Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a group of countries in northern Europe. Scandinavia has Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Some people also think Finland is part of Scandinavia and that Iceland and the Faroe Islands should count.^[1] Most of the time, "Scandinavia" is used to mean places where people speak Scandinavian languages, also called North Germanic languages or Nordic. The Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, and Faroese) are very similar to each other, and many Scandinavians understand parts of the other languages because they are alike. Finnish is not part of the North Germanic language group.

What people mean when they say "Scandinavia" depends on what they think is important at the time. When people talk about about maps, natural land formations and how the economy works, they may say Finland is part of Scandinavia but Iceland is not. When people talk about history and what languages people speak, they say Iceland is part of Scandinavia but Finland is not.^[1]

The Scandinavian Peninsula is a large peninsula reaching west from northern Europe over the north side of the Baltic Sea. Norway, Sweden and some of Finland are on this peninsula. However, Denmark is considered part of Scandinavia in the ethnic sense more often than Finland is. This is because Danish is a Scandinavian language but Finnish is not.

"Nordic countries" include Norway, Sweden, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Finland, and Iceland. These five countries use the Nordic Council to work together on political and cultural activities. Denmark, Sweden, and Finland are also members of the European Union, but only Finland is part of the eurozone, meaning that it uses the Euro as its money. The other Nordic countries still use their own money, called krone or krona (from the word "crowns"). Norway and Iceland, which are not members of the EU, are members of NATO and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Only Denmark, Sweden and Finland are members of both the EU and NATO.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Scandinavia". Britannica. Retrieved January 6, 2020.