Finland
| |||||
| Location of Finland | |||||
| Principal languages | Finnish, Swedish | ||||
| Capital | Helsinki | ||||
| President | Tarja Halonen | ||||
| Prime minister | Matti Vanhanen | ||||
| Area - Total - % water |
Ranked 63rd 338,145 km² 9.4% | ||||
| Population - Total (2003) - Density |
Ranked 110th 5,244,858 17.1/km² | ||||
| Independence | 1917 | ||||
| Currency | Euro | ||||
| Time zone | Universal Time +2 | ||||
| National anthem | Maamme/Vårt land (Our Land) | ||||
| Internet TLD | .fi | ||||
| Country calling code | +358 | ||||
The Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta Swedish: Republiken Finland) is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bounded by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. Finland has land frontiers with Sweden, Norway and Russia. The Åland Islands, off the southwestern coast, are under Finnish sovereignty while enjoying extensive autonomy. The Finnish name for Finland is Suomi; in Swedish it is Finland.
Geography
Finland is a country of thousands of lakes and islands; 187,888 lakes and 179,584 islands to be precise. One of these lakes, Saimaa, is the fifth largest in Europe. The Finnish landscape is mostly flat with few hills and its highest point, the Haltitunturi at 1,328 m, is found in the extreme north of Lapland. Beside the many lakes the landscape is dominated by extensive boreal forests (about 68 percent of land area) and little arable land. The greater part of the islands are found in southwest, part of the archipelago of the Åland Islands, and along the southern coast in the Gulf of Finland. Finland is one of the few countries in the world that is still growing. Owing to the isostatic uplift that has been taking place since the last ice age, the surface area of the country is growing by about 7 sq. kilometres a year.
The climate in southern Finland is a northern temperate climate. In northern Finland, particularly in the Province of Lapland, a subarctic climate dominates, characterised by cold, occasionally severe, winters and relatively warm summers.
A quarter of Finland's territory lies above the Arctic Circle, and as a consequence the midnight sun can be experienced — for more and more days, the further up north one comes. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 days during summer, and does not rise at all for 51 days in winter.
History
Conclusive archaeological evidence exists indicating that the area now comprising Finland was settled around 8500 B.C.E., during the Stone Age, as the inland ice of the last ice age receded. The earliest inhabitants are thought to have been hunter-gatherers, living primarily off what the forests and sea could offer. Pottery is known from around 5300 B.C.E. The existence of extensive exchange systems is indicated by the spread of asbestos and soapstone from Eastern Finland, and by founds of flint from South Scandinavia and Russia, chisels from Lake Onega, and spearheads from North Scandinavia. Currently it is considered probable that the speakers of the Finno-Ugric language arrived in Finland during the Stone Age, possibly even among the first Mesolithic settlers. The arrival of the Battle-Axe Culture (or Cord-Ceramic Culture) in Southern Finland around 3200 B.C.E. is considered as the start of agriculture. However, hunting and fishing continued to be important parts of the subsistence economy, especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
The Bronze Age (1500–500 B.C.E.) and Iron Age (500 B.C.E.–AD 1200) were characterized by extensive contacts with Scandinavia, Northern Russia and the Baltic region. There is not much written information of Finnish history before the 13th century AD, if we discount the obscure and possibly fictitous stories of Finnish kings in Scandinavian sagas.
The beginning of Finland's nearly 700-year association with the Kingdom of Sweden is traditionally connected with the year 1154 and the hypothesized introduction of Christianity by Sweden's King Erik. Actually many of the Finnish pagans were already Christianized hundreds of years before. Swedish became the dominant language of administration and education; Finnish chiefly a language for the peasantry, considered useful mainly for printing religious literature.
During the 18th century, virtually the whole of Finland was twice occupied by Russian forces (1714–1721 and 1742–1743), known by the Finns as the Greater Wrath and the Lesser Wrath. After that, "Finland" became the predominant term for the area — both in domestic Swedish debate and in Russians promising protection from Swedish oppression.
In 1808, Finland was conquered by the armies of Russian Emperor Alexander I and thereafter remained an autonomous Grand Duchy in personal union with the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. To sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden, the Finnish language was ardently promoted by both the imperial court and the Finnish government and a strong nationalist movement, known as fennomania, since about 1860s. Milestones in this development were the publication of what would become Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, in 1835; and Finnish getting a legally equal status with Swedish in 1892.
