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The Scandinavian Peninsula ((フィンランド語:Skandinavian Niemimaa); Norwegian (ノルウェー語(ブークモール):Skandinaviske Halvøy); Norwegian (ノルウェー語(ニーノシュク):Skandinaviske Halvøya); (スウェーデン語:Skandinaviska Halvön)) is a peninsula in Northern Europe, which today covers Norway, Sweden and most of northern Finland. The name of the peninsula is derived from the term Scandinavia, the cultural region of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. That cultural name is in turn derived from the name of Scania, the region at the southern extremity of the peninsula which has during periods been part of Denmark, which is the ancestral home of the Danes, and which is now part of Sweden. The derived term "Scandinavian" also refers to the Germanic peoples who speak North Germanic languages, considered to be a dialect continuum derived from Old Norse.〔Haugen, Einar (1976). ''The Scandinavian Languages: An Introduction to Their History''. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1976.〕〔Helle, Knut (2003). "Introduction". ''The Cambridge History of Scandinavia''. Ed. E. I. Kouri et al. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-47299-7. p. XXII. "The name Scandinavia was used by classical authors in the first centuries of the Christian era to identify Skåne and the mainland further north which they believed to be an island."〕〔Olwig, Kenneth R. "Introduction: The Nature of Cultural Heritage, and the Culture of Natural Heritage—Northern Perspectives on a Contested Patrimony". ''International Journal of Heritage Studies'', Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2005, p. 3: The very name 'Scandinavia' is of cultural origin, since it derives from the Scanians or Scandians (the Latinized spelling of "Skåninger"), a people who long ago lent their name to all of Scandinavia, perhaps because they lived centrally, at the southern tip of the peninsula."〕〔Østergård, Uffe (1997). "The Geopolitics of Nordic Identity – From Composite States to Nation States". ''The Cultural Construction of Norden''. Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth (eds.), Oslo: Scandinavian University Press 1997, 25-71.〕 These languages are Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic, with the latter two being closest to Old Norse. The Scandinavian Peninsula is the largest peninsula of Europe, larger than the Balkan, the Iberian and the Italian peninsulas. During the Ice Ages, the sea level of the Atlantic Ocean dropped so much that the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland disappeared, and the countries now surrounding them, including Germany, Poland, the other Baltic countries and Scandinavia, were directly joined by land. ==Geography== Arguably the largest peninsula in Europe, the Scandinavian Peninsula is approximately long with a width varying approximately from 370 to 805 kilometres (230 to 500 miles). The Scandinavian mountain range generally defines the border between Norway and Sweden. The peninsula is bordered by several bodies of water including: *the Baltic Sea (including the Gulf of Bothnia) to the east, with the autonomous Åland islands between Sweden〔(Nordic FAQ ) Geography of Sweden〕 and Finland, and Gotland. *the North Sea (including the Kattegat and Skagerrak) to the west and southwest *the Norwegian Sea to the west *the Barents Sea to the north Its highest elevation was Glittertinden in Norway at above sea level, but since the glacier at its summit partially melted , the highest elevation is at at Galdhøpiggen, also in Norway. These mountains also have the largest glacier on the mainland of Europe, Jostedalsbreen. About one quarter of the Scandinavian Peninsula lies north of the Arctic Circle, its northernmost point being at Cape Nordkyn, Norway. The climate across Scandinavia varies from tundra (Köppen: ET) and subarctic (Dfc) in the north, with cool marine west coast climate (Cfc) in northwestern coastal areas reaching just north of Lofoten, to humid continental (Dfb) in the central portion and marine west coast (Cfb) in the south and southwest.〔(Glossary of American climate terminology in terms of Köppens classification )〕 The region is rich in timber, iron and copper with the best farmland in southern Sweden. Large petroleum and natural-gas deposits have been found off Norway's coast in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the population of the Scandinavian Peninsula is naturally concentrated in its southern part, which is also its agricultural region. The largest cities of the peninsula are Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; Gothenburg, Sweden; Malmö, Sweden and Bergen, Norway, in that order. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Scandinavian Peninsula」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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