Finland History Politics Provinces Geography Economy

1 History

Conclusive archaeological evidence exists indicating that the area now comprising Finland was settled around 8000 BC, 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 BC. Trade following the waterways 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. Nowadays it is considered probable that the speakers of Fenno-Ugric language arrived in Finland already during the Stone Age, possibly even among the first Mesolithic settlers.

Old Scandinavian sagas and some historians like Denmark's Saxo Grammaticus and the Arab Al Idrisi tell that there were Finnish kings before Sweden conquered Finland. Egils saga tells about Faravid , a king of Finland and Kvenland, who was in military co-operation with Norway against the invading Karelians. Probably these "kings" were local chiefs, because the rich archaeological material of the Finnish Iron Age does not give any support to the theories of the existence of an unified Finnish kingdom. According to Fundinn Noregr (the founding of Norway) saga one of Finnish kings, Norr, was a founder of Norwegian kingdom and a forefather of kings of Norway and England, but this should be considered pure fantasy.

Finland's nearly 700-year association with the Kingdom of Sweden is traditionally connected with the year 1154 and the alleged introduction of Christianity by Sweden's King Erik. Actually many of the finnish pagans were already christianized hundreds of years before, according to archaelogical data. Swedish became the dominant language of administration and education; Finnish chiefly a language for the peasantry, held useful mainly for printing religious literature.

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 counteract Russian replacing Swedish, and also to sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden, Finnish was ardently promoted by both the imperial court and the Finnish government and a strong nationalist movement, known as the fennomania. 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 that of Swedish in 1892.

On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence. The independence was recognized by Bolshevist Russia within a month, but the following civil wars in Russia, in Finland and activist expeditions to White Karelia and to Aunus complicated the relations. The Finnish–Russian border was agreed on first with the Treaty of Tartu in 1920.

The social frontier between the ruling and the working class 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.

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 educated class, supported by Germany and the big class of independent small farmers, against propertyless rural and industrial workers who despite universal suffrage in 1906 had found themselves without political influence.

During World War II, Finland fought the Soviet Union twice: in the Winter War of 1939- 1940 and again in the Continuation War of 1941- 1944 (with support from Germany). 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 and restraints on Finland vis-à-vis the Soviet Union as well as further territorial concessions by Finland (compared to the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940).

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 Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics. Many politicians used their relations with the USSR to solve party controversies, which meant that the Soviet Union got more influence; other people worked single-mindedly to oppose the communists.

When the Soviet Union fell in 1991 Finland was surprised, but they used it immediately to their advantage. Finland was free to follow her own course and joined the European Union in 1995. Even today Russia's influence can be seen; Finland supports federal country development more than the other Nordic countries.

2 Politics

Main article: Politics of Finland

Finland has a primarily parliamentary system, although the president also has some notable powers. Most executive power lies in the cabinet (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.

Constitutionally, the 200-member, unicameral parliament, the Eduskunta (Finnish) or Riksdag (Swedish), is the supreme legislative authority in Finland. It may alter the constitution, bring about the resignation of the Council of State, and override presidential vetoes. Its acts are not subject to judicial review. Legislation may be initiated by the Council of State, or one of the Eduskunta members, who are elected for a four-year term on the basis of proportional representation through open list multimember districts.

The judicial system is divided between courts with regular civil and criminal jurisdiction and special courts with responsibility for litigation between the public and the administrative organs of the state. Finnish law is codified and its court system consists of local courts, regional appellate courts, and a Supreme Court.

The parliament has, since equal and common suffrage was introduced in 1906, been dominated by Agrarians, Social Democrats and Communists; although all of the political spectrum is more influenced by anti-Socialist currents than in similar countries having less contact with the Soviet Union.

The constitution of Finland and its place in the judicial system are unusual in that there is no constitutional court and the supreme court doesn't have an explicit right to declare a law unconstitutional. The constitutionality of laws in Finland is verified by a simple vote in the parliament. Any Finnish court of law does, however, have the obligation to give precedence to the constitution when there is an obvious conflict between the constitution and a regular law. The only other European countries that lack a constitutional court are the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (which doesn't have a written constitution).