On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence. The independence was approved by Bolshevist Russia, but the following civil wars in Russia, in Finland and activist expeditions (called Heimosodat, Tribal wars, in Finland) for example to White Karelia and to Aunus complicated the relations. The Finnish–Russian border was agreed on only with the Treaty of Tartu in 1920 including Petsamo to the borders in Grand Duchy.
In 1918, the country experienced a brief but bitter Civil War that coloured domestic politics for many years. The Civil War was chiefly fought between "the whites", supported by Imperial Germany, and "the reds", supported by Bolshevist Russia. The reds consisted mostly of property–less rural and industrial workers who, despite universal suffrage in 1906, had found themselves without political influence.
The social frontier between the ruling and the working classes has been broader in Finland than in most comparable countries. Into the 19th century there was a most obvious language barrier; then during the 19th century Finland developed a proud university-educated meritocracy that felt as being the true representation of "the people" since they spoke the people's language and since a great deal of their ancestors really had been poor peasants.
During World War II, Finland fought the Soviet Union twice: in the Winter War of 1939–1940 and participated in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, known in Finland as the Continuation War of 1941–1944. This was followed by the Lapland War of 1944–1945, when Finland forced the Germans out of northern Finland.
Treaties signed in 1947 and 1948 with the Soviet Union included obligations, restraints and reparations on Finland vis-à-vis the Soviet Union as well as further territorial concessions by Finland (compared to the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940). Finland ceded most of Finnish Karelia, Salla and Petsamo.
After the Second World War, Finland was in the grey zone between western countries and Soviet Union. The "YYA Treaty" (Finno-Soviet Pact of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance) gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics and included a guarantee whereby Finland promised to defend her territory and airspace against Germany or her allies, in practice NATO. Many politicians, like President Kekkonen (1956–81), used their relations with the Kremlin to solve party controversies, which meant that the Soviet Union got even more influence; other people worked single-mindedly to oppose the communists.
The post-war era was a period of rapid economic growth and increasing wealth and stability for Finland. The war-ravaged agrarian country was transformed into a technologically advanced market economy with a sophisticated social welfare system.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991 Finland was surprised and suffered economically, but was free to follow her own course and joined the European Union in 1995, where Finland is an advocate of federalism contrary to the other Nordic countries that are predominantly supportive of confederalism.
Politics
Finland has a semi-presidential system with Parliamentarism. The President of Finland is formally responsible for foreign policy. Most executive power lies in the cabinet (the Finnish Council of State) headed by the prime minister chosen by the parliament. The Council of State is made up of the prime minister and the ministers for the various departments of the central government as well as an ex-officio member, the Chancellor of Justice.
The parliament has, since equal and common suffrage was introduced in 1906, been dominated by Conservative Nationalists, Agrarians, and Social Democrats — after 1944 also Communists have been a factor to consider. Liberal parties and ideologues may have been somewhat less prominent in Finland than in many comparable countries.
It should be noted that the Finnish political system remained democratic during the Cold War, although the political atmosphere was largely influenced by the neighbouring Soviet Union and a certain degree of self-censorship.
Economy
Finland has a highly industrialised, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, or Italy. The Finnish standard of living is high. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications (especially Nokia), and electronics industries. Trade is important, with exports equalling almost one-third of GDP. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for manufactured goods.
Because of the climate, agricultural development is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products. Forestry, an important export earner, provides a secondary occupation for the rural population. Rapidly increasing integration with Western Europe - Finland was one of the 11 countries joining the euro monetary system (EMU) on January 1, 1999 - will dominate the economic picture over the next several years. Growth was anaemic in 2002 but slowed down in 2003 because of global depression.
According to Transparency International, Finland has the lowest level of corruption in all the countries studied in their survey.
See also: Finnish innovation system
Foreign Reations
Finland's unique relationship with Czarist Russia, the Soviet Union, and now the Russian Federation, has profoundly impacted Finland's foreign policies and ability to globalise. Finnish globalisation was tempered by their necessity to remain unprovoking to their neighbour. Even with these barriers, Finland eventually became one of the most globalised nations in the world.
