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FINLAND
Travel
to Finland - the 10.000-lakes country
in Northern Europe
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Finland is a country in northern Europe famous
for its scenic beauty. Thousands of lovely lakes dot Finland's landscape,
and thick forests cover almost two-thirds of the land. The country
has a long, deeply indented coast, marked by colourful red and grey
granite rocks. |
Thousands of scenic islands lie offshore.
Sweden lies to the west of Finland, northern Norway
to the north, and Russia to the east. The Gulf of
Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia, two arms of the
Baltic Sea, border Finland on the south and southwest.
The northern-most part of the country lies inside
the Arctic Circle, an imaginary line about 2,623
kilometres (1630 miles) from the North Pole. In
this region of Finland, called the Land of the Midnight
Sun, the sun shines 24 hours a day for long perlods
each summer. Helsinki, the country's capital and
largest city, is located in the south, on the Gulf
of Finland.
Most of Finland's people live in the southern part
of the country, where the climate is mildest, though
the entire country is snowcovered from December
to April. Finns love the outdoors and the arts.
They have a high standard of living and receive
many welfare benefits from the government. Most
of Finland's wealth comes from its huge forests.
They form the basis of the country´s thriving forest-products
industry, which includes woodworking and
the manufacture of paper and pulp.
Finland's location between Russia on the east and
Sweden on the west has played an important role
in the country's history. In the 1000´s, Sweden
and Russia began to battle for possession of Finland.
Sweden gradually gained control in the 1100´s and
1200´s, but conflict between Sweden and Russia over
Finland continued for hundreds of years. Today,
Swedish remains equal with Finnish as an official
language of Finland. Russia controlled the country
from 1809 until 1917, when Finland declared its
independence. The country became a republic with
a president and parliament. During World War II
(1939-1945), Finland fought two wars with the Soviet
Union, which was formed under Russia's leadership
in 1922, and existed until 1991.
Facts in Brief about Finland
Capital: Helsinki (in Swedish,
Helsingfors).
Official languages: Finnish
and Swedish.
Official name: Republic
of Finland. Finland's name in Finnish is Suomi
Constitution: democtratic
republic with a president (since 1994, Martti Ahtisaaris,
made the successful peace agreement in the Kosovo
conflict in May 1999).
Government: prime minister
(today Paavo Lipponen), parliament (Eduskunta ,
in Swedish - Riksdag) with 200 members (Socialists
Democratic Party role in a five-party coalition)
who are elected to four-year terms. The whole country
is devided in 12 provinces with their own local
government. All Finnish citizens at least 18 years
old
may vote.
Area: 338,145 sq. km (210,159
sq. miles), including 33,522 sq. km (20834 sq. miles)
of inland water. Greatest distances-east-west, 515
km (320 miles); north-south, 1,030 km (640 miles).
Coastlline - 2,353 km (1463 miles).
Elevation: Highest-Mount
Haltia, 1,324 m (4299 feet) above sea level. Lowest
- sea level.
Population: Estimated 1998
population - 5,200,000; density 15 persons per sq.
km. (10 persons per sq. miles) distribution, 68
per cent urban, 32 percent rural.
Chief products: Agriculture
- milk, pigs, beef cattle, barley, sugar beet, potatoes,
oats. Forestry - birch, pine, spruce. Manufacruring
- paper products, machinery, ships, wood products,
chemicals. Mining - iron ore, copper, zinc.
National anthem: 'Maamme"
(in Finnish) or "Vart Land" (in Swedish), meaning
"Our Land."
Money: Basic unit - markka
(January 1999: 1 USD = 5,06 markka, 1 Euro = 5,95
markka).
Armed forces: Healty
men between 17 and 60 must serve 8 to 11 months
in the armed forces.
GDP: $ 146,0 bn (2000)
GDP per head: $ 28,100
(2000)
GDP growth: 4,3%, Inflation:
1,8% (2000)
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Cool Facts
about Finland
Finland's forests cover almost twothirds of
the land - a higher percentage than in any
other European country.The Sauna was invented
by Finns and is a Finnish word. |
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Finland ranks as the world's top producer
of plywood. The country is also a leading producer
of paper and paperboard. The new town of Taplola,
has become a world-famous model for city planning.
