Map of Skåne, 18th century

This historical map of Skåne was published sometime during the 18th century. Skåne is a country with a rich historywhich is not quite simpleespecially not the history taught in Skåne schools. In the north, the border runs to Halland and Småland, in the east to Blekinge and the Baltic Sea, in the south by the Baltic Sea and in the west by the Sound and Kattegat.

In Skåne, the oldest known settlement in Sweden can be found in the form of a camp site from 13,500 years ago in Mölleröd at the northern part of Lake Finjasjön. During this time, the Older Stone Age, Skåne was a protruding part of the European continent and became a new home for hunters who had migrated northwards. 1,500 years later, 12,000 years ago, a warming period began, causing sea levels to rise and the Sound of Öresund to form.

In Skateholm in the municipality of Trelleborg, several settlements and graves have been found that are around 7,000 years old, and later in the Neolithic period, the Scanian land began to be used by resident farmers. Already during the Bronze Age, which began about 3,500 years ago in the Nordic countries, Skåne society was well developed, with both trade and cultural exchange with the continent. Many large burial mounds from this period are still visible today, such as the reconstructed The King's tomb in Kivik.

Already during the Iron Age, the whole of Skåne was inhabited by the ancestors of the Scania people, and trade was conducted with, among others, the Roman Empire. Two particularly important centres of power were Vä south of Kristianstad and Uppåkra south of Lund. Skåne men were involved in building up the western part of Danavirki. Skåne men participated in the Danish Viking raids to England.

All since Harald Bluetooth's In the later part of the 10th century, Skåne was part of the Danish kingdom, even a core area. Skåne was an independent kingdom for a few short periods, during Olof Haraldsson 1140-43 and during Harald Skrænk 1182-1183. With Sven Grate as a common king, Skåne was 1146-57 in union with Zealand.

Today, Skåne and the Scania people can be said to be children of both Denmark and Sweden, a bridge that unites the two countries both culturally and historically, and a region with a very rich, indigenous cultural heritage.