Encyclopedia
The
Republic of Finland , is one of the
Nordic countries. Situated in
Northern Europe, it shares borders with
Sweden to the west,
Russia to the east,
Norway to the north and
Estonia is across the
Gulf of Finland to the south. Finland is bounded by the
Baltic Sea with the
Gulf of Finland to the south and the
Gulf of Bothnia to the west. The
Åland Islands, off the south-western coast, are an autonomous province of Finland.
Finland has a population of over five million people spread over more than 330,000 km² making it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world .
Finland is ranked thirteenth on the 2005
United Nations Human Development Index.
Along with Estonian,
Hungarian, Maltese and
Basque Finnish is one of the few official languages in the
European Union that is not of
Indo-European origin.
History
Prehistory
According to
archaeological evidence, the area now comprising Finland was first settled around
8500 BCE during the
Stone Age as the ice shield of the last
ice age receded. The earliest people were probably hunter-gatherers, living primarily off what the
tundra and sea could offer.
Pottery is known from around 5300 BCE . It has been postulated and held probable that the speakers of the
Finno-Ugric language arrived in the area during the Stone Age
The
Bronze Age and
Iron Age were characterised by extensive contacts with
Scandinavia, northern
Russia and the Baltic region. Inhabitants of Finland - like the
Kvens - and their "kings" are mentioned in some historic chronicles and other writings such as the Scandinavian sagas. There are also some written documents from the 13th century.
The Swedish reign
The beginning of Finland's nearly 700-year association with the Kingdom of
Sweden is traditionally connected with the year 1154 and the hypothesised
introduction of Christianity by Sweden's
King Erik. However, archaeological evidence points to prior Christian influences in south-western and south-eastern Finland and include both western and eastern Christian artefacts. Historically , the union began upon
Birger jarl's expedition to Finland in 1249.
Swedish became the dominant language of administration and education;
Finnish chiefly a language for the
peasantry,
clergy and local courts in predominantly Finnish-speaking areas. Not until the 16th century were the first written works published in Finnish by
Mikael Agricola.
The Swedish Kingdom strove to push the borders eastward, which led to wars of varying success with
Novgorod. The expansion was halted by the unification of
Russia and was eventually rolled back. During the 18th century, virtually all of Finland was twice occupied by Russian forces , known by the Finns as the
Greater Wrath and the Lesser Wrath. During this time "Finland" became the predominant term for the whole land area from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Russian border; both in domestic Swedish debate and by Russians promising protection from "Swedish oppression."
The earlier Finland – i.e. the south-western area – was from then on called "Finland Proper." The Finnish areas ceded to Russia in 1721 and 1743 were called "Old Finland." In these areas the traditional freedom of peasants was constantly pushed towards the oppressed position peasants had in other parts of Russia.
Finland as a Grand Duchy of Russia
On March 29 1809, after being conquered by the armies of
Russian Emperor Alexander I, Finland became an autonomous
Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. Old Finland was returned to the Grand Duchy in 1812. During the Russian era, Finnish language started to gain recognition by both the imperial court and the governing bodies, first probably to sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden and thereafter, from the 1860s onwards, as a result of a strong
nationalist movement, known as the Fennoman movement. Milestones included the publication of what would become Finland's national epic, the
Kalevala, in 1835; and the Finnish language achieving equal legal status with Swedish in 1892.
In 1906, the universal suffrage was adopted in the Grand Duchy of Finland. However, the relationship between the Grand Duchy and the Russian Empire gradually soured when the Russian government made moves to restrict the Finnish autonomy. Wish for national indepency gained ground, first among the radical nationalists and Socialists.
The independent republic, civil war
On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia,
Finland declared its independence. The independence was approved by Bolshevist Russia but the civil wars that followed
in Russia and
in Finland and activist expeditions , including the ones to
White Karelia and Aunus, complicated relations.
