Scandinavia stretches like a roomy mysterious attic under the eaves of Europe, from the Karelian Ness in the east to Greenland in the west, and from the polar sea to the Eider River in the south. The vastness of the region has surprised visitors since the days of Pliny, who wrote of immense islands beyond Germany of unknown magnitude. “The inhabitants styled it another world.” Scandinavia was not only remote from Mediterranean civilization, northerners were conscious of occupying a world apart. The geographical configuration, two great peninsulas, heavily indented coastlines, offshore archipelagos, and outlying islands, favored separation, isolation, and regional identity.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Scandinavians who shared this harsh and unyielding region with Finns, Lapps, Germans, Frisians, and Eskimos, were few on the ground. Historians estimate the population of Denmark at about 570,000, with another 200,000 for Norway; Swedish population stood at 441,000, with another 210,000 for Finland. Most of these folk were involved in farming. Fishing, forestry, and mining were the other significant components of the economy.

Climate and soil favored Denmark over the rest of the North, and Danish lands were by far the most densely settled. Because density of settlement favors the growth of towns, Denmark contained many more towns than Sweden and Norway. The towns were not large. Malmø, the greatest town in Scandinavia, contained less than ten thousand. No town in Scandinavia could compare with the great urban centers in the northern Reich or the Netherlands.