Immigration / Early Kansas Immigrants - April 13, 2012

Q: 
Swedish pioneers who moved to central Kansas in the mid-1800s called their new home "framtidslandet" (FRAHM-tids-LAHND-it). What does that word mean in English?

This photograph shows a group of Swedish pioneers and a horse drawn wagon in Greeley County, Kan. Date: Between 1880 and 1910 (Photo Courtesy of Kansas Historical Society / kansasmemory.org)

A: the land of the future (land of the future / future land = acceptable)

Many people left Sweden in the mid-1800s when famine threatened them with starvation. Swedish immigrants to Kansas, in turn, encouraged their friends and family to join them. They called their new home “framtidslandet,” or…the land of the future. The small, central Kansas town of Lindsborg, home of Bethany College, was established in 1869 and maintains a strong Swedish heritage to this day.

Fun factoid: The King of Sweden visited Lindsborg in 1976.

(Source: Kansas Historical Society)