvania. Swedish emigration to the United States had reached new heights in 1896, and it
16677-411: The maintenance of the Swedish language and culture among Swedish Americans, especially the younger generation. However, they returned to Sweden in 1934 and Vasa itself became Americanized. As a highly literate population, their output of print media was even more remarkable, and cultural leadership was exerted by numerous magazine and newspaper editors more so than by churchmen. The Swedish American press
16830-653: The more developed eastern part of the state at Fairfield . The first fair was held October 25–27, 1854, at a cost of around $ 323. Thereafter, the fair moved to locations closer to the center of the state and in 1886 found a permanent home in Des Moines. The State Fair has been held annually since then, except for a few exceptions: 1898 due to the Spanish–American War and the World's Fair being held in nearby Omaha, Nebraska ; from 1942 to 1945, due to World War II , as
16983-577: The narrowest possible margin (145–147) due to a pairing-off failure. A proposal for a broader language law, designating Swedish as the main language of the country and bolstering the status of the minority languages, was submitted by an expert committee to the Swedish Ministry of Culture in March 2008. It was subsequently enacted by the Riksdag , and entered into effect on 1 July 2009. Swedish
17136-421: The national standard languages. Swedish pronunciations also vary greatly from one region to another, a legacy of the vast geographic distances and historical isolation. Even so, the vocabulary is standardized to a level that make dialects within Sweden virtually fully mutually intelligible. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish In
17289-593: The neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle , Washington, and by the Swedish Medical Center , a major hospital also in Seattle. In Oregon, Swedish immigrant populations were concentrated in the rural areas east of Portland , and a significant Swedish community was also established in the coastal city of Astoria along with Finnish and Norwegian settlers who worked in the timber and fishing industries. In
17442-424: The north. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the other dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é , as in stæinn to sténn "stone". This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain and the later stin . There was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr "dead". This change is shown in runic inscriptions as
17595-405: The northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north. Iowa is the 26th largest in total area and the 31st most populous of the 50 U.S. states , with a population of 3.19 million. The state's capital , most populous city , and largest metropolitan area fully located within the state
17748-402: The northwest of the state receiving less than 28 inches (71 cm). The pattern of precipitation across Iowa is seasonal with more rain falling in the summer months. Virtually statewide, the driest month is January or February, and the wettest month is June owing to frequent showers and thunderstorms some of which produce hail, damaging winds or tornadoes. In Des Moines, roughly in the center of
17901-430: The novels of Lillian Budd (1897–1989), especially April Snow (1951), Land of Strangers (1953), and April Harvest (1959). Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg wrote a series of four books about a group of Swedish-American emigrants, starting with The Emigrants (1949), which were translated in the 1950s and 1960s. They were also filmed by Jan Troell as The Emigrants and The New Land . Baigent (2000) explores
18054-441: The only acceptable way to begin conversation with strangers of unknown occupation, academic title or military rank. The fact that the listener should preferably be referred to in the third person tended to further complicate spoken communication between members of society. In the early 20th century, an unsuccessful attempt was made to replace the insistence on titles with ni —the standard second person plural pronoun)—analogous to
18207-402: The original Germanic three- gender system. Nouns , adjectives , pronouns and certain numerals were inflected in four cases; besides the extant nominative , there were also the genitive (later possessive ), dative and accusative . The gender system resembled that of modern German , having masculine, feminine and neuter genders. The masculine and feminine genders were later merged into
18360-610: The principal port of entry for Swedish immigrants. Swedes have been persistent during the long history of New York City, but have never been a major immigrant group in the metropolitan region. The place name for the Bronx has its origins in the early settler Jonas Bronck , who was part of the New Netherland colony in 1639 and likely of Swedish origin. A Swedish neighborhood along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn developed beginning in
