The history of the Swedish language is very long history since its adoption as the national language of Sweden and to the establishments of institution to standardize and protect the language. Later as Sweden began to emerge as a world power so increased the importance of Swedish as language of communication.
The earliest indications of the Swedish language date back to Old Norse, which was a broader dialect spoken throughout the Nordic region and spread by the Vikings through their extensive travels in the area. Old Norse facilitated trade and commerce as a lingua franca and is greatly responsible for maintaining high similitude amongst Nordic language. Old Norse began to see a split into West Norse and East Norse which became the foundations for the languages of Iceland and Norway, and Sweden and Denmark respectively. These two languages eventually became distinguishable as Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic using ruins as the primary form of communication. It wasn't until the 14th and 15th centuries that Swedish began to develop as an individual language with distinct words, writing, and sounds.
The Middle Ages or "medeltiden" saw the emergence of Old Swedish which became distinct from Old Norse. The oldest example of written Swedish was found in 1222 in the Western Gotland where the language makes use of distinct writing styles and imagery. During this period there were many ballads written that displayed intriguing characteristics unique to Sweden.
The Modern Swedish language dates to 1526 when the first bible was published in Swedish BY King Gustav Vasa. This Bible remained in use until 1917 and represented a combination of colloquial and formal written Swedish. The next major milestone for Swedish occurred in 1786 under King Adolf Gustav III who established the Swedish Academy which was adopted from the French Academy in France. This institution would become central in promoting Swedish language and culture at home and abroad. Swedish is also spoken by a minority in Finland due to border disputes and eventual control by Finland of these disputed areas.
Today Swedish is spoke by about 9 million people and spoken by large communities of expatriates in Europe and in the U.S. and Canada as children and grand-children of Swedish immigrants. The most recent changes in the Swedish language paralleled developments in social movements in the 1960s which saw the movements towards greater gender equality and less emphasis on formality.
Sources:
UCLA Swedish language profile
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=35&menu=004
History of Swedish
http://www.linguaphone.com.my/swedish2.php
Swedish language profile: historical periods
Comments