116 



SCANDINAVIA. 



A minglinfç of the various elements has been produced by the continuous pro- 

 gress of intercourse and inland colonisation. The Byzantine coins and other 

 objects found in the land show that after the fall of the Roman Empire the Swedes 

 had constant commercial relations with Constantinople. Later on, Gotland 



58. — The Finns and Lavps in Scandinavia. 

 According to Dahlman and others. 



Eof-P.' 



Scandinavians. 



Finns. 



Lapps. 



became, towards the ninth century, the emporium of a direct export trade with the 

 farther east, and here are found, from time to time, hoards of Arab or Kufic coins 

 from Bagdad or Khorassan. These relations lasted till the twelfth century, when 

 they were interrupted by the wars in South Russia. The Swedes took also a laj-ge 

 share in the Crusades, and it was mainly through arms that the Scandinavians 



