TheDominions of Sweden orSvenska besittningar ("Swedish possessions") were territories that historically came under control of the SwedishCrown, but never became fully integrated withSweden. This generally meant that they were ruled byGovernors-General under theSwedish monarch, but within certain limits retained their own established political systems, essentially theirdiets.Finland was not a dominion, but aland of Sweden. The dominions had no representation in theSwedishRiksdag as stipulated by the1634 Instrument of Government paragraph 46:"No one, who is not living inside the separate and old borders of Sweden and Finland, have anything to say at Riksdags and other meetings..."
Between 1561 and 1629 Sweden made conquests in the Eastern Baltic. All of them were lost in accordance with theTreaty of Nystad in 1721, which concluded theGreat Northern War.
Estonia placed itself under Swedish rule in 1561 to receive protection againstRussia andPoland as theLivonian Order lost their foothold in the Baltic provinces. Territorially it represented the northern part of present-day Estonia.
The area was significantly populated byEstonian Swedes, who inhabitedthe area for centuries after Sweden lost control of it. After theSoviet Union'sBaltic offensive andre-occupation of Estonia in 1944, nearly all the Estonian Swedes fled to Sweden proper.
Kexholm was a sparsely inhabited part ofKarelia on the Western and Northern shores ofLake Ladoga, annexed by Sweden in 1605. At that time, most inhabitants were Finnish-speakingOrthodox Christians. During the 17th century, Lutheran persecution of Orthodox Christianity and an influx ofLutheran Finns from neighbouring province ofSavonia converted most of the area into Lutheran faith. The Swedish law and the Swedish structure of local administration were used in the area which does not seem to have had any prior written legal tradition. Nowadays the county is divided between Finnish regions ofNorth Karelia andSouth Karelia and the RussianRepublic of Karelia.
Russia cededIngria and southernKarelia to Sweden in theTreaty of Stolbovo in 1617, following theIngrian War. A century later Russia reconquered the area, providing an opportunity forPeter the Great to lay the foundations of his new capital,Saint Petersburg, in 1703. The area was then formally ceded in 1721 by theTreaty of Nystad.
TheHanseatic city ofRiga fell under Swedish control in the late 1620s. For the nearly hundred years that followed, Riga was the second largest city in theSwedish Empire, afterStockholm.
Livonia was conquered from thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1629 in thePolish-Swedish War. By theTreaty of Oliva between the Commonwealth and Sweden in 1660 following theNorthern Wars thePolish-Lithuanian king renounced all claims to the Swedish throne and Livonia was formally ceded to Sweden. Swedish Livonia represents the southern part of present-day Estonia and the northern part of present-dayLatvia (Vidzeme region).
During theSecond Northern War,Lithuanian nobility signed aseries of acts with the Swedish Empire and became itsprotectorate in 1655 with KingCharles X Gustav serving as itsGrand Duke. However, following Sweden's defeat at theBattle of Prostki and weak military presence in the region, the protectorate fell in 1657 and Lithuania was once again reincorporated into thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
By theTreaty of Brömsebro (1645), following theTorstenson War,Denmark-Norway cededJämtland,Härjedalen,Idre & Särna,Gotland,Halland andÖsel to Sweden. Ösel andDagö, islands off the coast ofEstonia, were ceded to Russia in 1721 by the Treaty of Nystad. The other territories remained part of Sweden.
By the peace treaties ofBrömsebro (1645) andRoskilde (1658) theRealm of Sweden expanded to the south.Blekinge,Bohuslän (of Norway),Halland andScania were ceded byDenmark in the latter and then successfully defended in theScanian War (1675–1679). According to the peace treaties the provinces were to retain its old laws and privileges, and was initially administered as a dominion. A gradual process of incorporation was successfully concluded in 1721.
Through its minorGerman principalities, the Swedish kings in their roles as princes and dukes, orReichsfürsten, of theHoly Roman Empire withImperial immediacy took part in the Germandiets from 1648 until thedissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
Following theThirty Years' War, thePeace of Westphalia in 1648 assigned to Sweden the twobishoprics ofBremen-Verden, with theexclave ofWildeshausen. All of them were ceded toHanover in the peace treaty of 1719.
By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 Sweden receivedSwedish Pomerania, situated along the GermanBaltic Sea coast. The wholeDuchy of Pomerania was under Swedish control already since theTreaty of Stettin (1630), and in theTreaty of Stettin (1653) Sweden andBrandenburg agreed on the final terms of the partition of the duchy, with Sweden keeping the western part (Western Pomerania, Vorpommern) includingStettin. In 1720 the southern parts of Swedish Pomerania with the town ofStettin and the islands ofUsedom andWollin were ceded to theKingdom of Prussia, following theGreat Northern War. The capital was moved toGreifswald. In 1814 the remainder, with the town ofStralsund and the island ofRügen was ceded to Denmark, which in exchange cededNorway to the king of Sweden under theTreaty of Kiel, which followed onWar of the Sixth Coalition. However the treaty of Kiel never came into force: instead sovereignty of Western Pomerania passed to Kingdom of Prussia, which already held the eastern parts and merged them into theProvince of Pomerania. Norway declared its independence, but was forced after a short war into a personalUnion with Sweden.
Sweden received the German town ofWismar with the surrounding countryside in the Peace of Westphalia (1648). In 1803 Wismar was pawned, in exchange for a loan, and control was handed over toMecklenburg. The loan defaulted in 1903, but Sweden rescinded its right to regain control of the German exclave and thereby nominally received its present territorial constitution.