Finland's development from newly formed agricultural state to a highly successful globalised national entity follows Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye's concept of Realism and Complex Interdependence very closely. After Finland attained independence during the winter-war period, and during World War II, it displayed many of the characteristics of political realism. During the Cold War, Finland's policies began to move away from realism, but it was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union that Finland really embraced complex interdependence.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's, Finland took that opportunity to free itself from the restrictions imposed on it by the Treaty of Paris. Free from the fear of Soviet influence, Finland was able to begin pursuing goals that better fit Finnish ideology. The Finnish-Soviet Agreement of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance (and the restrictions included therein) was declared null and void, but Finland recognised the Russian Federation as the successor to the USSR and was quick to draft bilateral treaties of goodwill between the two nations.
Finland began integrating into Western institutions, while not abandoning neutrality completely. Finland's policy of neutrality was moderated further from "active neutrality" to "military non-alignment," with an emphasis on maintaining a competent independent defence. This policy allowed them to join the European Union in 1995, and any other international organisation, provided that Finland would not be forced to contribute militarily in a way that would threaten their neutrality. United Nations Peacekeeping is the only real extra-national military responsibilities that Finland participates in.
Demographics
There are two official languages in Finland: Finnish, spoken by 92% of the population, and Swedish, mother tongue for 5.5% of the population. Ethnic Finns and Finland Swedes are generally considered to comprise a common nation. The Finland-Swedes are concentrated in the coastal areas; and there is a slight cultural difference between the culture of the Ethnic Finns, focused on lakes and woods, and the more outward-oriented coastal culture of the Finland-Swedes. This difference may be considered as an ethnic division, but the difference is slight and not more pronounced than the difference between East Finnish and West Finnish culture.
Other minority languages include Russian and Estonian. To the north, in Lapland, are found the Sami, numbering less than 7,000, who like the Finns speak a Finno-Ugric languages. There are three Sami languages that are spoken in Finland: Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami.
Most Finns (84%) are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, with a minority of 1% belonging to the Finnish Orthodox Church (see Eastern Orthodoxy). These two churches are the state church of Finland.
The remainder of the population consists of relatively small groups of other Protestant denominations, Roman Catholics, Muslims and Jews beside the 14% who are unaffiliated.
After the Winter War (confirmed by the outcome of the Continuation War) 12% of Finland's population had to be re-settled. War reparations, unemployment and uncertainty regarding Finland's chances to remain sovereign and independent of the Soviet Union contributed to considerable emigration, abating first in the 1970s. Until then, some 500,000 Finns had emigrated, chiefly to Sweden, although half of the emigrants ultimately re-migrated again.
Since the late 1990s, Finland has received refugees and immigrants at a rate comparable with the Scandinavian countries, although the total ethnic-minority population remains far lower in Finland than the rest. A considerable number of immigrants have come from the former Soviet Union claiming ethnic (Finnic) kinship. However, over 20 languages are now spoken in Finland by immigrant groups of significant size — that is, with at least a thousand speakers.
Finland's population has always been concentrated in the southern parts of the country, which is even more pronounced after the 20th century urbanization. The biggest and most important cities in Finland are Helsinki metropolitan arean including cities of Espoo and Vantaa, Tampere, Turku and Oulu, with Oulu being the only city in central–northern Finland with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
After having one of the highest death rates from heart disease in the world in the 1970s, a concerted government programme to improve the Finnish diet and exercise has paid off. Finland is now one of the fittest countries in the world. [1]
Culture
- List of Finns
- Suuret Suomalaiset List of 100 Greatest Finns
- Characteristics of Finnishness:
- Finnish Maiden
- Kalevala
- Kantele
- Mämmi
- Historical Finnish paganism
- Koskenkorva
- Santa Claus (Local name is Joulupukki)
- Sauna
- Sisu
- Perkele
- Talkoot
- Turun sinappi
- Salmiakki
- Coffee
- Reilu meininki
- Cuisine of Finland
- Music of Finland
External links
- Finland in the CIA World Factbook.
- Finland Forum Discussion forum for people interested in Finland (in English)
- Finland Travel Club - Links, tips and free personal answers for your questions
- Finnguide.fi - English Gateway to Finland
- Parliament of Finland - Official Parliamentary site
- The Finnish Government - Official governmental site
- The President of Finland - Official site of the President of the Republic of Finland
- The Tourism Expert - Finland links in 10 languages
- Virtual Finland - Main portal to Finland (Administred by Finland's government)
- Finlandia (a cappella version, including traditional lyrics can be heard on Virtual Finland
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