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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R00200090020-4

Military Geography

'''FIGURE 1. Location and comparative areas (U/OU)''' (map)

A. General (U/OU)

Sweden, including the islands of Gotland and Oland, is one of the largest countries in Europe and has an area of 173,000 square miles (about 10% larger than the state of California). More significant than total land area, however, is the shape of the country; it extends north-south almost 1,000 miles and has a maximum width of only 270 miles (Figure 14). Superimposed on the United States, Sweden would extend from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 1). The estimated population of 8,133,000 is slightly less than the combined population of the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

1. Topography

Sweden is predominantly a land of forested hills and plains (Figure 2) traversed by many wide streams and dotted with thousands of lakes and bogs. Plains occupy most of the southern third of the country (Figure 3) and extend northward along the Gulf of Bothnia, a broad belt of hills interspersed with scattered small plains constitutes most of the interior of Sweden, and a relatively narrow belt of rugged mountains extends along part of the border with Norway (Figure 4). The low, rocky, indented shore is fronted by numerous islets, islands, rocks, and shoals and backed by level to rolling plains. The plains are interrupted in many places by rounded steep-sided hillocks and eskers (long, sinuous, gravel and sand ridges). Most of the plains are less then 800 feet above sea level; however, south of Vattern (lake) and in the far north near the Finnish border there are areas between 600 and 1,500 feet in elevation. Extensive areas of smooth, level, cultivated plains are restricted to the extreme southern part of the country and the islands of Gotland and Oland. The hills are mostly low and rounded and generally separated by flat to rolling areas. The mountains also have rounded summits.

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R00200090020-4