In 1918, the country experienced a brief but bitter
Civil War that coloured domestic politics for many years. The Civil War was fought between "the whites," who gained support from
Imperial Germany, and "the reds," supported by Bolshevist Russia. The reds consisted mostly of leftist property–less rural and industrial workers who, despite universal suffrage in 1906, felt that they lacked political influence. The white forces were mostly made up of bourgeoisie and wealthy peasantry, politically more to the right. Eventually, the whites overcame the reds. The deep social and political dividing line and mutual enmity between the Reds and Whites remained.
The Finnish–Russian border was agreed upon in the
Treaty of Tartu in 1920, largely following the historic border but granting
Pechenga and its
Barents Sea harbour to Finland.
Finnish democracy survived the upsurge of the extreme right and financial crisis during the early 30´s. However, legislators reacted against Communism and the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union remained tense.
Finland in World War II
During
World War II, Finland fought the
Soviet Union twice: in the
Winter War of 1939–1940 and in the
Continuation War of 1941–1944 in accordance with
Operation Barbarossa in which
Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This was followed by the
Lapland War of 1944–1945, when Finland forced the Germans out of northern Finland. After the wars there were land mine clearance operations in Karelia and Lapland plus enormous task of sea mine clearance in the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea during 1944 - 1950. Especially the mines in Lapland slowed down the rebuilding and caused casualties.
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 Finnish territorial concessions . Finland ceded most of
Finnish Karelia,
Salla, and
Petsamo, which amounted to 10% of land area, 20% of industrial capacity and 400,000 evacuees. Establishing trade with the Western powers, such as Great Britain, and the reparations to the Soviet Union caused Finland to transform itself from a primarily agrarian economy to an industrialised one. Even after reparations were fulfilled, Finland continued to trade with the Soviet Union in the framework of bilateral trade. Ultimately, the Soviet Union had a national debt to Finland. Russia assumed the debt after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and finally cleared it in 2006.
Post-war era and modern history
After the Second World War, neutral Finland lay in the grey zone between the western countries and the Soviet Union. The "YYA Treaty" gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics. There was also a tendency of self-censorship regarding Finno-Soviet relations. This phenomenon was given the name Finlandisation by the German press. However, Finland maintained a democratic government and a market economy unlike most other countries bordering the Soviet Union.
The post-war era was a period of rapid economic growth and increasing wealth and stability for Finland. In all, 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, the bilateral trade disappeared overnight, and Finland was simultaneously hit by a "home-cooked" severe recession. This left a mass unemployment problem, but the economy survived and began growing at a high rate after the recession. Finland joined the
European Union in 1995, where it is an advocate of federalism contrary to the other
Nordic countries that are predominantly supportive of confederalism.
The first modern democracy
The Parliament of Finland celebrates its centenary in 2006 and 2007. The 100th anniversary of the approval of the Parliament Act and Election Act by the Diet was on 1 June, 2006. On 23 May, 2007 is the 100th anniversary of the first plenary session of Finland's unicameral Parliament.
The theme of the centenary is "The right to vote - trust in law. One hundred years of Finnish democracy."
It focuses on the parliamentary reform of the early 20th century and the introduction of equal and universal suffrage and full political rights for women. This included the introduction of a proportional representation, open list voting system as well as the right to vote and to also be elected for all citizens, including women.
On May 23rd 2006 a statue was unveiled to honour the work of female MPs.
A hundred years ago Finland was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire. The members of the four Estates in the then autonomous legislative assembly, the Diet, represented only a small fraction of the population. A reform of the parliamentary system and electoral law gave Finland the first modern representative institution and democracy in the world. Universal and equal suffrage was introduced and Finnish women became the first in the world to enjoy full political rights.
Etymology
The name
Suomi has uncertain origins but a strong candidate for a cognate is the Baltic word
zeme meaning "ground, earth, country." In another approach, Finnish
suo means "fen", which is one of the characteristic biotypes of Finland; it is thought that Finland might have been called Suomaa by the early Finns. In Finnish, suomaa means Fen Land .
