Scandinavia lends itself to a discussion of the causes, expressions and course of urbanization. The earliest known tendencies towards urbanisation in Scandinavia manifest themselves in the economic and political centres of the Merovingian Period and the early Viking Age. Scandinavian urbanisation entered a new phase from the latter part of the tenth century. From now on there is evidence of several places with a more complex centrality. Places of particular importance in this context are Lund in medieval Denmark, Sigtuna in Sweden, and Trondheim, Oslo and Bergen in Norway. Most of the new high medieval towns were established in the central parts of the Danish kingdom, including Skåne, and in the Mälaren area of Sweden with its extension towards the south and towards Finland. The development of Scandinavian towns was closely related to the evolution of more centralised political systems. The early medieval Norwegian towns were promoted by the kings which was important for the political unification process.