18513-480: The reform was not an act of any centralized political decree, but rather the result of sweeping change in social attitudes, it was completed in just a few years, from the late 1960s to early 1970s. The use of ni as a polite form of address is sometimes encountered today in both the written and spoken language, particularly among older speakers. Swedish is the sole official national language of Sweden , and one of two in Finland (alongside Finnish ). As of 2006, it
18666-508: The religious freedom that America offered, but their political freedoms were heavily circumscribed by McKeesport's "booze interest" and iron and steel bosses. Swedes dominated the prohibition movement in the town, but this did not open the door to a wider political stage. The dreams of many individual Swedes came true, but the dream of creating a permanent Swedish community in McKeesport was not realized, since individual Swedes moved on within
18819-468: The rune for the vowel u , which was also used for the vowels o , ø and y , and the rune for i , also used for e . From 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. The innovations spread unevenly from Denmark, creating a series of minor dialectal boundaries, or isoglosses , ranging from Zealand in the south to Norrland , Österbotten and northwestern Finland in
18972-697: The sea to the Big Country in the west. Swedes, moreover, were among the first founders of America with their New Sweden colony in Delaware. Swedish America was present in Congress under the Articles of Confederation period, and its role was momentous in fighting the war against slavery. As a paragon of freedom and the struggle against unfreedom, and as an exemplar of the courage of the Vikings in contrast to
19125-444: The short /e/ (transcribed ⟨ ɛ ⟩ in the chart below). There are 18 consonant phonemes, two of which, / ɧ / and /r/ , vary considerably in pronunciation depending on the dialect and social status of the speaker. In many dialects, sequences of /r/ (pronounced alveolarly) with a dental consonant result in retroflex consonants ; alveolarity of the pronunciation of /r/ is a precondition for this retroflexion. /r/ has
19278-428: The short vowels, and the pairs are such that the two vowels are of similar quality , but with the short vowel being slightly lower and slightly centralized. In contrast to e.g. Danish, which has only tense vowels, the short vowels are slightly more lax, but the tense vs. lax contrast is not nearly as pronounced as in English, German or Dutch. In many dialects, the short vowel sound pronounced [ɛ] or [æ] has merged with
19431-462: The sons and daughters of farmers and laborers. These students developed an idealized view of Sweden, characterized by romanticism, patriotism, and idealism, just like their counterparts across the Atlantic. The new generation was especially proud of the Swedish contributions to American democracy and the creation of a republic that promised liberty and destroyed the menace of slavery. A key spokesman
19584-480: The state is the 2.9 billion year old Otter Creek Layered Mafic Complex. Precambrian rock is exposed only in the northwest of the state. Iowa can be divided into eight landforms based on glaciation , soils , topography , and river drainage. Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick. Northeast Iowa along the Upper Mississippi River
19737-532: The state was covered with wetlands, about 95% of these wetlands have been drained. Iowa's natural vegetation is tallgrass prairie and savanna in upland areas, with dense forest and wetlands in flood plains and protected river valleys, and pothole wetlands in northern prairie areas. Most of Iowa is used for agriculture; crops cover 60% of the state, grasslands (mostly pasture and hay with some prairie and wetland) cover 30%, and forests cover 7%; urban areas and water cover another 1% each. The southern part of Iowa
19890-634: The state, over two-thirds of the 34.72 inches (88.2 cm) of rain falls from April through September, and about half the average annual precipitation falls from May through August peaking in June. Iowa's population is more urban than rural, with 61 percent living in urban areas in 2000, a trend that began in the early 20th century. Urban counties in Iowa grew 8.5% from 2000 to 2008, while rural counties declined by 4.2%. The shift from rural to urban has caused population increases in more urbanized counties such as Dallas , Johnson , Linn , Polk , and Scott , at
20043-404: The subject in a clause, a trait that is restricted to North Germanic languages: Iowa This is an accepted version of this page Iowa ( / ˈ aɪ . ə w ə / EYE -ə-wə ) is a state in the upper Midwestern region of the United States . It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to
