Sweden's lost empire and Lithuanian arcana

I did not know that Sweden had a colony in North America until I read this interesting story on the BBC.

I knew Sweden briefly possessed the island of Guadeloupe (from 1813 to 1814) but didn't know or had forgotten that she owned Saint Barthélemy (St. Barths) from 1784 to 1878. 

I also did not know about Swedish outposts on the Gold Coast or that Sweden once planned to capture Madagascar. 

Before those colonies Sweden's last colony had been England, but in the 17th century Sweden was again a great power until Peter defeated Charles XII at Poltava.

We all know Dr Johnson's famous lines on this. 

'He comes, nor want nor cold his course delay;
Hide, blushing glory, hide Pultowa’s day:
The vanquish’d hero leaves his broken bands,
And shews his miseries in distant lands;
Condemn’d a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.'

Lord Salisbury pointed out that Poles complain about the three partitions of Poland but do not mention that Sweden and Poland partitioned Russia. He was talking about swathes of what is now Belarus and Ukraine.

                                        *

Did you know that Lithuania was once the biggest country in Europe, before and after it was converted to Christianity in 1387, more than two hundred years after Sweden, the last of the Nordic countries to become Christian?

Do you know the only word in the English language which is taken from Lithuanian?

It is 'talk'.