A private organization developed it as an entirely
new community in the 1950´s. The Finnish Alvar Aalto
is Scandinavias best known architect. He has also
been world famous for his glassware and furniture
designs. In Helsinki you find a church built inside
a rock. Finns drink most milk per capita in the
world, has most mobile telephone subscribers in
the world and most people connected to the Internet
in the world. Finns also have most heart attacks
among it´s inhabitants than any other nation. The
Finnish company Nokia is the largest producer of
mobile phones in the world. The new multi mega software
Linux has been developed by a Finn. In Rovaniemi
you can visit the Santa Claus (Father Christmas).
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Tourist Hot Spots
- travel to Finland
Finland's landscape with wide spread thick
forests and thousands of lakes offers a fantastic
wilderness experience. You will also find
many rivers which provide logging routes and
rich salmon catches. In Rovaniemi, in the
north of Finland, you can visit the real Santa
Claus (Father Christmas). Helsinki provides
many nice historic buildings and fine architect like Saarinen's |
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famous designed buildings, which include
the railway station (built in granite rock) and
the National Museum.
People
More than 90 percent of Finland's people are Finnish
by descent, and most of the rest are Swedish. Most
people in both groups are tall, with fair skin,
blue or grey eyes, and blond or light brown hair.
About 6,000 Sami live in northern Finland. The ancestors
of these short, stocky people lived in Finland long
before the first Finns arrived thousands of years
ago (click here
and learn more about the Sami culture). Finland
also has about 6,000 Gypsies and small groups of
Jews and Turks.
Finland has a total population of about 5,3 million.
Most of the people live in the south, and about
two-thirds of them live in cities and towns. Helsinki,
Finland's capital and largest city, has about 500,000
people. About a fifth of the country's people live
in Helsinki and its suburbs. Finland has two other
cities - Tampere and Turku - with more than 150,000
people living in each.
Languages
Finland has two official languages - Finnish and
Swedish. About 95 percent of the people speak Finnish,
and about 5 percent speak Swedish. Most of the Swedish-speaking
people live on the south and west coasts and on
the offshore Aland Islands. Finnish and Swedish
belong to different language families. The Sami
speak a language related to Finnish (click here
and learn more about the Sami culture).
Way of Life
In Finland's cities, most people own or rent apartments.
Most people in rural areas live in one family homes
on farms or in villages. The Finns enjoy fish, especially
herring, perch, pike, and salmon. Popular meats
include beef, veal, and pork. Smoked reindeer is
a special treat. Boiled potatoes covered with butter
and dill sprigs are a favourite side dish. Butter
and milk are important
parts of the Finnish diet.
The most famous feature of Finnish life is a special
kind of bath called a sauna. Most Finns take a sauna
at least once a week for cleansing and relaxation.
In a sauna room or bathhouse, stones are heated
over a stove or furnace. The temperature in the
sauna rises to between 80 and 100 Degrees Centigrades
- 176-212 Degress Fahrenheit (boiling point for
water) Bathers sit or lie on wooden benches until
they begin to perspire freely. After a while, they
may throw water on the stones to produce vapour
and make the sauna feel even hotter. The bathers
may beat themselves gently with leafy birch twigs
to stimulate circulation. Finally, they take a cold
shower or plunge into a lake (in winter roll themselves
in snow or cut a whole in a frozen lake). After
repeating the entire cycle, they lie down until
their body temperature.returns to normal.
Social Welfare
The government of Finland provides the people with
many welfare services like the other Nordic countries
- Sweden, Norway and Denmark. For example since
the 1920´s maternity and child welfare centres have
given free health care to pregnant women, mothers,
and children. Since 1948, families have received
an allowance every time they have had a new baby
as well as a yearly allowance for each child under
the age of 16. The government began to guarantee
workers annual holidays in the 1920´s. Today, workers
who remain in the Same job for one year receive
a 26-day annual holiday. After 10 years, they receive
36 days.