The exonym
Finland has resemblance with e.g. the
Scandinavian placenames Finnmark, Finnveden and
Finnskogen and all are thought to be derived from
finn, a Germanic word for
nomadic "hunter-gatherers" . How, why and when this designation would have started to mean the
Finns in particular is largely unknown. Among the first written documents mentioning a "land of the Finns" are two rune stones. There is one in Söderby, Sweden, with the inscription
finlont and one in Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, with the inscription
finlandi dating from the 11th century.
Geography and nature
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 Halti at 1,328 metres , is found in the extreme north of
Lapland. Besides the many lakes the landscape is dominated by extensive boreal forests and little
arable land. The greater part of the islands are found in south-west, 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
post-glacial rebound that has been taking place since the last
ice age, the surface area of the country is growing by about 7 square kilometres a year.
Climate
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. Finland is near enough to the Atlantic to be continuously warmed by the
Gulf Stream, which explains the unusually warm climate considering the absolute latitude.
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.
Administrative divisions
Municipalities and regions
Legally, Finland has two levels of democratic government: the state, and 432 municipalities. The municipality is the same as a "city" level of government, except that rural municipalities are not called "cities." Since 1977, no legal or administrative distinction is made between towns, cities and other municipalities. Although a municipality must follow the laws set by the state, it makes independent decisions. That is, the decisions of a municipal council, if legal, cannot be appealed. People often identify with their municipality, although their nationality is usually more important.
Municipalities co-operate in 74
sub-regions and 20
regions. These are governed by the member municipalities. The Åland region has a permanent, democratically elected regional council, as a part of the autonomy. In the Kainuu region, there is a pilot project underway, with similar regional elections.
Largest municipalities
Denotes inhabitants in the municipality area. Land area is in km². Density is inhabitants per km² . The figures are as of December 31, 2005.
| Rank | Municipality | Population | Land Area | Density | 1. | Helsinki | 562,570 | 184.47 | 3,049.6 | 2. | Espoo | 231,704 | 312 | 745 | 3. | Tampere | 204,337 | 523.4 | 391 | 4. | Vantaa | 187,281 | 240.84 | 772 | 5. | Turku | 174,868 | 243.4 | 716 | 6. | Oulu | 128,962 | 369.43 | 337.5 | 7. | Lahti | 98,413 | 134.95 | 730.1 | 8. | Kuopio | 90,726 | 1,127.4 | 80 | 9. | Jyväskylä | 84,434 | 105.9 | 789 | 10. | Pori | 76,144 | 503.17 | 150.83 | 11. | Lappeenranta | 59,073 | 758 | 77.7 | 12. | Joensuu | 57,858 | 1,173.4 | 49.1 | 13. | Rovaniemi | 57,835 | 7,600.73 | 7.6 | 14. | Vaasa | 57,241 | 183 | 311.2 | 15. | Kotka | 54,838 | 272 | 204 |
Subdivisions and provinces
The state organisation is divided into
6 administrative provinces ' The provinces are further divided into 90 state local districts.
The provincial authority is part of the executive branch of the national government, and is not democratically controlled except through the national parliament. This system was created in 1634, and underwent few major changes until the redivision of the country into "greater provinces" in 1997. Since then, the six provinces have been – referring to the picture on the right:
- Southern Finland
- Western Finland
- Eastern Finland
- Oulu
- Lapland
- Åland
These provinces are merely administrative divisions. Western Finland, for example, spans four major linguistic and dialectal areas .
The
Åland Islands enjoy a 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 colonisation 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
urbanisation in the latter half of the 20th century have made differences less pronounced.
The old provinces or counties survive in the telephone numbering areas.
Demographics
Finland numbers 5.2 million inhabitants and has an average population density of 17 inhabitants per square kilometre. This makes it, after
Norway and
Iceland, the most sparsely populated country in
Europe. Finland's population has always been concentrated in the southern parts of the country, which is even more pronounced after the 20th century
urbanisation. The biggest and most important cities in Finland are the
Greater Helsinki metropolitan area ,
Tampere,
Turku, and
Oulu.
After the
Winter 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 immigrated back.
