In the 17th century, town planners laid out a street grid beyond the
medieval city center. Stockholm
became capital of Sweden
in 1634. Famine wiped out 100,000 people across Sweden
during the harsh winter of 1696-7, and starving hordes descended on the
capital. The old royal castle, Tre Kronor, burned down, also in 1697. In 1711,
plague arrived and the death rate soared to 1200 per day - from a population of
only 50,000! After the death of King Karl XII, the country and the capital went
into stagnation.
In the 18th century, Swedish science and arts blossomed, allowing the
creation of institutions and fine buildings. Another period of stagnation
followed the assassination of King Gustav III. Promised 19th-century reforms
never arrived, and bloody street riots were common. Further town planning
starting in the 1860s created many of the wide avenues and apartment blocks
still to be seen today.
Stockholm in the Modern Age
The city rapidly industrialized and expanded, and by 1915 it was home to
364,000 people. The 1912 summer Olympics were held in Stockholm.
The next major transformation of the city started in the 1960s, when large 'new
towns' sprung up around the outskirts and extensive areas of slums were
flattened to make way for concrete office blocks, and highways. The financial
and construction boom of the 1980s helped make the city a very expensive place
to live. Once that bubble burst during the 1990s recession, the devalued krona
actually helped Stockholm. Swedish
tourism grew, and foreign tourists arrived in ever-increasing numbers. Since
the country's entry into the European Union, Stockholm's
progress towards becoming an affordable, vivacious tourist destination has
continued apace.