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Recreation
The Finns love outdoor sports. In winter,
they enjoy ice hockey, ice skating, ski jumping,
cross- country skiing, and downhill skiing.
Popular summer sports include pesapallo (a
Finnish form of baseball), swimming, boating,
and hiking. In summer, thousands of city families
flock to their cottages and saunas on the
lakes, the seacoast, or the offshore islands.
Favourite spectator sports include athletics
and ice hockey matches. |
The Finns also enjoy ballets, concerts,
films, plays, and operas.
Education
Almost all adult Finns can read and write. All
primary school students and most other students
go to state schools. The rest attend private schools,
which may charge a small tuition fee. Primary
school students receive one free meal a day, books,
and medical and dental care. Finland has a comprehensive
school system. Under this system, children are
required to attend primary schools called basic
schools for nine years. They begin at the age
of 7. After completing basic school, students
may choose to enter
an upper secondary school or a vocational school.
Upper secondary schools, which offer three-year
courses, emphasize academic subjects. Vocational
schools, most of which offer two-year courses,
emphasize education in skilled manual work. Most
vocational school students enter the job market
after graduating. Graduates of upper secondary
schools may apply to a vocational institute or
a university. Vocational institutes chiefly prepare
students for careers in managerial business jobs.
The universities offer a wide variety of higher-education
programmes. Finland has 13 universities and 26
other institutions of higher learning. The University
of Helsinki is the country's largest university.
Religion
The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the state church
of Finland. The people have complete freedom of
worship. More than 95 percent of all Finns are
Evangelical Lutherans.
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Arts
Finland has a rich folk culture, which is
reflected in the country's crafts, literature,
music, and painting. The person most responsible
for preserving Finland's |
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oral folklore was Elias Lonnrot, a country
doctor. He collected the centuries-old song-poems
and chants of the Finnish peasants and published
them in 1835. This huge collection, called the
Kalevala, became Finland's national epic.
During the mid to late 1800´s and 1900´s, the
Kalevala inspired many artists. Akseli Gallen-Kallela
used its themes in many of his paintings. Composer
Jean Sibelius based most of his symphonic poems
on the work. American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
patterned the rhythm of his poem The Song of Hiawafha
on the Kalevala.
During the early 1800´s, Johan Ludvig Runeberg
became known as Finland's national poet. His poem
"Vart Land" is now the country's national anthem.
Other writers of the 1800´s include the novelist
Aleksis Kivi and the playwright Minna Canth. During
the 1900´s, the novelists Frans Eemil Sillanpaa
and Mika Waltari gained international fame. Sillanpaa
won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1939, becoming
the first Finn to win the award.
Finnish glassware, ceramics, furniture, and textiles
are world famous for the simple beauty of their
design. This same simplicity of line and shape
can be seen in the works of Finland's best-known
architects - Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto. Saarinen's
famous designs include the railway station and
the National Museum in Helsinki. Aalto gained
fame not only as an architect, but also as a town
planner and furniture designer.
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Land and Climate
Finland covers 338,145 square kilometres (210,159
sq. miles). This includes 33,522 square kilometres
of inland water (20834 sq. miles). The country
is largely a plateau broken by small hills
and valleys and low ridges and hollows. The
land rises gradually from south-southwest
to north-northeast, but average altitude is
only about 120 to 180 metres (394-591 feet)
above sea level. |
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Mount Haltia, the country's highest point,
1,324 metres (4344 feet) above sea level , in the
far northwestern region of Finland. About 60,000
lakes are scattered throughout the country, and
forests cover almost two-thirds of the land.
Finland has four main land the (1) Coastal Lowlands,
(2) the Lake District, (3) the Upland District,
and (4) the Coastal Islands. The Coastal lowlands
lie along the Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland.
Many small lakes lie in the Coastal Lowlands. The
region is less heavily forested and have the mildest
climate of all and the most productive farms. Most
of Finland's people live in this area.
