Finland, Finnish Suomi, republic (130,558 sq mi/338,145 sq km; 1996 population 5,132,320; 2004 estimated population 5,214,512), E Scandinavia, N Europe; (cap.) and largest city Helsinki.
Geography
Borders on Gulf of Bothnia and Sweden in W, Norway in N, Russia in E, the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea in S. The country includes the Ahvenanmaa Islands, located at mouth of the Gulf of Bothnia; other cities include Espoo, Hämeenlinna, Imatra, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kemi, Kotka, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Oulu, Pori, Tampere, Turku, and Vaasa. The country is divided into twelve provinces: Aland, Hämeen, Keski-Suomen, Kuopion, Kymen, Lapin, Mikkelin, Oulun, Pohjois-Karjalan, Turun Ja Porin, Uudenmaan, and Vaasan. Finland falls into three main geographical zones. In S and W is a low-lying coastal strip (20 mi/30 km–80 mi/130 km wide) that includes most of the country’s major cities and much of its arable land. The coastal strip rises slightly to a vast forested interior plateau (average elevation: 300 ft/90m–600 ft/180 m) that includes about 60,000 lakes, many of which are linked by short rivers, sounds, or canals to form busy commercial waterways. The largest lakes are Saimaa, Inari, and Päijänne. The Kemijoki and Oulujoki are the longest rivers of the region and, with the Torniojoki (Swedish Torneälven), are important logging waterways. The country's third zone lies N of the Arctic Circle and is part of Lapin province (Lapland). The region is thinly wooded or barren and has an average elevation of about 1,100 ft/340 m; it is somewhat higher in the NW, where Haltiatunturi (4,344 ft/1,324 m), Finland’s loftiest point, is located. Altogether, Finland is made up of about 70% forest, 11% nonarable land, 10% water surface, and 9% arable land.
Population
Finnish and Swedish are both official languages, and about 6% of the population speaks Swedish as its first language. In addition, there are about 1,800 Lapps living in Finland's Lapin province. About 90% of Finland’s inhabitants belong to the established Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Economy
Traditionally an agricultural country, Finland accelerated the pace of its industrialization after 1945. Manufacturing (plus construction) accounts for about 28% of employment; financial and other services accounted for about 24% of employment; trade, transportation, and communication accounted for about 8% of employment; and agriculture (plus forestry and fishing) about 8% of employment; and public services about 32%. The leading agricultural commodities produced are hay, oats, barley, wheat, rye, sugar beets, potatoes, and dairy products. Poultry, cattle, hogs, reindeer, and sheep are raised, as well. Though Finland’s mining output is small, it includes a number of important minerals such as iron ore, copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, titanium, uranium, vanadium, mercury, silver, and gold. The Finnish lumbering industry is one of the largest in Europe, producing a variety of wood and paper products. The country’s manufacture includes iron, steel, petroleum products, machinery, chemicals, processed food, metal products, transportation, agricultural, and electrical equipment, textiles, and clothing. Finland also produces fine glassware, ceramics, and porcelain. Its tourism industry is based mostly on winter sports and fishing. Because Finland’s domestic energy sources account for only one-third of the country’s needs, fossil fuels and electricity must be imported. About one-quarter of the country’s output of electricity is generated by hydroelectric plants, many of them at dam sites. There are two nuclear power plants in Finland, at Lovisa and Olkiluoto. Finland’s road and railroad networks and its waterways system are largely limited to the S half of the country. The chief imports are machinery, mineral fuels, chemicals, food and livestock, transportation equipment, crude materials, textiles, and iron and steel. The leading exports are forest products (which account for about 50% of exports), machinery, transportation equipment, ships, clothing, and foodstuffs. The principal trade partners are Germany, Sweden, Russia, and the Netherlands. Finland became an associate member of the EFTA in 1961, and a full member in 1985. It negotiated a free trade agreement with the EC in 1973; and applied for EU membership in March 1992.
History to 1721
Finland’s first inhabitants, dating from about 7000 B.C., probably followed the melting ice N, attracted by a good supply of game. The first Finnish-speaking persons to enter the region were mostly nomadic hunters and fishers who migrated into Finland from the S. By the 8th century they had displaced the small number of Lapps who lived in central and S Finland and who were forced to move to the far N of the country, where they live today. The Finns were organized in small-scale political units, with only loose ties beyond the clan level. From the 11th century Christian missionaries were active in Finland. In the 13th century Sweden conquered the country. Under the Swedes, Finland enjoyed considerable independence, its political sophistication grew, commerce increased, and both Swedish language and culture spread. In the mid-16th century Lutheranism was established in Finland, and in 1581 the country was raised to the rank of grand duchy. Finland suffered severely in the recurring wars between Sweden and Russia. In 1696 famine wiped out almost one-third of the population.
