Scandinavians are the inhabitants of the Scandinavian Peninsula in the northwestern tip of Europe, consisting of modern Norway and Sweden, with the addition of Denmark and Iceland. The peninsula has been inhabited for at least 12,000 years, and is considered one of the world’s most ethnically homogenous regions: most Scandinavians are tall of stature with fair hair and skin.
Historical inner-European migratory patterns have scattered Scandinavian DNA all across Western Europe. Later migrations dispersed ethnic Scandinavians across the oceans, especially to the United States, Canada, Australia, and South America. Like other Europeans, Scandinavians immigrated to the frontiers of the New World as early as the sixteenth century. However, motivated mainly by economic concerns and, to a lesser degree, religious oppression, Scandinavian migration to the United States peaked in the decades following the American Civil War, including over 800,000 Norwegians, 800,000 Swedes, and 375,000 Danes.
The origins of the Germanic tribes that first settled in Scandinavia are lost in the annals of time, and what little is known is based upon linguistic evidence. Written evidence emerges around 500 B.C.E., referring to Germanic tribes occupying the southern shores of the Baltic and southern Scandinavia. The history of these tribes is known to us courtesy of their southern neighbors, who endured — and often succumbed to — waves of Scandinavian incursions. The first tribes to depart from Scandinavia as early as the second century B.C.E. were the Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, and others. Their descendants, the Visigoths, invaded and sacked Rome in 410 C.E., setting the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in motion.
A second wave of tribal incursions launched from Scandinavia begins at the end of the eighth century, when the notorious seafaring Vikings started to stir. At first, Viking raids were small-scale events, nothing more than a few boatloads of men who would return home once they had collected sufficient plunder. Soon enough, though, Viking incursions became lasting affairs, as Viking kings conquered vast parts of England, Ireland, and France — laying siege to and almost capturing Paris. In 872, Viking colonists settled the island of Iceland. By the mid-eleventh century, united kingdoms had appeared in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden and the raids had finally begun to subside. The Christianization of Scandinavia occurred nearly simultaneously with the end of the Viking era.
In the fifteenth century, the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were united under a single monarch, but dividing interests led to the dissolution of the union in 1523. The seventeenth century saw the rise of a Swedish Empire expanding eastward into the Baltics, Russia, and Poland, but its ambitions were checked by a Russian-led coalition that defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War, concluding in 1721. Norway gained its independence from the Kingdom of Sweden in 1905; over the following two decades the modern borders of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark were set. In 1918, Iceland won its independence from Denmark.
Scandinavian food is all about locally procured ingredients. The quintessential Scandinavian meal is smörgåsbord — a buffet-style table laid out with many small dishes, including pickled herring served with rye and crispbread, beetroot and apple salad, meatballs, pâtés, and different types of cured and smoked salmon. The main staple in Scandinavian cuisine is fish: there are countless varieties of smoked and pickled fish, but pickled herring takes the lot. Meat, including beef, pork, elk, or reindeer, is more common in the northern parts of the peninsula.
Scandinavians place much emphasis on social customs of etiquette. It is a matter not to be taken lightly, and travelers are expected to follow suit. Though Scandinavians are friendly by nature, they have somewhat unfairly been stereotyped as chilly, as they consider it good manners to respect one’s personal space. But Scandinavians know how to let their hair down, as is evident in their unique traditions and celebrations — whether it’s dancing around a maypole in Midsommar, the annual summer solstice celebration, or charging down an obstacle course with their wives tossed over their shoulders in the truly Scandinavian wife-carrying competition.
Fairy tales are perhaps the peninsula’s most widely-known cultural export. Children’s stories collected and written down by Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson, such as “The Little Mermaid,” “The Emperor's New Clothes,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Princess and the Pea,” and “The Snow Queen” have become deeply embedded in Western consciousness and were made into many beloved literary, theatrical, and cinematic adaptations (including Disney’s Little Mermaid and Frozen). Norse mythology — the adventures of Odin, his wife Frigga, and their hammer- and lightning-wielding son Thor — have also inspired Western culture for many centuries, long before the Marvel comic book and movie franchises Thor and Avengers introduced them to modern audiences. The myths of the Norse pantheon informed and shaped early European Christianity, and their legacies carry on to this day: Odin’s day, Thor’s day, and Frigga’s day are better known as Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
While modern Scandinavian languages are distinct, they have evolved together and are mutually intelligible: any Norwegian, Swede, or Dane traveling to neighboring countries can speak their own language and be understood without great difficulty — with the exception of Icelanders, who have by and large retained their ancient speech.
Explore more about ethnicity estimates
- MyHeritage DNA at MyHeritage
- Ethnicities around the world at MyHeritage
- What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Where's My Ethnicity?!: Why An Ethnicity Might Not Show Up In Your DNA (and How To Find Evidence Of It Anyway) at MyHeritage Knowledge Base