The Lake District occupies central Finland north
and east of the Coastal Lowlands. The region has
thousands of island-dotted lakes. The lakes cover
about half the total area of the district. Saimaa,
the largest lake in Finland, covers about 1,760
square kilometres (5774 sq. miles) in the southeastern
part of the region. Forests of birch, pine, and
spruce cover most of the land in the Lake District.
The Upland District is Finland's northernmost and
least densely populated region. It covers about
40 percent of the country. The Upland District has
a harsher climate and less fertile soil than the
other regions have. As one travels north through
the Upland District, plant life becomes increasingly
scarce. However, the northernmost part is a tundra-a
frozen, treeless plain.
The Coastal lslands consist of thousands of islands
in the Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland. The
great majority of these islands are small and uninhabited.
The most important islands are the Åland group,
which consists of about 6,500 islands off Finland's
southwestern coast. People, almost all of whom speak
Swedish, live on about 80 of these islands. Aland,
which is Finlands largest island, covers 738 square
kilometres (459 sq. miles) and is an important
tourist and shipping centre. Remains from the Stone,
Bronze, and Iron ages abound on Aland. A system
of forts, built by the Russians in the 1830´s, also
survives.
Finland has a much milder climate than most other
regions of the world that lie as far north. In January,
for example, Helsinki's temperatures often average
14 to 18 Degrees Centigrades (57-65 Degress Fahrenheit)
higher than the temperatures in parts of Canada
at the same latitude. Finland's climate is influenced
chiefly by the Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current
that flows off Norway's west coast. Finland's many
lakes and the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland help
give the country a relatively mild climate.
July temperatures in Finland average 13 to 17 Degrees
Centigrades (55-63 Degress fahrenheit). February
is usually Finland's coldest month, with temperatures
averaging from - 22 to -3 Degrees Centigrades(-7,6
to - 27 Degress Fahrenheit). In northern Finland,
winter temperatures often drop as low as -30 Degrees
Centigrades (-22 Degrees Fahrenheit) or even down
to -50 Degrees Centigrades (-58 Degrees Fahrenheit).
Snow covers the ground in southern Finland from
December to April, and northern Finland is snowbound
from October to April. Most of the country is icebound
in winter, but special icebreaking boats keep the
major Finnish ports open so passenger traffic and
shipping can continue.
Northern Finland lies in the Land off the Midnight
Sun and so has continuous daylight during part of
the summer. The number of days of continuous daylight
increases as one goes farther north. In northernmost
Finland, the sun stays above the horizon for about
2,5 months. Southern Finland never has continuous
daylight, though it averages 19 hours of daylight
a day in midsummer.
In winter, Finland has similar periods of continuous
darkness. In the northernmost areas of the country
the sun never rises above the horizon for about
2 months. Southern Finland has some daylight each
day, though it receives only about 6 hours of daylight
a day in midwinter. The winter night sky-especially
in the northern areas of Finland-often becomes enriched
with brilliant displays of the aurora borealisz
or Northern Lights.
Economy
Finland's economy is based mostly on private ownership.
However, the national government has a monopoly
on certain businesses, such as the railway and postal
systems. In forestry and some other industries,
government-owned businesses compete with private
companies. Service industries account for 62 per
cent of Finland's gross domestic product (GDP),
which was GDP: $ 131,2 bn (1998). The GDP is the
total value of goods and services produced within
a country in a year. Industry accounts for 32 per
cent of the GDP, and agriculture, forestry, and
fishing-taken together-account for 6 per cent of
the GDP.
Finland's greatest natural resource is its widespread
forests. They cover almost twothirds of the land
- a higher percentage than in any other European
country. But Finland's other resources are limited.
Its soil is poor, and the crop-growing season short.
The country has no deposits of oil, natural gas,
or coal. Hydroelectric power plants produce a large
proportion of the country's electricity supply.
Finland's most important mineral is zinc. The country
also has important deposits of cobalt, copper, and
iron. Forestry plays a leading role in Finland's
economy. Forestry and forest-products industries
provide about 35 percent of Finland's exports. The
government owns about a third of Finland's forests,
chiefly in the north. Most private are owned by
individual farmers. They work their land during
the summer and cut trees in their forests throughout
the
year. A strict conservation policy protects the
forests. Finland produces more than 37 million cubic
metres (23 millions of cubic miles)of timber a year.