History - 1721 to 1906
By the Treaty of Nystad (1721), which ended the Northern War, Peter I of Russia acquired the province of Vyborg (Viipuri), and additional areas were lost to Russia in 1743. In 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars, Finland was invaded by Russia (an ally of Napoleon I), in an attempt to pressure Sweden into altering its pro-British stance. Despite considerable Finnish resistance, Russia conquered the country and annexed it in 1809. In the 19th century, the czars, who were also grand dukes of Finland, allowed the country wide-ranging autonomy and, as a result, Finland was able to develop its own democratic system with little interference from Saint Petersburg. In 1811, Russia returned the territories it had taken in 1721 and 1743 to Finland. In 1812, Finland’s capital was moved from Turku to Helsinki. Government in the country was headed by a Russian governor general (the personal representative of the czar) in conjunction with the Finnish senate; in addition, there was a Finnish minister of state in Saint Petersburg who dealt directly with the czar. Finnish nationalism became a powerful movement early in the 19th century, and intensified in the country’s resistance to Czar Nicolas II’s russification campaign in 1899.
History - 1906 to 1941
Under terms obtained in 1906, a unicameral parliament (whose members were elected by universal suffrage) was established, but it was given little authority by the czar. Following the Russian Revolution (1917), this parliament proclaimed Finland independent on December 6, 1917. Civil War ensued with Finnish nationalists prevailing over a leftist army with Soviet sympathies. A republic was established and its first president, Kaarlo Juho Stahlberg, was elected in 1919. By the 1920 Treaty of Tartu, the USSR recognized Finland’s independence. Agrarian and social reforms enacted after 1918 did much to heal the wounds of civil war, but deep scars remained, and they contributed to the rise of extreme rightist and leftist movements. As a result, there was considerable political instability in the 1920s and early 1930s. Finland followed a neutralist foreign policy and, in 1932, signed a nonaggression treaty with the USSR. In late November 1939, however, Finland was attacked by Soviet troops. Field Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim saw to the construction of the Mannerheim Line of fortified defenses, and organized a spirited Finnish resistance, but the USSR easily emerged victorious by early 1940. By the treaty of Moscow (March 12, 1940), Finland ceded the Rybachi Peninsula, its part of the Karelian Isthmus (including Vyborg), and land bordering on Lake Ladoga. Additionally, the USSR gained a 30-year lease of the port of Hanko.
History - 1941 to Present
When Germany attacked the USSR in June 1941, Finland allied itself with Germany in retaliation for the ceded territories. Soviet troops invaded Finland in 1944 and forced it to sign an armistice in September 1944. This agreement confirmed the cessions of territory Finland had made in 1940; however, instead of Hanko, the USSR was given a lease on the Porkkala peninsula near Helsinki. After the war, the 1944 armistice was largely confirmed; Finland was obliged to pay the USSR $300 million in reparations and to cede the Karelian Isthmus (with Vyborg), Pechenga (Petsamo) in the far N, and additional border districts in the E. A Finnish-Soviet treaty of cooperation was signed in 1948 (it was extended in 1955, 1970, and 1983), and a trade pact was negotiated in 1950 (another similar agreement was signed in 1969). In 1956, the Soviet Union returned Porkkala to Finland, but continued to influence Finnish politics with varying intensity until its dissolution in 1989. Finland joined the UN in 1955. Finnish government since the postwar period has been characterized by shifting party coalitions. The Social Democrats and the Center Party (then called the Agrarian Union) emerged as the dominant forces, particularly as influence of the Communist Party waned in the late 1940s. The Communist Party, despite its loss of power, remained a significant presence in Finnish politics, gaining ground in the 1960s, losing ground in the 1970s. In 1985 the party finally split along pro-Moscow and nationalistic lines. In the 1987 elections, the Conservatives filled the gap left by the Communists, entering into a coalition government with their long time opponents, the Social Democrats, which left the Center Party as the opposition party for the first time since independence. Finland has had an increasingly European orientation since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, and applied for membership in the EU in March 1992. Finland voters approved EU membership on October 16, 1994. Finland became an EU member on January 1, 1995, and is the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999.
Government
Under the 1919 constitution as amended, Finland’s head of state is the president, who is elected to a six-year term by a 301-member electoral college that is chosen by direct popular vote. The president is commander in chief of the armed forces, plays an important role in foreign affairs, and can have considerable influence over legislative matters. Legislation is handled by the unicameral parliament (Eduskunta), whose two hundred members are elected to four-year terms by a system of proportional representation. All Finns who are at least eighteen years old may vote. The country’s main administrative body is the cabinet (headed by a prime minister), which is responsible to parliament. Since 2000, the chief of state has been President Tarja Halonen, and since 2003 Matti Vanhanen has been prime minister.