20196-494: The summer of 1865 by a farmer in the Swedish lands of the Midwest to relatives in his home country, tells how they were at work out on the farm, when the news of President Lincoln 's death reached them. In words which clearly speak of how this notice chilled them to the core, we're told of how their chores came to a halt, how their tools fell from the hands of the men, how these Swedish settlers felt as if their whole faith in life suddenly had been displaced, had collapsed. Their pain
20349-534: The two cases and two genders of modern Swedish. A transitional change of the Latin script in the Nordic countries was to spell the letter combination "ae" as æ – and sometimes as a' – though it varied between persons and regions. The combination "ao" was similarly rendered a , and "oe" became o . These three were later to evolve into the separate letters ä , å and ö . The first time the new letters were used in print
20502-517: The two natural genders han and hon ("he" and "she"), there are also the two grammatical genders den and det , usually termed common and neuter . In recent years, a gender-neutral pronoun hen has been introduced, particularly in literary Swedish. Unlike the nouns, pronouns have an additional object form, derived from the old dative form. Hon , for example, has the following nominative, possessive, and object forms: Swedish also uses third-person possessive reflexive pronouns that refer to
20655-439: The vocabulary. Besides a great number of loanwords for such areas as warfare, trade and administration, general grammatical suffixes and even conjunctions were imported. The League also brought a certain measure of influence from Danish (at the time Swedish and Danish were much more similar than today). Early Old Swedish was markedly different from the modern language in that it had a more complex case structure and also retained
20808-416: The whole pole is covered. The men then lift it upright while the women follow in a line behind singing as they walk around with the maypole. At the end of the song, the men place the maypole in a hole in the ground raising it to its final position. The celebrations in Sweden often last all day and night with food and alcoholic beverage accompanied with songs and snapsvisor . Annually a Swedish American of
20961-409: The woods'). Upon arrival, they knelt in prayer and gave thanks to God. This area soon expanded and other settlements were named Stockholm , Jemtland , and Westmanland , in honor of their Swedish heritage. ( Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, while Jämtland and Västmanland are Swedish provinces.) The town of New Sweden, Maine , celebrates St. Lucia , Midsummer , and Founders Day (July 23). It
21114-401: The year. Many Swedes dress in traditional folk costumes , often with girls and women wearing flowered head garlands, and gather together to eat, sing traditional songs with bands playing, and dance around a maypole . Festivities begin with decorating the horizontal maypole as people gather to affix greenery first, then after thus covering most of the pole, they add various types of flowers until
21267-558: Was 47. In 2008 , twelve people were killed by tornadoes in Iowa, making it the deadliest year since 1968 and also the second most tornadoes in a year with 105, matching the total from 2001. Iowa summers are known for heat and humidity, with daytime temperatures sometimes near 90 °F (32 °C) and occasionally exceeding 100 °F (38 °C). Average winters in the state have been known to drop well below freezing, even dropping below −18 °F (−28 °C). As of 2018, Iowa's all-time hottest temperature of 118 °F (48 °C)
21420-508: Was Johan Alfred Enander, longtime editor of Hemlandet (Swedish for 'The Homeland'), the Swedish newspaper in Chicago. Enander argued that the Vikings were instrumental in enabling the "freedom" that spread not only throughout the British Isles, but America as well. Adolph B. Benson in ending the book Vår svenska stam på utländsk mark i västerled, USA och Kanada , Stockholm 1952 (pages 428–429): An old emigrant letter, written in
21573-474: Was bilingual by now and the youth could hardly understand the old language. Swedish language newspapers lost circulation. Most communities typically switched to English by 1920. By the 1930s, assimilation into American life styles was almost complete, with few experiences of hostility or discrimination. After 1940, the Swedish language was rarely taught in high schools or colleges, and Swedish-language newspapers or magazines nearly all closed. A few small towns in
21726-435: Was considered to smell fishy like herrings. In 1901 Horace Glenn wrote, "Walking behind a string of Swedes is impossible to a person with delicate nose. It's an odor which could only come from generations of unwashed ancestors." Swedish Americans opposed entry into World War I, in which Sweden was neutral. Political pressures during the war encouraged a rapid switch from Swedish to English in church services—the older generation
