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Portal:Finland

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The flag of Finland
Location of Finland

Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia. Finland covers a total area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi), including a land area of 303,815 square kilometres (117,304 sq mi), and has a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. The official languages are Finnish and Swedish; 84.9 percent of the population speak the first as their mother tongue and 5.1 percent the latter. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.

Finland was first settled around 9000 BC after the last Ice Age. During the Stone Age, various cultures emerged, distinguished by different styles of ceramics. The Bronze Age and Iron Ages were marked by contacts with other cultures in Fennoscandia and the Baltic region. From the late 13th century, Finland became part of Sweden as a result of the Northern Crusades. In 1809, as a result of the Finnish War, Finland was captured from Sweden and became an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire. During this period, Finnish art flourished and the independence movement began to take hold. Finland became the first territory in Europe to grant universal suffrage in 1906, and the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Finland declared its independence. A civil war was fought in Finland the following year, with the Whites emerging victorious. Finland's status as a republic was confirmed in 1919. During World War II, Finland fought against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War, and later against Nazi Germany in the Lapland War. As a result, it lost parts of its territory but retained its independence and democracy. (Full article...)

Ahtisaari in 1994

Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (Finnish: [ˈmɑrtːi (ˈoi̯ʋɑ ˈkɑleʋi) ˈɑhtisɑːri] , 23 June 1937 – 16 October 2023) was a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland, from 1994 to 2000, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work.

Ahtisaari was a United Nations special envoy for Kosovo, charged with organizing the Kosovo status process negotiations. These negotiations aimed to resolve a long-running dispute in Kosovo, which later declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. In October 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts". The Nobel statement said that Ahtisaari had played a prominent role in resolving serious and long-lasting conflicts, including ones in Namibia, Aceh (Indonesia), Kosovo and Serbia, and Iraq. (Full article...)

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Photo credit: Johannes Jansson/norden.org
Prime Minister of Finland Matti Vanhanen

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Finnish soldiers raise the war flag at the three-country cairn between Norway, Sweden, and Finland on 27 April 1945, the end of World War II in Finland

Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn is a historic photograph taken on 27 April 1945, which was the last day of the Second World War in Finland. It depicts a Finnish Army patrol of Battle Group Loimu, Infantry Regiment 1 (Finnish: taisteluosasto Loimu, jalkaväkirykmentti 1), raising the Finnish war flag on the three-country cairn between Norway, Sweden, and Finland. As the cairn was the westernmost point on the Finnish mainland, this symbolized that the last German troops were gone from Finland. The photograph was taken by the commander of Infantry Regiment 1, Colonel Väinö Oinonen (alternatively V. J. Oinonen). It became a widely circulated symbol of the end of World War II in Finland. (Full article...)

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In the news

18 November 2024 – 2024 Baltic Sea submarine cable disruptions
The C-Lion1 submarine communications cable across the Baltic Sea between Finland and Germany is damaged in what German officials suspect is sabotage. (The Guardian)
9 September 2024 –
Finnish-Canadian sportswear mogul Peter Nygård is sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexual assault. (CBC News)
14 August 2024 – Organized crime in Sweden
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland form an international police hub in Stockholm to prevent escalating Swedish gang activity and criminal networks from spreading to other Nordic countries. (Reuters)
26 July 2024 – Finland–Russia relations
Finland reports that a Russian Navy Baltic Sea fleet vessel trespassed on Finnish territorial waters in the eastern Gulf of Finland. (Reuters)
12 July 2024 – Finland–Russia relations, Russian emigration during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Parliament of Finland passes a law allowing border guards to restrict trafficked asylum seekers from crossing the Finland–Russia border. (CNN)

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View of Jyväskylä
View of Jyväskylä
Photo credit: commons:User:Mikael Korpela
Panoramic photo shot of Jyväskylä, Finland

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