Since the late 1990s, Finland has received
refugees and immigrants at a rate comparable with the other
Nordic 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 kinship. However, over 20 languages are now spoken in Finland by immigrant groups of significant size — that is, with at least a thousand speakers.
Language
Most
Finns speak Finnish as their mother tongue, while the largest minority language is
Swedish . Other minority languages include
Russian and Estonian. A small population of Finland also speak English as their secondary native language. To the north, in
Lapland, are found the
Sami, numbering less than 7,000, who like the Finns speak a
Finno-Ugric language. There are three
Sami languages that are spoken in Finland:
Northern Sami,
Inari Sami and
Skolt Sami. The majority of Finns also speak proficient
English.
Swedish has an official language status in Finland, and the right of other minority groups to cherish their culture and language is protected by law.
Finland-Swedes are considered to represent a common ethnicity with the Finnish speaking majority. Culturally, the
Finland-Swedes represent a combination of Swedish and Finnish cultures and have more coastal-oriented traditions.
Indigenous peoples
The Sami are an indigenous people living in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. Known widely in the past as
Lapps, the term "Lapp" is now considered derogatory by many Sami. In addition to their own
Sami language, they have their own way of life, identity and culture. Common history, traditions, livelihoods and customs unite the Sami living in different countries. In total, there are about 75,000 to 100,000 Samis, of which about 7,000 live in Finland. That is about 0.14% of the population of Finland.
Religion
Most Finns are members of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, with a minority of 1% belonging to the
Finnish Orthodox Church . These two churches are the
state churches of Finland. The remainder of the population consists of relatively small groups of other Protestant denominations,
Catholics,
Muslims and
Jews beside the growing population of unaffiliated .
Education
The Finnish education system is a comparatively egalitarian Nordic system, with no tuition fees for full-time students. Attendance is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16, and free meals are served to pupils at primary and secondary levels. The first nine years of education are compulsory, and the pupils go to their local school. In the
OECD's international assessment of student performance, PISA, Finland has consistently been among the highest scorers worldwide; in 2003 Finnish 15-year-olds came first in reading literacy and science, and second in mathematics and problem solving, worldwide.
Health
After having one of the highest death rates from heart disease in the world in the 1970s, improvements in the Finnish diet and exercise have paid off. Finland is now one of the fittest countries in the world.
Government and politics
Finland has a
semi-presidential system with
Parliamentarism. The
President of Finland is responsible for foreign policy outside of EU. Most executive power lies in the cabinet headed by the prime minister. Responsibility for forming the cabinet out of several political parties and negotiating its platform is granted to the leader of the party gaining largest support in the elections for the parliament. This person also becomes prime minister of the cabinet. Any minister and the cabinet as a whole however must have continuing trust of the parliament and may be voted out, resign or be replaced. 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 200-member
unicameral Parliament of Finland is called the
Eduskunta or
Riksdag . It is the supreme legislative authority in Finland. The parliament may alter the Constitution of Finland, 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 multi-member districts.
The judicial system of Finland is divided between
courts with regular civil and criminal jurisdiction and administrative courts with responsibility for litigation between the individuals and the administrative organs of the state and the communities. Their jurisdiction can be illustrated with an example: Parents unsatisfied with the school placement of their child would appeal against the board of education in an administrative court as the school placement is subject to an administrative decision. Finnish law is codified and its court system consists of local courts, regional appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The administrative branch of justice consists of administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court. The administrative process has more popularity as it is cheaper and has lower financial risk to the person making claims. In addition to the regular courts, there are a few special courts in certain branches of administration. There is also a High Court of Impeachment for criminal charges against the President of the Republic, the justices of the supreme courts, members of the Council of State, the Chancellor of Justice and the Ombudsman of Parliament.
The parliament has, since equal and common suffrage was introduced in 1906, been dominated by secular Conservatives, the Centre Party , and
Social Democrats. After 1944 Communists were a factor to consider for a few decades. The relative strengths of the parties vary only slightly in the elections due to th