3 Provinces

Main articles: Provinces of Finland, Historical provinces of Finland

Finland consists of 6 provinces ( lääni, läänit or län). The province authority is part of the central government's executive branch; a system that hadn't changed drastically since its creation in 1634 to the new divison of 1997. Since then, the six provinces are:

The Åland Islands enjoy a high degree of autonomy. According to international treaties and Finnish laws, the regional government for Åland handles some matters which belong to the province authority in Mainland Finland.

Another kind of provinces are those echoing the pattern of colonization of Finland. Dialects, folklore, customs and people's feeling of affiliation are associated with these historical provinces of Finland, although the re-settlement of 420,000 Karelians during World War II and urbanization in the latter half of the 20th century have made differences less pronounced.

Local government is further organized in 450 municipalities of Finland. Since 1977, no legal or administrative distinction is made between towns, cities and other municipalities. The municipalities cooperate in 20 regions of Finland.

4 Geography

Main article: Geography of Finland

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 5th 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.

5 Economy

Main article: Economy of Finland

Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, Germany, and 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 equaling 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 anemic in 2002 but slowed down in 2003 because of global depression.

6 Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Finland

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 language ( Sami).

Most Finns (84%) are members of the Lutheran Church of Finland, with a minority of 1% belonging to the Finnish Orthodox Church (see Eastern Orthodoxy). The remainder consist 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, half-a-million Finns had emigrated, chiefly to Sweden, although half of the emigrants ultimately re-migrated again.

Now, since the late 1990s, Finland receives refugees and immigrants in a rate comparable with the Scandinavian countries, although the accumulated number remains far lower in Finland. A considerable share of the immigrants has come from the former Soviet Union claiming ethnic ( Finnic) kinship. However, over twenty 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, Tampere, Turku and Oulu, with Oulu being the only city in central–northern Finland with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

7 Culture

Main article: Culture of Finland

Characteristics of Finnishness:
- Kalevala
- Kantele
- Mämmi
- Historical Finnish paganism
- Santa Claus
- Sauna
- Sisu
- Talkoot
Cuisine of Finland
Houses in Finland
Music of Finland

8 Public Holidays

Main article: Public holidays in Finland

All official holidays in Finland are established by acts of Parliament. The official holidays can be divided into Christian and secular holidays, although some of the Christian holidays have replaced holidays of pagan origin. The main Christian holidays are Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost and All Saints Day. The secular holidays are New Year's Day, May Day and Midsummer Day.

In addition to this all Sundays are official holidays but they are not as important as the special holidays. The names of the Sundays follow the liturgical calendar and they can be categorized as Christian holidays. When the standard working week in Finland was reduced to 40 hours by an act of Parliament it also meant that all Saturdays became a sort of de facto public holidays, though not official ones. Easter Sunday and Pentecost are Sundays that form part of a main holiday and they are preceded by a kind of special Saturdays.

Retail stores are prohibited by law from doing business on Sundays, except during the summer months (May through August) and in the pre-Christmas season (November and December). Business locations that have less than 400 square meters of floor space are allowed Sunday business throughout the year, with the exception of official holidays and certain Sundays, such as Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day.

9 Miscellaneous topics

Date format: DD.MM.YYYY (leading zeros usually omitted)
Voltage: 220-240V, 50 Hz; Power connector: 2 or 3-pin round (German)
Postal code: 5 digits.
Cellular frequency: GSM 900, GSM 1800
Cellular technology: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS

10 Other related articles

11 International rankings

IMD International: World Competitiveness Yearbook 2004, Rank 8 out of 60 economies (countries and regions)

Reporters without borders: Second world press freedom ranking (October 2003), Rank 1 out of 166 countries (tied with Iceland, Netherlands and Norway)

Save the Children: State of the World’s Mothers 2004, Rank 2 out of 119 countries (tied with Denmark)

Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 2004, Rank 1 out of 146 countries

UNDP: Human Development Index 2004, Rank 13 out of 177 countries

World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005 - Growth Competitiveness Index Ranking, Rank 1 out of 104 countries

12 External links

Diplomatarium Fennicum - Publishing of medieval documents. The National Archives of Finland
Eduskunta.fi - Official parliamentary site
Government.fi - Official governmental site
Ministry of Defence - Ministry of defence of Finland
Presidentti - Official presidential site
Virtual Finland - Main portal to Finland
Connectedtofinland.com

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