Pine is the most important variety, accounting for
almost half the production, followed by spruce and
birch.
Service industries are those economic activities
that produce services rather than goods. The leading
category of service industry in Finland consists
of community, government, and personal services.
These include education, health care, public administration,
and recreation. The government controls several
large companies in Finland.
Woodworking, pulp and paper production, and other
forest-based industries are Finland´s chief manufacturing
industries. Finland ranks as the world's top producer
of plywood. The country is also a leading producer
of paper and paperboard. Other forest products include
wood panelling and prefabricated houses, which are
erected in factory-made sections.
Finland's metalworking industry has expanded rapidly
since the 1940´s. The chief metal products include
farm machinery and equipment, electric motors and
generators, and machinery for use in the paper and
timber industries. Finland also produces buses,
ships, and other transportation equipment. The shipbuilding
industry is especially known for its sturdy, powerful
icebreakers and its ferries. Other manufactured
products include chemicals, metals, processed foods,
telephones, mobile telephones, textiles and clothing.
Most of Finland's farmland lies in south and west.
The farms are small, averaging about 12 hectares.
Dairy farming and live stock production account
for about 70 percent of Finland's farm income. Finland's
,. farmers produce all the milk, eggs, and meat
needed by the people. They also produce almost all
the bread grains needed in Finland. Barley and oats
are the main grain crops.
Finland depends heavily on foreign trade. It imports
large quantities of fruits, vegetables, industrial
raw materials, manufactured goods not produced in
Finland and petroleum and petroleum products. Paper,
pulp, and wood products make up about 35 percent
of the country's exports.
Other major exports include products of the metalworking
industry, such as machinery and ships. Finland also
exports millions of farmed furs each year. Finland's
major trading partners include Great Britain, Sweden,
and Germany. Finland became a member of the European
Community in 1995.
Transportation
The government owns most of Finland's railways.
The country has a good network of roads and motorways.
Finland has an average of about one car for every
three people. The Finnish airline, Finnair, is owned
mostly by the government. It offers internatianal
and domestic flights. As a result of the great distances
between many major Finnish communities and the watery
nature of the land, Finland has one of Europe's
busiest and most extensive domestic airnetworks.
The international airport at Helsinki is the country's
busiest airport. A system of inland waterways connects
various lakes and seaports. Skoldvik, near Helsinki,
is the country's busiest port.
Communication
Finland publishes about 65 daily newspapers. The
largest circulation dailies include Helsingin Sanomat
of Helsinki, Aamulehti of Tampere, and Turun Sanomat
of Turku. Finland has an average of about one radio
for every two people and one television for every
three people. The government owns about 90 percent
of the stock in the main radio and television network.
Telegraph and telephone lines connect all areas
of Finland. The government owns the telegraph system.
The government also owns a large part of the
telephone services.
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History
Important dates in Finnish history.
1100s-1200's Sweden gradually
conquered all Finland.
1500's-1700's Sweden and
Russia fought several session of Finland.
1809 Finland became
a grand duchy of the Russian Empire.
1917 Finland declared
its independence from Russia. |
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1918 Finnish
socialists and nonsocialists fought a civil war.
1919 Finland adopted
a republican constitution.
1939-1940 The Soviet Union
defeated Finland in the Winter War.
1941-1944 The Soviet Union
defeated Finland in the Continuation War.
1946 Finland established
a policy of neutrality in politics.
1955 Finland joined the
United Nations (UN) and the Nordic Council.
1973 Finland and other EFTA
members entered into agreements with the European
Community.
1981 President Urho Kekkonen
resigned from office because of poor health. He
had served as president since 1956.
1995 Finland joins the
EC (European Community).
1999 Finland joins the EMU
(Europena Monetary union)
Early Years
The earliest-known inhabitants of Finland were the
Sami. These people lived as nomadic (wandering)
hunters (click here
and learn more about the Sami culture). Thousands
of years ago, the ancestors of present-day Finns
began to move into the country from the south shores
of the Gulf of Finland. Their original homeland
may have been between the Volga River and the Ural
Mountains in what is now Russia.The Finns gradually
pushed the Sami farther and farther north. The early
Finns were divided into three loosely organized
tribes that often fought one another. These people
lived a simple life of farming, hunting, and fishing.