21879-484: Was during the 20th century that a common, standardized national language became available to all Swedes. The orthography finally stabilized and became almost completely uniform, with some minor deviations, by the time of the spelling reform of 1906. With the exception of plural forms of verbs and a slightly different syntax, particularly in the written language, the language was the same as the Swedish of today. The plural verb forms appeared decreasingly in formal writing into
22032-598: Was fought just across the Des Moines River from Croton, Iowa , and shots from the battle landed in Iowa. Iowa sent large supplies of food to the armies and the eastern cities. Much of Iowa's support for the Union can be attributed to Samuel J. Kirkwood , its first wartime governor. Of a total population of 675,000, about 116,000 men were subjected to military duty. Iowa contributed proportionately more soldiers to Civil War military service than did any other state, north or south, sending more than 75,000 volunteers to
22185-400: Was great and gripping. This is a concrete image, taken directly from life. Lincoln, who'd brought the civil war to an end in victory, and thus put an end to slavery, to these people had become a symbol, an ideal, of freedom, of right, of law. And all this was what they valued the most in life. To a significant extent, it was also the pursuit of that ideal that had brought them the long way across
22338-656: Was in Aff dyäffwlsens frästilse ("By the Devil's temptation") published by Johan Gerson in 1495. Modern Swedish (Swedish: nysvenska ) begins with the advent of the printing press and the European Reformation . After assuming power, the new monarch Gustav Vasa ordered a Swedish translation of the Bible . The New Testament was published in 1526, followed by a full Bible translation in 1541, usually referred to as
22491-544: Was in this year that the Vasa Order of America , a Swedish American fraternal organization, was founded to help immigrants, who often lacked an adequate network of social services. Swedish Americans usually came through New York City and subsequently settled in the upper Midwest . Most were Lutheran and belonged to synods now associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , including
22644-595: Was incorporated into New Netherland in 1655, and ceased to be an official territory of the Realm of Sweden . However, many Swedish and Finnish colonists remained and were allowed some political and cultural autonomy. A victim of one of the earliest recorded murders in North America was an immigrant from Sweden. In 1665, in Brooklyn, New York, Barent Jansen Blom, progenitor of the Blom/Bloom family of Brooklyn and
22797-523: Was not standardized. It depended on the authors and their background. Those influenced by German capitalized all nouns, while others capitalized more sparsely. It is also not always apparent which letters are capitalized owing to the Gothic or blackletter typeface that was used to print the Bible. This typeface was in use until the mid-18th century, when it was gradually replaced with a Latin typeface (often Antiqua ). Some important changes in sound during
22950-461: Was recorded at Keokuk on July 20, 1934, during a nationwide heat wave; as of 2014, the all-time lowest temperature of −47 °F (−44 °C) was recorded in Washta on January 12, 1912. Iowa has had a relatively smooth gradient of varying precipitation across the state; from 1961 to 1990, areas in the southeast of the state received an average of over 38 inches (97 cm) of rain annually, and
23103-566: Was the second largest foreign-language press in the United States (after German language imprints) in 1910. By 1910 about 1200 Swedish periodicals had been started in several states. Valkyrian , a magazine based in New York City, helped fashion a distinct Swedish American culture between 1897 and 1909. Valkyrian helped strengthen ethnicity by drawing on collective memory and religion, mythicizing Swedish and Swedish American history, describing American history, politics, and current events in
23256-537: Was the sole native language of 83% of Swedish residents. In 2007, around 5.5% (c. 290,000) of the population of Finland were native speakers of Swedish, partially due to a decline following the Russian annexation of Finland after the Finnish War 1808–1809. The Fenno-Swedish - speaking minority is concentrated in the coastal areas and archipelagos of southern and western Finland. In some of these areas, Swedish
23409-522: Was used as an Indian Reservation for members of the Council of Three Fires . The first American settlers officially moved to Iowa in June 1833. Primarily, they were families from Ohio , Pennsylvania , New York , Indiana , Kentucky , and Virginia who settled along the western banks of the Mississippi River , founding the modern day cities of Dubuque and Bellevue near the site of Julien Dubuque's 1785–1810 lead mining operation. On July 4, 1838,
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