Finland

Finland (Finnish: Suomi, Swedish: Finland, [2]) is in Northern Europe and has borders with Russia to the East, Norway to the North and Sweden to the West. The country is thoroughly modern with well-planned and comfortable small towns and cities, but still offers vast areas of unspoiled nature. Finland has approximately 188,000 lakes (about 10% of the country) and a similar number of islands. In the northernmost part of the country the Northern Lights can be seen in the winter and midnight sun in the summer. Finns also claim the mythical mountain of Korvatunturi as the home of Santa Claus, and a burgeoning tourist industry in Lapland caters to Santa fans. Despite living in one of the most technologically developed countries in the world, the Finns love to head to their summer cottages in the warmer months to enjoy all manner of relaxing pastimes including sauna, swimming, fishing and barbecuing.

Finland is divided into the following provinces:

Southern Finland — the southern stretch of coastline up to the Russian border, including the capital Helsinki and the historical province of Uusimaa (Nyland)
Western Finland — the coastal areas, the old capital Turku, Finland's number two city Tampere and the southern parts of the historical province of Ostrobothnia (Pohjanmaa, ?sterbotten).
Eastern Finland — forests and lakes by the Russian border, including Savonia (Savo)
Oulu — Kajanaland (Kainuu) and northern Ostrobothnia, named after the technology city of Oulu
Finnish Lapland — tundra and reindeer above the Arctic Circle
The ?land Islands — an autonomous and monolingually Swedish group of islands off the southwestern coast of Finland

While a convenient and unambiguous bureaucratic division, the provinces do not really correspond to geographical or cultural boundaries very well. Other terms you may hear include Tavastia (H?me), covering a large area of central Finland around Tampere, and Karelia (Karjala) to the far east, the bulk of which was lost to the Soviet Union in World War II (still a sore topic in some circles).

Cities
Helsinki — the "Daughter of the Baltic", Finland's capital and largest city by far
Jyv?skyl? — a university town located in Central Finland
Oulu — a technology city at the end of the Gulf of Bothnia
Kuopio — home of the Kalakukko (a traditional Savonian food made from fish baked inside a loaf of bread) in the heart of Northern Savonia
Rovaniemi — gateway to Lapland, largest city in Europe measured from the surface area
Savonlinna — a small town with a big castle and a popular opera festival.
Tampere — an industrial town, home to the Lenin Museum, in the middle of other big cities in Southern Finland
Turku — the former capital on the western coast. Medieval castle and cathedral.
Vaasa — a city with strong Swedish influences on the west coast located near the UNESCO world natural site Kvarken Archipelago
[edit] Other destinations
Finnish National Parks
Koli National Park
Levi — very popular winter sports resort, especially among young people
Savonlinna — known for its castle and opera festival
Saariselk? — ski resort and aurora-spotting destination in Lapland

History

St. Olaf's Castle, the world's northernmost medieval castle, built in Savonlinna by Sweden in 1475Finland was a part of Sweden from the 12th to the 19th century and an autonomous grand duchy under Russian rule after 1809. It finally won its complete independence in 1917, although the country promptly plunged into a brief but bitter civil war between the conservative Whites and the Communist Reds, eventually won by the Whites.

During World War II, Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union in the Winter War, but fought them to a standstill that saw the USSR conquer 10% of Finnish territory with extremely high casualties for a small piece of land. Finland then allied with Germany in an unsuccessful attempt to repel the Soviets, was defeated and, as a condition for peace, had to turn against Germany instead. Thus Finland fought three separate wars during World War II. After the war, Finland fell into the Soviet sphere of influence, but maintained a studied policy of official neutrality and managed to retain a free market economy and multi-party elections. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy featuring high-tech giants like Nokia, and per capita income is now on par with Western European countries.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland joined the European Union in 1995, and was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999.