In the 1000´s, Sweden and Russia began a struggle
for control of Finland. Both countries wanted to
extend their boundaries. In addition, Sweden wanted
to convert the Finns to Roman Catholicism, and Russia
wanted to convert them to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Swedish Rule
During the 1100´s and 1200´s, Sweden gradually conquered
all Finland and established Catholicism as the official
religion. Many Swedes settled in Finland, and Swedish
became the official language. But Finns shared equal
rights with Swedes. About 1540, the Swedish king
Gustavus I made Lutheranism the official religion.
From the 1500´s until the end of the 1700´s, Sweden
and Russia fought several wars over Finland. Russia
won the Finnish province of Vyborg after the Great
Northern War (1700-1721), which was known in Finland
as the Great Wrath. For several years during that
war and from 1741 to 1743, Russia occupied all Finland.
Sweden and Russia fought over Finland again from
1788 to 1790. After the 1788-1790 war, some Finns
began to think Sweden could not protect their land.
But a plot to create an independent Finland under
Russian protection failed to win wide support.
Control by Russia
In 1808, Russia again invaded Finland. It conquered
the country in 1809 and made it an independent grand
duchy, but with the czar as grand duke. The duchy
had local self-rule based on government systems
developed during Swedish control. Russia returned
Vyborg to the duchy. During the 1800´s, Finns began
to develop feelings of nationalism as they took
increasing pride in their country and its culture.
In 1835, Elias Lonnrot published the Kalevala, whose
heroic themes strengthened the growing sense of
nationalism. Many Finnish leaders began to urge
that Finnish be made an official language equal
with Swedish. But Finnish did not become a fully
equal official language until 1902.
In 1899, Czar Nicholas II began a programme to force
the Finns to accept Russian government and culture.
He took away most of Finland's powers of self-rule
and disbanded the Finnish national army. Russian
was made the official language. In 1903, the Russian
governor suspended Finland's constitution and became
dictator. Finnish resistance reached a peak in 1905
with a six-day nationwide strike. The czar then
restored much of Finland's
self-government. In 1906, the Finns created their
first parliament elected by all adult citizens,
women as well as men. During the next several years,
Russia again to Russianize Finland. Finland stayed
out of World War I (1914-1918). But its merchant
ships were blockaded in the Gulf of Bothnia, and
the country suffered food shortages and unemployment.
In 1917, a revolution in Russia overthrew
the czar. Finland then decided to declare its freedom.
The New Republic
Finland declared its independence from Russia on
Dec. 6, 1917. Russia's new Bolshevik (Communist)
government recognized the new country, but some
Russian troops remained in Finland. In preparing
for independence, the Finns had become divided into
two groups-socialists, who formed armed units called
the Red Guard, and nonsocialists, who formed armed
units called the White Guard. Both groups had demanded
Finnish independence, but the
socialists also wanted revolutionary social changes.
In January 1918, the White Guard, led by Carl Gustaf
Mannerheim, began operations in western Finland
to expel Russian troops. Meanwhile, the Red Guard
attempted to take over the Finnish government in
Helsinki. A bloody civil war broke out between the
two groups. The Whites received aid from Germany,
and the Reds from Russia.
The war ended in a White victory in May 1918. In
1919, Finland adopted a republican constitution,
and Kaarlo Juho Stahlberg became the first president.
But Finland's relations with Sweden and Russia remained
unsettled. Finland and Sweden quarrelled over possession
of the Aland Islands. In 1921, the League of Nations
awarded the islands to Finland. Disputes with Russia
centred on Karelia, a large region east of present-day
Finland. Finland demanded that the eastern part
of Karelia be made part of Finland, like the rest
of Karelia, or that it be made independent of Russia.
Russia did not accept either of these demands, and
relations between the two countries remained tense
for years.
