Uppland history tour

While Uppland is a Swedish province without much of a common identity, it is the cradle of the Swedish nation. Since the Kingdom of Sweden was unified around AD 1000, the de facto capital has over time been Adelsö, Birka, Sigtuna, Uppsala and finally Stockholm. Across today's Uppsala County and Stockholm County are plenty of runestones and other archaeological sites.

Understand
Just like the rest of Scandinavia, Uppland was covered by ice during the last Ice Age. With the post-glacial rebound, much of the Uppland plains were below sea level until 2000 BC, but as soon as they rose above the sea, they were quickly settled. From 500 AD, archaeological artifacts are plentiful, including gold, iron weapons, and tools. Except laconic texts on runestones, domestic written records were few up to the 12th century AD. Most texts on the Norse people were written by missionaries and their adversaries.

While the Old Norse tribes have a long history, the Viking Age made the greatest impact abroad. From the 8th to the 11th centuries, seafarers from Uppland travelled across the Baltic Sea, reaching today's Russia and the Middle East.

Get around
Driving is the most practical way to get around the countryside, but many destinations are within reach of public transport.

Uppsala, Sigtuna and the other settlements at Mälaren can be visited by boat. On a cold winter the journey across Mälaren can be made on ice skates.

Uppsala


Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala) was the political and religious centre of Viking-era Sweden, with a royal estate, the "Thing of all Swedes" (political assembly) and a renowned pagan temple. The Viking heritage can still be seen in the landscape due to the three monumental burial mounds, historically attributed to the gods Odin, Thor and Freyr. In modern times it has become a centre for Norse Neopaganism.

With the help of augmented reality technology, you can also see what the site would have looked like at its historical peak in 650 AD. When looking at site through your smartphone, the app Augmented History: Gamla Uppsala adds an additional layer to reality, which contains all the different structures archaeologists have discovered on the site, including the old Temple at Uppsala and the Royal hall, enabling you to see and even interact with the Viking settlement.



Go next

 * Stockholm history tour, for a stroll through Sweden's new capital from the 13th to the 21st century
 * Stockholm quay palace tour, for a tour of Stockholm's architecture from the 15th to the 21st century
 * Stockholm's northern defenses
 * Nordic monarchies
 * Skaraborg history tour, the cradle of Götaland, the other land of Sweden
 * Swedish Empire from the 17th to 18th century