The Danish-Swedish Rivalry and Scanian Regionalism

by Norman Berdichevsky (October 2019)

Battle of Öland, Claus Møinichen, 1676

and yellow (see illustration) was in terms of historical memories, even language, as well as physical geography, landscape, soils, vegetation, and climate much more similar to the remainder of Denmark than to the rest of the Swedish peninsula.

These geographic and historical facts explain the anomalous peripheral location of the Danish capital with regards to the rest of the country—the peninsula of Jutland sharing a border with Germany, the major islands of Zealand and Funen amidst the “Belts” (sea passages between these two major islands) and many smaller islands strewn around the North Sea and Baltic. The population of these areas often felt neglected by the Danish authorities and king residing in Copenhagen. Outside of Zealand, Danes felt remote from the seat of power, especially in the age before modern bridges and air travel.

By contrast, much of the Scanian population felt that Copenhagen was within easy reach, just a short ferry ride away (and now a short drive over the modern Øresund bridge—see map). The Danish island of Bornholm out in the Baltic lies only 80 miles from the Swedish coast but is 300 miles from the closest Danish harbor. This meant a much longer travel time when sailing was the primary means of transport in the past yet Bornholm remained stubbornly Danish in spite of the much greater distance and refused to accept the last peace treaty that ceded it to Sweden!

The important connection between the Baltic and the North Sea passing through the narrow straights of the Belts, the Sound, and the coast of Scania enabled Denmark to exercise a monopoly on trade and collect a toll on all ships passing through these waters due to its dominant sea power, a fact of political and military geography deeply resented for centuries by Sweden.

The Many Dano-Swedish Wars for Control of Scania, the Baltic and The Sound (Øresund)

Danes and Swedes could not agree on the form of the union between them. The differences separating them were not magnified by an ocean but rather by the constant fear of invasion along a common land boundary on the Swedish peninsula and narrow stretches of water.

This situation resembled the case of the English governors and the American colonial houses of representation. The Swedish and Danish nobility were diverse sources of power after Sweden separated from the Danish crown. Growing resentment of the Union led to the total eviction of the Danes from Scania, a move that would award Sweden with a share in the control of the narrow straits and an end to Danish monopoly on tolls. With two such contrasting visions of their future and status, war followed war from 1434 until 1720.

These memories persist and have not been erased by joint membership in the European Union. In 1992, Denmark initially rejected a popular referendum to adhere to the Treaty of Maastricht, promising integration within the European Union. It had to be cajoled and pressured into full membership by the power of France and Germany, so many Danes today can understand the dilemma of the Brits who wish to leave the EU and are being pressured from all sides to remain. The Danes were able to win an agreement to ensure that Greenland (part of the Danish Kingdom) remain outside all the provisions of the European Union and jealously protects its natural resources including mining, fishing, and immigration.

The Local Scanian Language/Dialect

The gradual transition to standard literary Swedish over several centuries resulted in the introduction of many new Swedish characteristics into Scanian, especially regarding vocabulary and grammar. In spite of the shift however, Scanian dialects have maintained a pronunciation, as well as details of grammar and vocabulary that in some aspects differ from Standard Swedish and show a closer relationship with Danish, German, and Dutch (and occasionally English). The degree of contrast between Scanian dialects and standard Swedish is often compared to the differences between British English and Australian English. Among the younger generation of Scanians, there is a renewed interest in regional identity and the local dialect.

he aggressive spirit that now dominates Sweden” and “acts as the servant of evil.”

Swedish occupation forces had to resort to force to suppress resistance, burned land and destroyed crops in reprisal for violent resistance. Local people who participated in any act against Swedish rule were labeled guerillas and punished severely. Between 1658 and 1720, historians estimate that mass executions, starvation, illness, forced emigration, and the movement of refugees into Denmark reduced the population of Scania by nearly forty percent. As with the American colonial resistance to the British, a central issue was refusal to accept the forced quartering of Swedish troops (or Polish mercenaries) in private homes.

Growth of Scanian Consciousness

As elsewhere in distinctive regions of Europe, there has been a trend to cultivate a local regional-cultural identity. In 1944, a Dane and a Swede, Ellen Hartmann and Valfrid Palmgren Munch-Petersen, wrote a special dictionary titled Farlige ord og lumske ligheder i dansk og svensk (Dangerous words and awkward similarities in Danish and Swedish) that should be read by anyone needing to master the neighboring language and avoid embarrassing mistakes. Of course, Scanians with a mastery of both standard languages enjoy these jokes more than anyone (just like Brits and Americans).

How Far Apart are Swedish, Danish, and Scanian?

Danes and Swedes will often prefer to converse in English rather than speak their own languages with each other. The written form is sufficiently similar so that the intended meaning of texts can be generally understood but nuances in intonation, pronunciation, and the distinctly different meanings of closely sounding words provide an endless form of humor.

Is the Hatchet Buried?

All this may seem like making a mountain out of a molehill for many foreign observers who imagine that the Scandinavian peoples are so similar they should have long ago buried the hatchet. Indeed, all the Scandinavian states remain among the most stable in the world politically. They cooperate in many economic and social areas such as the EU, the joint SAS airline, NATO (except for neutral Finland and Sweden) and are culturally, socially, and linguistically similar, but maintain a distinct sense of political separateness. Joint membership in the European Union has not erased these historical memories or sense of differences that matter (just as they have not between Portugal and Spain).

The new Øresund bridge linking Scania directly with Denmark and the rest of continental Europe has produced a major turnaround for the city of Malmö in particular transforming it from a peripheral region far from the center of Swedish central rule in Stockholm into part of a major metropolis spanning the Sound and linked with Greater Copenhagen on the island of Zealand.

Contemporary Tensions and Muslim Unrest

The New Bridge

The daily commute across the bridge of more than 20,000 people who can reach the main rail station on the opposite side of the Sound in 35 minutes has created a mega-region (Zealand-Scania) of almost 4 million people and 13 universities and technical institutes with a student population of two hundred thousand.

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