World War II (1939-1945)
Although Finland never officially allied itself
with any country in World War II, the Soviet Union
invaded the country twice. The Soviet Union had
been formed under Russia's leadership in, 1922 and
it existed until 1991. The Winter war began on Nov.
30, 1939, when Soviet troops marched into Finland.
Mannerheim led the strong Finnish resistance, which
included troop on skis. But Finland had to agree
to a peace treaty in March 1940. Under the peace
treaty, Finland was forced to give up the southern
part of Karelia, an area where 12 percent of the
Finnish people lived. The area made up a tenth of
Finland's territory and included Lake Ladoga and
Finland's second largest city, Viipuri (now Vyborg).
The Soviet Union also received a naval base on the
Hango peninsula. The base was situated on the southernmost
point of the Finnish coast, at the entrance to the
Gulf of Finland.
In 1941, Finland allowed Germany to station troops
in northern Finland and to move them through the
region to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union
then bombed Finland, beginning the Continuation
War. Finnish troops recaptured southern Karelia.
But in 1944, Soviet troops pushed farther and farther
into Finland, and the country had to give up. On
Sept 19, 1944, Finland and the Soviet Union signed
an armistice. As the German troops retreated from
northern Finland, they burned towns, villages, and
forests behind them.
The destruction by the Germans was only part of
Finland's heavy war losses. About 100,000 Finns
died, and about 50,000 were permanently disabled.
The Soviet Union regained southern Karelia and won
other Finnish territories as well. The Soviet Union
also leased a military base at Porkkala, near Helsinki,
but gave up its base at Hango. About 420,000 Karelians
fled to Finland, where the government gave them
new land. Finland also had to pay the Soviet Union
large reparations (payment for damages).
Mannerheim became Finland's president in 1944, but
he retired in 1946 because of poor health. Juho
K. Paasikivi finished Mannerheim's term and was
elected to a full term in 1950. Paasikivi set a
policy of Finnish neutrality in international politics.
Under him, Finland also developed close economic
and cultural ties with the Soviet Union and the
Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
In 1955, the Soviet Union returned Porkkala to Finland,
and the two countries renewed a treaty of friendship
and assistance that had been entered into in 1948.
Also in 1955, Finland joined both the United Nations
(UN) and the Nordic Council, which includes Denmark,
Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Citizens of Nordic
Council countries may work and receive social benefits
in any member country and travel among member countries
without a passport or visa. As a result of Finland's
membership of the Nordic Council, many Finns have
moved to Sweden, which has a more developed economy
and more extensive social welfare benefits than
Finland. In 1956, Urho Kekkonen was elected president.
He continued to emphasize neutrality in international
affairs and was reelected in 1962 and 1968.
Recent Developments
In late 1973, Finland and the other members of EFTA
entered into agreements with another economic group,
the European Community. The agreements reduced tariffs
among all the countries of both groups. Earlier,
in January 1973, Finland's parliament had passed
a special bill to extend Kekkonen's term from 1974
to 1978. Parliament hoped the bill would assure
the Soviet Union that Kekkonen's policies of neutrality
would not change because of the economic agreement
with the European Community. President Kekkonen
was reelected again in 1978.
In September 1981, he took a medical leave from
office and Prime Minister Mauno Koivisto became
acting president. Kekkonen resigned from office
in October 1981 because of poor health. Koivisto
was elected president in January 1982. Kekkonen
died in 1986. In 1988, Koivisto was reelected. During
the late 1970´s and early 1980´s, Finland completed
construction of four nuclear power plants. These
plants supply more than a third of the country's
energy needs. Finland hopes to improve the economy
in the
underdeveloped north and so relieve overcrowding
in the booming south.
In 1995 Finland became a member of the EC (European
Community) and 1999 the EMU (European Monetary Union).
Members of the EC (European Community):
Austria
Belgium
Denmark (not included in the 1999 - EMU)
Finland
France
Germany
Greece (not included in the 1999 - EMU)
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Nerherlands
Portugal
Spain
Sweden (not included in the 1999 - EMU)
United Kingdom (not included in the 1999 - EMU)
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