THE 
AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN 
Review 
Volume X April, 1922 Number 4 
Stockholm 
By Carl G. Laurin 
Shortly before the time when Europe was engrossed in the Cru¬ 
sades, people began to build on and little by little to fortify the small 
islands lying at the outlet of Lake Malaren into Saltsj on, as the 
Swedes rather inaccurately call this fresh water bight from which we 
may—but after leaving Stockholm a long way behind—sail out on salt 
water and finally, after passing hundreds of small and large islands, 
catch sight of the open sea, that is of the Baltic. 
Many scholars are of the opinion that the name Stockholm comes 
from the poles or palisades which constituted the first primitive forti¬ 
fication on some little island or holme , and that this little island by 
accretion through the centuries became connected with a larger island 
and gave its name to the city of Stockholm which grew up there. 
When Gustav Vasa made his entry into the capital in 1523, after 
having freed his country from Danish subjection, the city was all on the 
big island known as Stadsholmen and had only 3,000 inhabitants. 
When Gustav II Adolf was carrying on his victorious war against 
the Emperor, Stockholm had a scant 50,000 inhabitants. In fact it 
is only after the year 1880, within the lifetime of the present genera¬ 
tion, that a really rapid development has taken place. In that time 
the population has increased from 170,000 to about 425,000. In other 
words, no less than 255,000 inhabitants have been added in the last 
forty years. 
Stockholm, like Christiania with its 275,000 inhabitants, is no great 
city and does not by any means attain to the size of Copenhagen with 
700,000. The Danish capital, in proportion to the population of the 
country, is the biggest in the world. Sweden has almost twice as many 
people, but its capital city is not so large. 
Naturally the impression one would receive by merely judging 
from the number of inhabitants would not represent Stockholm cor- 
